The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Crusades

• An introduction to the Dark Ages and the Renaissance, and why Pope Urban II would grant absolution to anyone who reclaimed the Holy Land for Christianity.
• The origins of such Holy Orders as the Knights Templar, the Hospitallers, and the Teutonic Knights—and the roles they played during the Crusades.
• The creation of such items as chastity belts, razors, stained glass, perfume, the crossbow, the compass, and public latrines.
• The nobles—Richard the Lion Heart, Louis IX, and Frederick II—and the Muslim leaders—Saladin, Zengi, and Nur ed-Din—who held the lives of thousands in their hands.