Fascinating background

Kenneth Harl’s series of lectures forms a good basic introduction to the Crusades. Seven of them are covered in detail, from the first, with Raymond of Toulouse and Bohemond of Sicily, through the seventh, with Louis IX of France leading a disastrous invasion of Egypt. The battles are described at a high level but with enough detail to be coherent.

But there's a great deal more in here than just the Crusades: as the title suggests, there's also quite a bit about the Era as well. One area where this is especially true is the coverage of Byzantium. Harl provides several lessons’ worth of the history of this eastern half of the Roman Empire and the leaders who pushed its boundaries even further east and north. There are times when he makes Constantinople sound like King’s Landing in The Game of Thrones. Basil the Bulgar-Slayer figures prominently in his account of Byzantine history.

There's also quite a bit about society and technology: the rise of the merchant class, the switch from “two-field” to “three-field” agriculture, the switch from “shell building” to “frame building” in the shipyards, and the development of armored warfare, giant battle horses, and regiments of archers.

Some things I expected to hear are skimmed over in Harl’s lectures. There wasn't much here about the “people’s crusade” and the slaughter of Jews that followed; nor much about the leaders of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. (I have to admit that much of my interest in this aspect of the story stems from the film The Kingdom of Heaven.)

But there's much here that's new and surprising and it's well worth the listen. Harl delivers his material with energy and enthusiasm. Unfortunately he sometimes slips into a “you’re not gonna believe THIS” tone, but mostly he's speaking clearly and engagingly about a subject in which he is obviously an expert - which of course is what you'd want from a Great Course.

I do wish the producers of the Great Courses would ditch the canned applause at the beginning and end of every lesson. The material IS good - we don't need an “applause track” to reinforce the point.

37 people found this helpful

How the Crusades Changed Three Great Civilizations

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This lecture series is an excellent overview of the crusades. The lecturer, Professor Kenneth W. Harl, is an excellent teacher and I can highly recommended anything produced by him. If you are a lover of history he offers traditional history teaching at its best.

This series covers the era of the crusades from their origins to the ending of the era of the "canonical" crusades after the 8th crusade of King Louis of France in North Africa. One strength of this lecture series is that the author does a great job looking at the crusades from the perspectives of all of the three great civilizations involved, Western Europe, the Byzantine (Or East Roman) Empire, and Islamic Civilization. This series gives you and incredible sense of how all three civilizations interacted during this era and were influenced and changed by the crusades.

I had a few small disappointments in this series. The author does a very thorough job covering the first four of the eight canonical crusades and their surrounding events. He only really gives an overview by comparison of the last four crusades. As far as other crusading movements, he does give some treatment on the "children's crusades" and the crusade against the Cathars/The Albigensian crusade in Southern France but other crusading events such as the Reconquista of Spain and the conquests of the Germanic peoples and Teutonic knights in Northeastern Europe are given very little if any real treatment. I also think he could have drawn out some of the longterm implications of the crusades a little better. So this series will not offer the comprehensive overview that some might want, but for anyone interested in the topic it will definitely offer an amazing supplement in helping you understand this era in world history. He pulls out details and sides to the topic that probably many other authors miss.

Overall I highly recommend this for anyone interested in the topic. Enjoy your travels in "outremer"!

7 people found this helpful

Very detailed and informative

What made the experience of listening to The Era of the Crusades the most enjoyable?

I enjoyed how detailed and thorough the information was.

What did you like best about this story?

I truly had a complete understanding about the era as well as the Crusades.

What aspect of Professor Kenneth W. Harl’s performance would you have changed?

Uh I uh would uh have uh changed uh the way uh he uh presented uh the lecture.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, neither. But I was irritated because many times throughout when he came to an important point or fact he trailed off.

5 people found this helpful

Well-written.

The information is interesting and concise. Text is well-written. This is somewhat overshadowed by the presenter's vocal tics (ah and um at every pause).

4 people found this helpful

I wish he went into a little bit more details

I wish he went into a little bit more details about the battles that happened in the crusades but other than that it's a really great course full of information

3 people found this helpful

Good content

A lot of "um" and "uh" could get a bit distracting. But the content was great and speaker was passionate.

3 people found this helpful

Great Information, Narration Needs Work

The professor is very knowledgeable and passionate about the subject. He has some pet words that really create distractions. I almost quit listening and asked to return it after the first lecture because he says "Ahhh, Uhmmm, Ah well" every few words which made it quite difficult to follow. However I really wanted to learn the information so I stuck with it and after lecture 6 I got used to it. He's such a well educated and intelligent man, but his need to fill silence keeps his oratory skills from reflecting confidence in his knowledge. It would be much better if he simply paused to gather his thoughts. I hope he practices and learns to do less "ahem, AhhAhh, uhmmm" because I'd really like to hear more of his courses spoken clearly.

2 people found this helpful

Erms, ers, ahhs and ems interrupted by content

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This is the second course I could not make my way through thanks to the "presentation" of the professor. The constant "erms", "ers", "ah", "hmm", the repeated beginning of some sentence or thought, only to then correct what the narrator just said - or sometimes even forgetting what he did say, leaving contradicting statements hovering in the air - literally made me scream out: "GET TO THE POINT".
I managed about 50% of the course, then had to give up. Although I am quite familiar with the topic in general, I was hoping for some better knowledge about detail, political context and maybe even religious (historic) development. To some degree these points do shine through, so the course *IS* about what would have interested me. But the presentation is, in my eyes, highly unprofessional, unconcentrated and out-of-touch with the audience, even if that audience is invisible to the tutor.

I do understand that Mr Harl, as it is pointed out in the beginning of the recording, has achieved prices for "excellence of teaching". I am absolutely sure that he must have a great "life presence", because, for the life of me, his narration can not be the grounds on which the awards were given.

That said, I also have my problems with the content of this course. Just like with another subject I heard Mr Harl lecture about (Vikings), my impression was that he did not really *understand* what he was talking about, but put all his expertise on naming dozens, if not hundreds of characters, most of which had no relation to the topic he was just talking about (or at least he did not explain their importance for the respective detail). In a way, some parts of the course felt like:
"Mrs Adam, who was the daughter of Duke Dunctington, the brother in law of King Casimir, who was known to be the later grandfather of Sir Edward Binepass, and the brother, no, sister, actually the father of the son of Mrs Kunigunde Schwafasel, met Mr Betamax, the son of Charles the unimportant, and had nothing to say to him."

Thanks - but, no thanks. This course did NOT help me understanding the reasons, the contexts or the (long lasting) results of the crusades.

13 people found this helpful

Wonderful presentation

I have listened to a lot of audiobooks and lectures on the Middle Ages and the Crusades, and this is one of my favorites. I particularly appreciated that Prof. Harl gave so much background on the different cultures that came together in the Crusades, and the changes in society and technology that were happening as well. As a result, I understood the context for the Crusades much better. This is particularly helpful with a topic that has become controversial, and an effort that seems so distant from the modern time. Other audios on the Crusades, while also excellent, have just plunged into the Crusades themselves. Given that many aspects of the Crusades seem downright bizarre to a modern listener, Harl's more contextual approach was really helpful.

I find Prof. Harl's speaking voice enjoyable, and listened to these over several weeks in the evening before sleep. While I understand the comments about his verbal stumbles, I didn't find it irritating or distracting.

1 person found this helpful

Very learned but hard going

Prof Harl is very learned and knowledgeable but frankly I found this particular course a hard slog at times. Nonetheless it is jam packed with much information of the 10th-13th centuries of which I really had previously known very little. It is worth listening to if you have the stamina.

1 person found this helpful