Long regarded as the standard history of the subject, François Michaud's History of the Crusades, published in 1877, recorded over four centuries of passionate, bloody wars that brought the countries -- and cultures -- of Asia and Europe into conflict with one another. To illustrate Michaud's classic study, Gustave Doré executed 100 striking plates, capturing all the savagery, nobility, and vast sweep of the centuries-long conflict.
This splendid collection includes all 100 of the Doré illustrations, including scenes of Peter the Hermit Preaching the Crusade, The War Cry of the Crusaders, The Massacre of Antioch, The Road to Jerusalem, The Crusade of Children, The Discovery of the True Cross, The Baptism of Infidels, Two Hundred Knights Attack Twenty Thousand Saracens, Richard Coeur de Lion Delivering Jaffa, The Battle of Lepanto, Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople, and many more. Masterly in their combination of power, vivid detail, and striking visual effects, the plates are perhaps the finest pictorial recreation of the immense clash of cultures and religions underlying the great historical drama of the Crusades.
Sure to delight any lover of fine art or magnificent book illustrations, Doré's Illustrations of the Crusades, with descriptive captions and a concise chronology of the principal events, will also serve as an invaluable source of striking royalty-free illustrations.