What were the Crusades? -- Before the Crusades-deep background -- Before the Crusades-immediate circumstances -- The First Crusade and conquest of Jerusalem -- The rise of the Templars -- Defending the Crusader States, 1099-1144 -- The Second Crusade-false steps and failure -- Saladin-general and sultan -- The Third Crusade-we three kings -- The Fourth Crusade-conquest of Constantinople -- Crusades in Spain -- The Northern Crusades -- The children's and Albigensian Crusades -- Fifth and Sixth Crusades-tragedy and oddity -- Louis IX-the Crusader saint -- The Hohenstaufen and Shepherds' Crusades -- The fall-1291 -- The Crusades and their critics -- 19. War and travel-the experience of crusading -- Life in the Crusader East -- Cultural contact and exchange -- Crusade and mission -- The Crusades and the course of history, part 1 -- The Crusades and the course of history, part 2.