Roger Crowley, The Accursed Tower: The Fall of Acre and the End of the Crusades (Michael Fulton)

Roger Crowley

The Accursed Tower: The Fall of Acre and the End of the Crusades

(Yale University Press/Basic Books, 2019) 304 pp. $25.00

It is an unfortunate reality that most introductory discussions of the crusades continue to give disproportionate attention to the first half of this story. In this traditional format, it is not uncommon for as much attention to be devoted to the First Crusade as to everything that came after. All too often, only a few thoughts are provided on events of the thirteenth century. Crowley, however, offers precisely the opposite – in a refreshingly good way. While the second half of the book is devoted to a laudable depiction of the siege of Acre in 1291, the first half provides an excellent overview of events during the ninety years or so that led up to this great siege, what proved to be the climactic end to Frankish rule in the Levant. As there remain far fewer studies of the events surrounding the crusades and the Latin East during the thirteenth century than during the preceding hundred years, this is a welcome addition.

The title of the book refers to the great tower that anchored the northeastern salient of Acre’s defences. The prologue provides a short discussion of this now lost, but once impressive, structure and an overview of the history of Acre up to the end of the twelfth century. The title is catchy but also well chosen, as this was where siege efforts were focused in 1189-91, when the city became the setting of an epic siege that corresponded with the start of the Third Crusade, and was again the place where siege activities were concentrated when the Mamluks besieged the city in 1291. Chapters one through five cover the events between these two great sieges, providing a summary of pertinent events from roughly 1200 to 1288. This includes discussions of: the significance of the city of Acre during this period; the crusades of King Louis IX of France and the reorienting of crusading efforts towards Egypt; the overthrow of the Ayyubids in Egypt; the arrival of the Mongols in Syria; the battle of Ayn Jalut; and the extension of Mamluk power and authority under Baybars and Qalawun. Chapter six addresses the Mamluk pretext to attack Acre and Qalawun’s preparations prior to his death in November 1290. Chapters seven and eight deal with the preparations of Qalawun’s son, al-Ashraf Khalil, and the deployment of his forces and artillery around Acre. Chapters nine through thirteen detail the events of the climactic siege of Acre (April-May 1291), presenting both Muslim and Christian perspectives of the fighting beyond the town’s walls, under them and finally within the city. A final chapter details the immediate aftermath of the siege and the epilogue reveals the longer-term fate of Acre and its near abandonment until it was reoccupied and refortified under the Ottomans.

There are points in any book that a specialist in the field will disagree with or consider oversimplified. In this book, aimed at a broad group of readers with little previous knowledge of the crusades, there are surprisingly few of these. The author has diligently researched his subject and presents an exceptionally well-written introduction to the second half of the crusading period. When dealing with contentious topics, such as the nature and strength of artillery during this period, the author’s thorough research has paid off and he is able to diplomatically navigate a reasonable path through such disputed issues. Throughout, he skillfully avoids the all-too-common trap of oversimplifying, generalizing, or otherwise misrepresenting complex issues in order to present things to a general audience.

The author’s greatest strength is his ability to tell a story. Leaning on the works produced by the field’s great historians and archaeologists, Crowley breathes life into the story, animating events. The final chapters, recounting the great Mamluk siege of Acre, read like a Ridley Scott movie, full of action and suspense at each step, with an ever-looming sense of even greater significance to come. While the author might be accused of reaching slightly beyond the limits of the source evidence at times, this is completely forgivable when considering the intended audience and overall enjoyment factor. There is an extensive, and effective, use of quotations throughout the book, placing the reader in the mind of contemporary observers and contributing to the vivid atmosphere created by the author. While academics might expect the use of sources slightly closer to events in a few instances (such as Ibn Abd al-Zahir rather than Ibn al-Furat for the reign of Baybars), the author’s selections are usually the most available, which will assist readers who are inspired to consult the primary sources for themselves. In other instances, translated passages have been provided from pertinent sources that have not yet been published in English, such as the Excidium Aconis and the histories of Baybars al-Mansuri and Badr al-Din al-Ayni.

This is an entertaining page-turner, which will no doubt educate and encourage enthusiasm among those with little previous knowledge of the crusades. Critically, the author achieves this not by offering up a plateful of sensational anecdotes or conspiracy theories, which so often fill the pages of popular books on the crusades, but by revealing how interesting the unembellished facts of this period can be. While an undergraduate audience might benefit from greater referencing, for a general audience this is an excellent introduction to the lesser-known half of the Levantine crusader period, and the great siege which corresponds with its end. The book is very reasonably priced and the author’s vivid descriptions of events mitigate the need for colour images or photographs, which would inevitably have increased the price considerably. A few well-chosen engravings, maps and redrawn manuscript images are sufficient to provide the reader with everything needed to imagine the colourful and animated scenes described by Crowley. I would not be surprised if more than a few readers were encouraged to delve more into the subject of the crusades, the Levant in the thirteenth century or siege warfare during this period, all of which are currently enjoying a surge of scholarly interest.

Michael S. Fulton
Langara College

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