{"product_id":"the-first-crusade-the-call-from-the-east-9780674059948","title":"The First Crusade: The Call from the East","description":"\u003cp\u003eAccording to tradition  the First Crusade began at the instigation of Pope Urban II and culminated in July 1099  when thousands of western European knights liberated Jerusalem from the rising menace of Islam. But what if the First Crusades real catalyst lay far to the east of Rome? In this groundbreaking book  countering nearly a millennium of scholarship  Peter Frankopan reveals the untold history of the First Crusade.  Nearly all historians of the First Crusade focus on the papacy and its willing warriors in the West  along with innumerable popular tales of bravery  tragedy  and resilience. In sharp contrast  Frankopan examines events from the East  in particular from Constantinople  seat of the Christian Byzantine Empire. The result is revelatory. The true instigator of the First Crusade  we see  was the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos  who in 1095  with his realm under siege from the Turks and on the point of collapse  begged the pope for military support.  Basing his account on long-ignored eastern sources  Frankopan also gives a provocative and highly original explanation of the world-changing events that followed the First Crusade. The Vaticans victory cemented papal power  while Constantinople  the heart of the still-vital Byzantine Empire  never recovered. As a result  both Alexios and Byzantium were consigned to the margins of history. From Frankopans revolutionary work  we gain a more faithful understanding of the way the taking of Jerusalem set the stage for western Europes dominance up to the present day and shaped the modern world.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45648124674101,"sku":"ByrdShop_0674059948","price":52.74,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780674059948.jpg?v=1781710118","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-first-crusade-the-call-from-the-east-9780674059948","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}