Crusader Castles

by T.E. Lawrence

Examines the designs of the castles built by the Crusaders in the East and discusses medieval military architecture

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Architecture

1 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

Born Thomas Edward Lawrence, and known professionally as T.E. Lawrence, though the world came to know him as Lawrence of Arabia. In 1922, Lawrence used the name John Hume Ross to enlist in the RAF; after being discovered and forced out, he took the name T.E. Shaw to join the Royal Tank Corps (1923). He was eventually let back into the RAF (1925).

Reviews

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having resolved to read everything written by T. E. Lawrence, I inevitably picked up his college thesis, published posthumously under the title Crusader Castles.

It's a very rare book, but happily a New Year's discount made the Folio Society edition a good option, and I couldn't have been more pleased with the customer service, shipping, and, of course, the edition itself. The FS release is a reprint of the original two-volume edition, and it includes an excellent introduction by biographer Mark Bostridge, whose interest in WWI history makes it a worthy addition.

Through the introduction, you learn that T. E. Lawrence completed his thesis just four years before the outbreak of WWI. For his research, he had already traveled extensively in Britain and France, and even to Syria and Palestine - his first exposure to the Middle East and its climate, both in a geographical and political sense.

His topic? In his own words, he set out to prove "The Influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture to the end of the Twelfth Century." In what became his trademark style, Lawrence was not afraid to take on an opposing viewpoint, even if it meant going against Sir Charles Oman, the Oxonian expert on the subject at the time, whose own stance was that East had influenced West, not vice-versa. Lawrence, not without basis, was confident he could out-research Oman and convince his examiners that the Crusaders took their own architecture to the Holy Land.

Violently controversial points are usually settled by a plain assertion, for simplicity and peace. If they are of importance in my argument they may be discussed.

It takes a geek to know one, and certainly, readers without prior knowledge of "Ned" will find this book too niche to appreciate. For fans, Crusader Castles is a gold mine of insights on his young adulthood, both in terms of personal development and in his relationships to his mentors, his family, and the world at large.

T. E.'s taste for physical exertion and adventure is well known; what is more interesting here is his capacity for organization and process. The book is filled with sketches and photographs of the castles he visits; touristy postcards were, as he points out, not capable of doing justice to the edifices. Beyond what mere observation would reveal, his drawings of castles plans show an incredible attention to scale and detail, labelled carefully and referred to in his writing with the same exactness that a mathematician might use with a graph. T. E. clearly put the science into "social science," and his commentary on crusader strategy not only points to his own extensive reading, but also to the systematic workings of his mind, which played not a small role in the Arab Revolt.

What I enjoyed most about Crusader Castles was the personal side. Luckily for us, T. E. later added margin notes to his paper, a sort of "Older Ned Reacts to Younger Ned" commentary. His notes are two-fold: they critique his youthful research and writing style, while adding insights he gained from further thought or experience. More than that, they showcase his sense of humor, from schoolboyish remarks on "admirable latrines" to gleeful tut-tuts on his college-aged criticisms of other writers. Even within the original paper, there are delightful references to his castle climbing and (irresistibly) an encounter with a nest of snakes.

That Ned heartily enjoyed himself is no secret. The second half of the book contains a selection of letters he wrote to his family while he was abroad. Each one is fairly technical for a personal letter, suggesting he relied on his mother's care of them to supplement his notes later. A handful of these letters comes from his time in the Middle East, and here we see the very first glimpse of the legendary Lawrence. It was still an innocent time in his life, when being shot at by a local was a great adventure, and that joy of exploration could not have been a small reason he soon returned to Syria as an archeologist.

Of all the book, maybe my favorite part was his letter from Aigues-Mortes, a medieval castle-city in the south of France. It is the oddity in the volume, because it is an emotional letter, in which Ned's enthusiasm for his trip and his research cannot be subdued. He quotes Blake and Shelley, letting his love of poetry show through, and in a glimpse, we see the same passion for landscape that colored his description of Wadi Rum in Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

You are all wrong, Mother dear, a mountain may be a great thing, a grand thing, but it is better to be peaceful, and quiet, and pure, omnia pacata posse mente tueri, if that is the best state, then a plain is the best country: the purifying influence is the paramount one in a plain, there one can sit down quietly and think of anything, or nothing which Wordsworth says is best, one feels the littleness of things, of details, and the great and unbroken level of peacefulness of the whole: no, give me a level plain, extending as far as the eye can reach, and there I have enough of beauty to satisfy me, and tranquility as well!

[Arthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is rather dry reading if one is not completely obsessed with medieval military architecture. I picked it up because it's by T. E. Lawrence. There's almost nothing about Lawrence himself in the book since it's his thesis about castles. What is fascinating is that it took him many years of traveling trough England, France, and the Near East to gather the information in order to write this. Many of his travels were done on bicycle. I'm sure his pre-war adventures helped prepare him for his role in the war as "Lawrence of Arabia". (I think in a letter somewhere he complains about the Arabs tearing-up the Hejaz railway. Ironically, that's exactly what he'll be doing during the war. Lawrence the Train-Wrecker.) The book contains excellent photographs taken by himself. The section on Krak des Chevaliers is my favorite, with great photographs. The section on the castles of France is also very nicely done. This edition has a thorough introduction by a scholar of the subject. In it he discusses Lawrence's ideas and thesis in light of current (1988) historical and archeological evidence.

[N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish I could pull off Ned's snark & pizzazz in the thesis-writing business.

[Patrick Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is charming. I do wish I knew a little more about Castles though as without that background, much of the book, which is Lawrence repturously describing fortifications, did rather sweep past me.

Points of interest;

The second part of the book is made up of Lawrences letters to his mother about his holidays and is incredibly sweet. Its "I love you", followed by page after page of L describing his explorations and discoveries in France and Syria. Including this rather prescient comment;

"You are all wrong, Mother dear, a mountain may be a great thing, a grand thing, but it is better to be peaceful, and quiet and pure, _omnia pacata posse mente tueri_, if that is the best state, then a plain is the best country: the purifying influence is the paramount one in a plain, there one can sit down quietly and think of anything, or nothing which Wordsworth says is best, one feels the littleness of things, of details, and the great and unbroken peacefulness of the whole: no, give me a level plain, extending as far as the eye can reach, and there I have enough of beauty to satisfy me, and tranquility as well! _that_ one could never have in mountains: there is always the feeling that one is going up or down: that one will be better, will see clearer from the top than from the valleys: stick to the plains Mother and all ye little worms, you will be happiest there."

Other moments are Lawrence clinging to the edge of a castle wall, leaning his arm into a closed room to feel inaccessible carvings, Lawrence accidentally crucifying himself on some thorns while trying to climb a castle wall "I have spoilt my beauty"), Lawrence tenderly crossing a dark cool room full of snakes "no puttees!" to get deeper into a Syrian ruin etc etc.

His photographs and diagrams are interesting.

A curiosity, a fine one. One lost on me as I know shit all about castles, but one I do not necessarily regret.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

c2010. This was a really interesting book and beautifully presented as well (in its own box!). The thesis part was of interest but it was the side notes made by Lawrence on his self-review that make it such an intimate look at this larger than life character. The letters home were also so sweet and really illustrate how relatively safe travel was in those days - and the ease of it as well. Definitely recommended.

[Miriam]

Lawrence was 21 years old, wandering around alone in Palestine and Syria, gathering data for his thesis. What an experience to prepare him for his future role as Lawrence of Arabia!

[Banbury · Rating 1 out of 5]

If this book had been written by anyone other than T.E. Lawrence, no one other than the college dons would have read it. Indeed, the best part of it is imagining T.E. Lawrence riding his bicycle through France and walking great distances in the Middle East. He was clearly adventurous. However, his writing is just dull and without any organization that I can discern. The descriptions of the castles seem merely to be higgledy-piggledy as he came across them. Despite the announced thesis that the architecture of the Levantine and Byzantine castles were influenced by the architecture of Norman (European) castles, rather than the other way around, there is not really much discussion comparing the castles or proving his point. He does give an exhaustive description of several castles, which may be useful as a record.
The letters to his mother were simply dreadful. He describes with excruciating yet unenlightening detail the castles he visits--including the length of walls, their thickness, how many steps in staircases, etc. An example:

The West Gate (Roman) still exists entire. It is rather like a tunnel and is about 11 feet high but only 5 feet wide. Its masonry is rubble and every two feet up are four courses of Roman tile; the stone work is regular at the bottom and has been squared. Up above it degenerates. There are about four rows of tiling all together; and the wall is about 13 feet high. The mortar is as soft as cheese. Next the gate was a guardroom nearly perfect; all except its roof, which had been of wood. The stone vaulting of the gate and guardhouse passage was perfect.

P. 135. Pages and pages of such "description."

[Paul Cassedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting little book on the subject. Lawrence (of later Arabia fame) wrote it as an undergraduate thesis at university in 1909. Quite a few of his points have since been supported by recent scholarship. My read was the Folio Society edition, which includes his letters about his prior bicycling tours of France to visit old fortifications and castles there, some of which research ended up in the thesis. A fast easy read in one night of 12,000 words.

[Eliot · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my first encounter with a book of history that I would term "too old to read", that is, so outdated as to be useless. Seemingly every conclusion or assumption stated by the author was refuted by the editor via footnote.
If you'd like to know more about crusader castles, there are many better options.

[Wren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll have to reread this for sure because I sort of glazed over all the actual contents of his thesis. I really appreciated all the letters at the end for context surrounding the thesis, as well as the fact he opened the paper with an apology for how boring it was and a request that people not criticize it too harshly, he’s so real for that.

[Kevin Orrman-Rossiter · Rating 4 out of 5]

very entertaining, for what may seem to be a dry topic. Lawrence's keen eye and ever so droll delivery are very evident in this early thesis and letters. Wish any of my theses were half as interesting or written with such verve.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lawrence's first book, long sought after. Published in pb, widely available, unlike the first edition.Interesting line drawings for mil. architecture buffs and brief insight into TE's ostensible activities, pre-war. He also did a spot of looking 'round for HM government.But he does not talk about that.