Franks and Saracens Reality and Fantasy in the Crusades

This is the first and only book to examine the Crusades from the added viewpoint of psychoanalysis, studying the hidden emotions and fantasies that drove the Crusaders and the Muslims to undertake their terrible wars. The reader will learn that the deepest and most powerful motives for the Crusades were not only religious or territorial - or the quest for lands, wealth or titles - but also unconscious emotions and fantasies about one's country, one's religion, one's enemies, God and the Devil, Us and Them. The book also demonstrates the collective inability to mourn large-group losses and the collective needs of large groups such as nations and religions to develop a clear identity, to have boundaries, and to have enemies and allies. Motives which the Crusaders and the Muslims were not aware of were among the most powerful in driving several centuries of terrible and seemingly endless warfare.

About the Author , Preface , Us and them , Romans, Germans, and Berbers , Frankish myths of origin , From Franks to Crusaders , The fantasy of the “Holy Roman Empire” , A short history of the “Saracens” , The First Crusade: a “pilgrimage” to rescue the “Holy Land” , The fantastic “Kingdom of Jerusalem” , The Second Crusade: persisting fantasies , Templars and Hospitallers: monkish knights , The “Saracens” look at the “Franks” , The Third Crusade: a “lion-hearted” king in search of a “holy land” , The Fourth Crusade: Christians massacre Christians , The Fifth Crusade: a fantastic invasion of Egypt , The Sixth Crusade: winning Jerusalem peacefully , The Seventh Crusade: the unhappy war of “Saint Louis” , The Eighth Crusade: “Saint Louis” fails again and dies , The Ninth Crusade: the last fantasy , Aftermath: the end of a two-century fantasy , “The new Crusaders”

Avner Falk