Wow, am I the first to recommend "The Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville"? The Lord of Joinville was a knight of King Phillip during the crusades. The book is absolutely fascinating with some incredible first hand descriptions of battles including the major defeat before Cairo. His book is free and available here on line:

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu...?key=olbp20728

I can't recommend this book strongly enough.