Lars Walker has a review of an interesting book up for us to consider.
"This excerpt from page 232 of Rodney Stark's God's Battalions: The Case for the Crusades, is characteristic of his approach to his subject. He takes a hard look at the bulk of recent historiography on the Crusades, and finds most of it shamefully biased. He identifies four great lies that have become common wisdom in recent decades..."
I wouldn't agree that Saladin receives 'undeserved' praise; he had all the chivalric virtues, including prowess in battle. Have you heard of the time he saw Richard afoot, and sent him two Arab horses as a gift before he would receive him in battle? Or the time that he lay seige to Castle Kerak, and learned of a wedding party being held within? He asked -- so the story says -- to know the wing of the castle in which the party was being held, and directed his catapults to bombard only the others. The bride is reported to have sent him some of the wedding cake.
Are those stories true? History records them; but perhaps we should ask whether we're doing myth or history. If they aren't true, they should be.
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