At the beginning, you could call this the Epic of Bohemond, from the grand sense of the Frankish lord. However, as he slips from the spotlight in later chapters, the focus comes to what this book is meant to cover: the history of our world. And through the eyes of Robert the Monk, the history of the first Crusade sounds glorious and romantic, with all the bloodshed and battle and mind games that anyone could wish for in a fictional story. It is hard to say how much of this history is embellished, from my viewpoint, but I can believe the loyalty and piety of the crusaders, the charisma of the princes leading them, as well as all the horrid acts the marching armies performed, on both the Turks and the European forces. I find myself wrapped up in the events and rooting for the crusaders, as you do for the heroes of a book series. The story of the first Crusade, at least told this way, truly is something you can enjoy as entertainment as well as learning from.
I commented on Jacob and Hannah's posts.
I found the reading to be really enjoyable. There's a lot of action and fighting it, but at the same time there's also Christian aspects mixed in as well.
ReplyDeleteThis account was definitely written from a biased viewpoint, but I totally get what you are saying. When we read this account, the crusaders are painted in a very heroic way, even if some of the things they do are absolutely atrocious.
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