The First Crusade: The Call from the East

The First Crusade was the greatest event of the Middle Ages, changing the history of Europe and the Eastern lands. It is commonly believed that it began at the call of Pope Urban II, when thousands of knights set out to reclaim the Holy Land from the Muslims. But what if the initiative actually came not from Rome?
Relying on little-studied sources, the British historian Peter Frankopan offers his own perspective on these events. He considers the true inspiration and organizer of the First Crusade to be the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos—a talented diplomat who, miraculously, managed to remain on the throne, yet succeeded in putting Europe’s military resources at his service. Page after page, Frankopan unravels the tangled versions and sources, exposes the «black legend» about the «treacherous» emperor, and, revealing the unknown history of the First Crusade, shows the consequences of this expedition for both the East and the West.