We are very pleased to share that one of our academic staff, Professor Jonathan Harris, has edited a collection of essays for The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades!

In March 2026, Oxford University Press published a new edition of  The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades. It aims to present the latest advances in research on the medieval Crusades in an accessible and engaging way, looking at the phenomenon not just from the point of view of a Western European military elite but also from that of Muslims, Jews, Orthodox Christians and women.  This book has a close association with the History Department at Royal Holloway. The first edition, which came out in 1995, was edited by Jonathan Riley-Smith (1938-2016) who was  Professor of Crusading History here from 1978 to 1994. The new version is edited by a current member of staff, Jonathan Harris. The chapters of the book are written by 15 different authors but more than half of them are connected with Royal Holloway in some way or another. One, Jonathan Phillips, also currently teaches in the department while seven others completed their PhDs here. The Crusades are one of our strongest research areas and they also feature in our undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.