The First Crusade

Resumen del libro

The First Crusade is one of the best-known and most written-about events in history but in this new book Dr Peter Frankopan asks vital questions that have never been posed before. This is the only book to address the history of the First Crusade from the perspective of the east, examining the role of the Byzantine Empire and its ruler, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Peter Frankopan's focus on the imperial city of Constantinople and events in Asia Minor is the result of a major reinterpretation of eastern sources which reveal the crucial role of Byzantium in the Genesis and execution of the First Crusade . Frankopan's revelation of a close cooperation between the pope in Rome and the emperor in Constantinople constitutes an important revision and brand new evidence of the history of the Church. This book questions the traditional view that the Catholic and Orthodox churches had broken definitively in 1054. Rather than viewing the Crusades as a conflict between Christianity and Islam, the book reveals a complex triangular relationship between the west, Byzantium and the Muslim world. So, The First Crusade constitutes a paradigm shift - it radically re-shapes our understanding of the aims, expectations, and long-term implications of the First Crusade and the Crusades as a whole. Most importantly it answers why was there a First Crusade ?

Biografía del autor

Peter Frankopan es catedrático en Global History por la Universidad de Oxford, para la que dirige el Centre for Byzantine Research, y es research fellow del Worcester College de Oxford. Ha dado conferencias en las principales universidades de todo el mundo, incluídas Cambridge, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Nueva York, el Kingx{0026} x02019;s College de Londres y el Institute of Historical Research. Es autor de El corazón del mundo. Una nueva historia universal (Crítica, 2016), Las nuevas rutas de la seda (Crítica, 2019) y La primera cruzada (2022).