Summary This volume is an introduction to eleven of the main medieval Eastern Christian historians used by modern scholars to reconstruct the events and personalities of the crusading period in the Levant. Each of the chapters examines one historian and their work(s), and first contains an introductory examination of their life, background and influences. This is then followed by a study of their work(s) relevant to the Crusades, including the reasons for writing, themes, and methodology. Such an approach will allow modern researchers to better understand the background and contexts to these texts, and thus to reconstruct the past in a more nuanced and detailed way. Written by eleven eminent scholars in their fields, and examining chronicles written in Armenian, Greek, Syriac, and Arabic, this book will be essential reading for anybody engaged in research on the Crusades, as well as Eastern Christian and Islamic history, and medieval historiography. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction - Alex Mallett Greek Texts: Anna Comnena - Jonathan Shepard John Kinnamos - Chris Hobbs Niketas Choniates - Alicia Simpson George Akropolites - Ruth Macrides and Jeff Brubaker Armenian Texts: Matthew of Edessa - Tara Andrews Smbat - Sergio La Porta Syriac Texts: Michael the Syrian - Dorothea Weltecke Anonymous Chronicle to 1234 - Herman Teule Bar Hebraeus - Marianna Mazzola Copto-Arabic Texts: Al-Makin Ibn al-Amid - Anne-Marie Edd History of the Patriarchs of the Egyptian Church - Alex Mallett and Johannes Den Heijer Index