King Richard I, and the Crusades.

[Magnus]

Watched a great documentary on PBS last night...very entertianing. It covered Saladin and King Richard I during the crusades of 1191 - 1192.

Does anyone know of any good books on the subject of the crusades, or King Richard I?

Requirements:

1. Can't read like a text book. ie: the author should have some flare for keeping the reader interested, instead of slowly killing them with boredom.

2. General Audience. I don't want to feel like I need a PhD in Medieval History to enjoy this book.

3. Accurate, but not overly detailed. Something fairly general maybe a bit on the specific side would be nice.

So...what does that give me?

[Caius Fabius]

I would suggest "Chronicles of the Crusades" [amazon]joinville[/amazon]
Based on the letters of people who were actually there!

[Magnus]

Cool, thanks Caius!

[Robert Vermaat]

Erm.. why post this in the staff area and not in OT where many more can answer you?

[Magnus]

Because i'm an idiot and thought I hit Off Topic.

[Jeroen Pelgrom]

thread moved to off-topic section.

[Victrix]

Try the Internet Medieval Sourcebook:
[url:25o1fho9]http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/sbook.html[/url]

It's got some good primary source information, from both the Christian and Muslim sides. I used a document on the Siege and Capture of Acre for a paper in a High Middle Ages class a couple of years back; it's definitely worth a read. The best Christian source on there is the
Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi. Even though it's biased, it's pretty good.
[/list]