The Battle for Aleppo and the Remaking of the Medieval Middle East

About the Book

A history of the 1119 Battle of the Field of Blood, which decisively halted the momentum gained during the First Crusade and decided the fate of the Crusader states

In 1119, the people of the Near East came together in an epic clash of horses, swords, sand, and blood that would decide the fate of the city of the Aleppo--and the eastern Crusader states. Fought between tribal Turkish warriors on steppe ponies, Arab foot soldiers, Armenian bowmen, and European knights, the battlefield was the amphitheater into which the people of the Near East poured their full gladiatorial might. Carrying a piece of the true cross before them, the Frankish army advanced, anticipating a victory that would secure their dominance over the entire region. But the famed Frankish cavalry charge failed them, and the well-arranged battlefield dissolved into a melee. Surrounded by enemy forces, the crusaders suffered a colossal defeat. With their advance in Northern Syria stalled, the momentum of the crusader conquest began to evaporate, and would never be recovered.

About the Author

Nicholas Morton is a senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University. The author or editor of three books, Morton lives in Nottinghamshire, UK.

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Reviews

"A riveting account of a battle that changed the course of the Crusades. Nicholas Morton captures the intensity, importance, and aftermath of the confrontation to produce a sparkling history of one of the key turning-points of the Middle Ages."-Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

"Nicholas Morton tells the gripping story of the medieval struggle for Aleppo, vividly bringing to life the Muslims and Christians who shaped their times. More than just a chronicle of a battle, this book sheds revealing light on the First Crusade and its aftermath, disposing of myths, and laying bare the high stakes that drove men on all sides of the conflict."-Thomas Madden, author of Istanbul: City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World

"In The Field of Blood Nicholas Morton reverses the usual perspective and asks, 'Why didn't the Crusader States succeed?' Unlikely as it sounds now, there seemed a real possibility in the first half of the twelfth century that the French knights would soon rule the whole of Syria and perhaps Egypt too. Morton's analysis of these events is meticulous, his knowledge of the politics and military practices of the medieval world formidable, and his ability to understand these events from multiple perspectives-Turkish, French, Arab, Armenian, among others-wholly remarkable."-Jay Rubenstein, author of Armies of Heaven: The First Crusade and the Quest for Apocalypse