This central and important book reliably presents to us, in one volume, three of the most interesting contemporary accounts of the Crusades. The first is by Richard of Devizes and tells not only of events taking place in the Holy Land but also connects these with what was happening in England at the time. The second account is a work by Geoffrey de Vinsauf on the Third Crusade. This is a reliable account written by an eye witness to those ferocious assaults which Saladin made on the Christians and of the firmness with which Richard the Lionheart repulsed them. The third work is a memoir of Saint Louis, the Crusading King of France, written by Lord John de Joinville. All three accounts are a must not only for their content but for their contract as well.