To Follow in Their Footsteps: The Crusades and Family Memory in the High Middle Ages

[To Follow in Their Footsteps] is a stimulating contribution to each of the two subjects it covers. Its publication should mark a new phase in critical discussion about how the crusades were interpreted in the middle ages.

[Paul] weaves a history of the texts produced about crusader families into an analytic framework that draws on the insights of anthropology, literary theory, and sociology. Eschewing the more traditional positivist reading of crusade chronicles and family histories, Paul lays bare the various and variegated components of these texts, highlighting the role of women, objects, orality, romance, ritual, and liturgy in the collective articulation of dynastic memory. To Follow in Their Footsteps marks a critical moment in the creation of a new cultural history of crusading.

A prominent example (of many) from Medieval Europe of how past generations were invoked to mould the actions of their successors is supplied by the crusades. As Nicholas Paul puts it in this lively new account, crusading was always a family matter. And by family he means the dead as wll as the quick.... In the first part of the book, Paul provides a splendidly informative, illuminating and often entertaining description and analysis of what, how and where ancestral voices could have been heard by putative crusaders in the twelfth century.

Paul showcases examples of two effective monarchs constantly exhorted to crusade, Henry II of England and Alfonso II of Aragon. For all the literary energy expended trying to persuade them, neither actually went, although their sons did. In the end, Paul suggests noble memory kept the idea of the crusade alive long after it had been laid to rest by governments and Christian society. Summing Up: Recommended.

Paul's book is an important contribution to crusading scholarship inthat it expands the current scholarship on memory and commemoration.An added strength of this work lies in the variety of themes undertaken.This is a compelling work that opens the way for further scholarship andmethodologies on many aspects of crusading, not least of all the ways inwhich texts and objects intersected with individuals and families to providemeaning and context to the early crusaders.

The real achievement of this book is not so much that it is the 'last word' on aristocrats and the Crusades. Rather, in the sheer variety of the themes that it tackles, it broadens scope for discussion of this crucial issue. Paul's book may well follow in Marcus Bull's footsteps, and set the agenda for the 'next generation' of investigation into the topic. That is no mean achievement for the author's first book.

The result is a very thoughtful and thought-provoking study of the impulses, dynamics and mechanisms involved in the shaping of medieval social memories and identities, and the long-term impact of the crusades on Europe's collective memory and culture. It is by all measures an intensely meticulous piece of research, presented by the author in an engaging way. Those inspired to delve deeper into the 'memories' of the many families and individuals introduced throughout the chapters will be greatly helped by the book's four appendices.

To Follow in Their Footsteps is a work of very high quality. Nicholas L. Paul is fully conversant with the field of crusade history and the history of twelfth-century England and the Plantagenet realm. He excels in relating texts and material objects to political history and the construction of memory. This is the first book to have gathered so many examples of individuals preparing for what were long, expensive, and ultimately disruptive journeys.