A01=Steve Tibble
Author_Steve Tibble
Bandits
Category=DNXC
Category=NHG
Category=NHWD
Category=QRAM9
Criminal underworld
Crusades
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Gangsters
Historical violence
Holy Land
Knights and crime
Latin East
Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
Medieval gang culture
Medieval history
Medieval Holy Land
Medieval Middle East
Medieval warfare
Middle Ages
Muggers
Pirates
Religious wars
Rogue knights
Product details
- ISBN 9780300284294
- Dimensions: 127 x 197mm
- Publication Date: 22 Jul 2025
- Publisher: Yale University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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A vivid new history of the criminal underworld in the medieval Holy Land
The religious wars of the crusades are renowned for their military engagements. But the period was witness to brutality beyond the battlefield. More so than any other medieval war zone, the Holy Land was rife with unprecedented levels of criminality and violence.
In the first history of its kind, Steve Tibble explores the criminal underbelly of the crusades. From gangsters and bandits to muggers and pirates, Tibble presents extraordinary evidence of an illicit underworld. He shows how the real problem in the region stemmed not from religion but from young men. Dislocated, disinhibited, and present in disturbingly large numbers, they were the propellant that stoked two centuries of unceasing warfare and shocking levels of criminality.
Crusader Criminals charts the downward spiral of desensitisation that grew out of the horrors of incessant warfare—and in doing so uncovers some of the most surprising stories of the time.
The religious wars of the crusades are renowned for their military engagements. But the period was witness to brutality beyond the battlefield. More so than any other medieval war zone, the Holy Land was rife with unprecedented levels of criminality and violence.
In the first history of its kind, Steve Tibble explores the criminal underbelly of the crusades. From gangsters and bandits to muggers and pirates, Tibble presents extraordinary evidence of an illicit underworld. He shows how the real problem in the region stemmed not from religion but from young men. Dislocated, disinhibited, and present in disturbingly large numbers, they were the propellant that stoked two centuries of unceasing warfare and shocking levels of criminality.
Crusader Criminals charts the downward spiral of desensitisation that grew out of the horrors of incessant warfare—and in doing so uncovers some of the most surprising stories of the time.
Steve Tibble is honorary research associate at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is the author of Monarchy and Lordships in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, The Crusader Armies, The Crusader Strategy, and Templars: The Knights Who Made Britain.
