First Crusader (Hardcover, illustrated edition)

Traditionally, "the Crusades" refer to the wars begun by the West in the late 11th century to recover the Holy Land from Muslim domination. In this work, the author argues that the first true crusaders came from the east several centuries before, starting with the struggle between the Christian Byzantine empire and its "infidel" invaders. It begins in the seventh century with the defeat by the Persians of much of the Byzantine empire; Jerusalem itself was seized, the Holy Sepulchre destroyed, and the True Cross, its most important relic, was taken back to Persia. At this moment of crisis a hero, the emperor Heraclius, came from Africa to save the empire and Christianity. He overthrew the power of the Persian empire, regained the True Cross and and carried it as a penitent into the recently regained Jerusalem in one of the greatest scenes of the ancient world and of Christian history. However, Heraclius had regained the Holy Land only to lose it to the Muslim Arabs for the next 200 years. The first full account in English of these "first crusaders", this book reveals stories of adventure which easily match those of the better known western crusades.