How were the Crusades, and the crusaders, narrated, described, and romanticised by the various communities that experienced or remembered them? This Companion provides a critical overview of the diverse and multilingual literary output connected with crusading over the last millennium, from the first writings which sought to understand and report on what was happening, to contemporary medievalism, in which crusading is a potent image of holy war and jihad. The chapters show the enduring legacy of the crusaders' imagery, from the chansons de geste to Walter Scott, from Charlemagne to Orlando Bloom. Whilst the crusaders' hold on Jerusalem was relatively short-lived, the desire for Jerusalem has had a long afterlife in many cultural contexts and media.

Part I. Genres:
1. Chronicles Elizabeth Lapina
2. Chansons de geste Marianne Ailes
3. The troubadours and their lyrics Linda Paterson
Part II. Contexts and Communities:
4. Rome, Byzantium, and the Idea of Holy War Connor Wilson
5. Women's writing and patronage Helen Nicholson
6. Reading and writing in Outremer Anthony Bale
7. Hebrew crusade literature in its Latin and Arabic contexts Uri Zvi Shachar
Part III. Themes and Images:
8. The earthly and heavenly Jerusalem Suzanne Yeager
9. Orientalism and the 'Saracen' Lynn Ramey
10. Chivalry, masculinity, and sexuality Matthew Mesley
Part IV. Heroes:
11. Richard the Lionheart and Saladin Christine Chism
12. 'El Cid' (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar) Julian Weiss
13. Charlemagne, Godfrey of Bouillon, and Louis IX of France Anne Latowsky
Part V. Afterlives:
14. Romance and crusade in Late Medieval England Robert Rouse
15. Renaissance crusading literature Lee Manion
16. Crusading and medievalism Louise D'Arcens.

Anthony Bale, Birkbeck College, University of London
Anthony Bale is Professor of Medieval Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London. His previous publications include a new translation of The Book of Margery Kempe (2015); a translation of John Mandeville's The Book of Marvels and Travels (2012); Feeling Persecuted: Christians, Jews and Images of Violence in the Middle Ages (2010); and as editor St Edmund King and Martyr: Changing Images of a Medieval Saint (2009).