Alright, I've a very interesting question to throw out for anyone who has experience with the period; what was combat during the Crusades like? (other than hot, thirsty, and bloody.)

I'm in the first semester of my thesis sequence on the Crusades and next semester I'll be writing my 40 page paper about, hopefully, combat in the Crusades (or broader "warfare" if I can't find enough information on the physical combat.)

The time period, as I stated earlier, is just, well, the Crusades. Anything from 1095 up until... lets say the turn of the 14th C. (1390s-1410s). Do we know how people fought during these periods. Yes, we might know the tactics, the battles, the names but is anyone familiar with one on one combat. Of course this can include battle accounts, records of Duels. I've done some initial research and unfortunately, as we all know, not many on-the-front-lines type of people wrote things down back then, at least nothing that might have survived.

Primary sources/authors, search terms, thoughts, comments, anything you bunch might contribute would be invaluable, even ones relating to any combat during the Crusades; weapons, armor, dueling, training, techniques, etc.

*Crosses fingers* :\

PS: First post! :lol:

I'd start with Joinville's Life of St Louis. First-hand accounts of battlefield fighting, e.g., in the Battle of Mansourah.

Hi Chase, I'm sure you'r probably aware of the fight manuals from this period (well the later part of it anyway), but just in case you weren't I thought I'd give them a mention. The earliest of one these manuals dates to about 1275 - 1300 and deals with unarmoured sword and buckler combat. There is plenty of info about these on these fora and online, so happy hunting :-)

Hey Chase. William Seymoure's Decisive Factors in Twenty Great Battles of The World has a bibliography that might be helpful. With twenty entries for this period, I'm too lazy to list them here, but if you would like, pm me and I'll do the typing. (or if anyone else would like this info, I'll post it here)W

Here we go. Please forgive the typos.
Beha el-Din Abu El-Mehassan Yusuf, Saladin, Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, London,1897
Chronique Arabes des Croisades, col.& presented by Francisco Gabriell, Sindabad, Paris, 1977
Conder, C.R.,The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, London,1897
Finucane, Ronald C., Soldiers of Faith,J.M. Dent & SonsLtd,1983
Fuller,J.F.C.,The Decisive Battles of the Western World, Vol.1, Eyre & Spottiswoode,1954
Hindley,Geoffrey, Saladin,Constable,1975
Keightley,Thomas, The Crusaders,John W. Parker,1847
Lane-Poole, Stanley, Saladin and the Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem,G.P. Putnam's Sons,1898
Latrie,M.L.De Mas,Chronique D'Ernoul, La Societe de L'Histoire de France, Paris,1871
Oman,Charles,A History of the Art of War in the Middle Ages, Vol 1,Metuen & Co.Ltd, 1924
Peters, Edward,The First Crusade: The Chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres, U of Pennsylvania Press, 1971
Recueil des Historians des Croisades, Vol 3 & 4, Paris,1841-1906
Richard,Jean, " An Account of the battle of Hattin", Speculum, Vol XXVII, 1952
Runciman, Steven A History of the Crusades, Vol 1&2, Cambridge,1951&1952
" ,The First Crusade, Cambridge University Press, 1980
Setton,Kenneth M,A History of the Crusades, Vol 1,The First Hundred Years, U of Pennsylvania Press,1955
Smail,R. C.,Crusading Warfare,1097-1193,Cambridge U. Press,1956
Stevenson,W.B.,The Crusaders in the East,Cambridge U. Press,1907
Treece,Henry,The Crusades,The Bodley Head,1962
William of Tyre,A History of the Deeds done beyond the sea,2 Vols, Columbia,1971
The first entry's "Saladin" should be in italics, but I'm a lousey typist. I hope this helps,W