Overview

A new edition of the classic text on Crusader castles and their relation to the military architecture of the West, written by T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) while still an undergraduate at Oxford in 1910. At the end of the nineteenth century, it was generally assumed that these castles were the prototype for the massive buildings erected in Northern France and England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Lawrence opposed this view: unlike most earlier writers on the subject, he was already familiar with castles in England, Wales, France and Syria as a result of a series of expeditions made on bicycle or foot, culminating in 1909 in a three-and-a-half month walking tour of the Levant. Although his thesis was to guarantee him a first-class degree in Modern History, its impact on scholarship was slower to take effect. The typescript remained virtually unknown until 1936, a year after the author's death, when it appeared in a limited edition of the Golden Cockerel Press. Crusader Castles is now offered to a wider readership. The original text is reproduced without alteration; but a selection of the pencilled notes which Lawrence added to the typescript, in preparation for a revision that was never made, are included as footnotes, together with additional editorial notes and bibliographical details. Lawrence's work is also assessed in the light of seventy-five years of subsequent research, in an introduction prepared by Denys Pringle.

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9780198229643

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This new edition greatly enhances the older edition. There are three new appendices, including some previously unpublished material from Lawrence's hand, all of which make Lawrence's argumentation clearer. Equally important are Pringle's new introduction and editorial notes, which assess Lawrence's contribution in the light of subsequent scholarship. --Speculum<br>

`This is an important book for anyone interested in the development of Crusader military architecture ... The editorial footnotes are superb, and Pringle's new introduction is worth the price of the book ... In effect, this new edition makes Lawrence's work available for the first time to a wide audience.' Speculum - A Journal of Medieval Studies 'a beautiful edition of the dissertation ... This new edition will give Lawrence's lively and stimulating book a fresh lease of life.' Norman Housley, University of Leicester, Journal of Ecclesiastical History

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Lawrence of Arabia . Author of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom

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