Book tip! (Crusades trilogy by Jan guillou)

[Alsn]

Seeing as these forums seem to be basically crawling with people interested in medieval history and roleplaying at the same time i thought id share a book tip! Its actually a trilogy of books and i read it about 5 years back but its about the crusades(and much of it is about the history of Sweden). Theyre fictional of course but its based on the crusades and it "romanticises"(sp?) the crusades/knights templar a bit but that doesnt make it any less good imho! Alot of the events in the books are based on real events(such as the battle of montgisard).

Anyway, its basically about a man(Arn Magnusson) growing up while Sweden is changing from a pagan viking area into a catholic kingdom but gets shipped of to crusade against the wicked muslims.

The first book(The road to Jerusalem) is mostly about him growing up in Sweden and just how he came to end up in Jerusalem of all places. The second book(The Knight Templar) is about the time when the kingdom of jerusalem and Saladin was having their little power struggle in the holy land and the third book(The kingdom at the end of the road) is about when Arn returns from the holy land and an alternate telling to the budding kingdom of sweden.

The books have been translated into english(however i cannot seem to find the third book, as it seems it might not be translated :no: but theyre still complete books in their own right) and can be found on for example amazon.com, links follow:

The road to Jerusalem (http://www.amazon.com/Road-Jerusalem-Crusades-Trilogy/dp/0752848372/ref=pd_bbs_1/105-9688897-9170804?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182270235&sr=8-1)
The Knight Templar (http://www.amazon.com/Knight-Templar-Crusades-Trilogy/dp/0752846507/ref=sr_1_1/105-9688897-9170804?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182270309&sr=1-1)

There is also a high budget film currently in the making(high budget by swedish standards at least :sweatdrop:) based on the books which are to be premiered around christmas i believe.

Anyway, hope this wasnt too out of place on a forum like this ;).

Also, sorry if this is the wrong forum but i figured this would be where all the medieval age nuts would be gathered ;D.

[ZhalArkon]

I can absolutely recommend these books, read them all in Danish.

They are excellent if your interested in medieval european history, the Crusades or Jerusalem or that of scandinavia specifically. It also tells much about warfare at that time, and the ways of the Knights Templar order.

Just keep in mind that parts of it is fictional. However they are absolutely worth a read.

[Tyrac]

I will read/buy if I can get a good place to get all three in English translation?

[Shahed]

Thanks for the tip.
Tyrac those links are for English translations if I'm not mistaken ?

Here's one from me, which I have but never read.
It's got good reviews from everyone I know who has read it so I thought it worth a mention: The Crusades through Arab eyes (http://www.amazon.com/Crusades-Through-Arab-Eyes-Maalouf/dp/0805208984/ref=sr_1_1/104-4562470-2023914?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182282214&sr=1-1).

[Callahan9119]

sir steven runciman's three volume "history of the crusades" is superb

its out of print, but can be found on amazon, although the second book is only available there on hardcover, so is expesive relative to paperback

the scholarship is amazing and awe inspiring, truly a fantastic work

[[R]icK]

Totally nothing to do with the crusades but i think the Series: "A song of ice and fire" is a great read and i often find myself roleplaying the many characters from the books as they are all based on the medieval time scale. Hell it even has its own version of the Mongols (Dothkari)Sp

If you want a link feel free to Pm me!

[Matt_Lane]

Knights Templar by Stephen Howarth is well worth a read. It provides great background on the Crusdes and the military orders without being too heavy or high brow.

[Alsn]

Thanks for the counter tips everyone, ill definitely take a look at some of them the next time i get my paycheck, thats for sure.

Also yes, the links i posted are to the english translations, the original Swedish titles are: "Vägen till Jerusalem", "Tempelriddaren" and "Riket vid vägens slut" and are spelled out in swedish on amazon if you want to make sure :p.

[crpcarrot]

I read a book called the 1st crusade but i cant remmeber the author. will check when i get home. its non-fiction but written in such a way that u dont get bored. the author is supposed to have taken the crusaders route to the holy land before writing the book.

its written pretty impatially but more from the point of view of the catholic nations obviously but doesnt have some of the rather biased views that most older books have.

the book also explains at the begining how the crusades cae about the political situation at the vatican etc. it was quite an interesting read.

[Tambarskjelve]

I have read this trilogy, and it's absolutely stunning.
Actually, I have read them all three times..
Very true to history, weaving the main character in without disrupting actual events.
But other, historical fiction book tips is appreciated, I usually get most of my history fix from Roman era novels.
I feel Medieval books often weighs in too heavy on the fantasy side.
Another great book is Baudolino by Umberto Eco.
Set in Frederic I (Barbarossa)'s court, it tells the story of a young boy with a great imagination. The interesting bit is that it is written in a perspective one might assume a scholar of the time would have.

[HoreTore]

Alexandre Dumas > Jan Guillou

Didn't care much for his crusader trilogy, I'd rate it has "medium". Not bad, not particularly good. I'd rate Ondskan higher than these.

And they don't have either musketeers, the french or a king named Louis! No good book can be without that! :laugh4: