The Crusades (TV 1995)

Terry Jones presents the history of the medieval religious wars in the middle-east known as the Crusades.

Directors:

Alan Ereira, David Wallace

Writers:

Alan Ereira, Terry Jones

Stars:

Terry Jones, Anthony Smee, Steve Purbrick

Cast

Credited cast:
Terry Jones	...	Himself / Presenter
Anthony Smee	...	Urban II
Steve Purbrick	...	Preacher
Marcello Walton	...	Radulph of Caen / Tancred (as Marcello Maraschalchi)
Robin Sebastian	...	Hugh of France
Kate Binchy	...	Anna Comnena
Suheil Zakkar	...	Himself
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sean Arnold	...	St. Bernard
Jaromír Borek	...	Narrator, German Version (voice)
Victor Couzyn	...	Narrator, German Version (voice)
Kammy Darweish	...	William of Tyre
Fikret Isiltan	...	Himself (as Professor Fikret Isiltan)
Christopher Lamb	...	Richard I
Norbert Langer	...	Narrator (voice)
David Lazenby	...	Himself

Storyline

In this series, Terry Jones presents the recounting of the religious wars for control of the "Holy Lands" waged by Christian Europe against the Islamic world. In addition, Terry Jones recreates specific aspects of those events by exploring the lives of pivotal figures, the technology and the politics of the era. Furthermore, Terry Jones also shows how these acts of religious bigotry at its worst have led to many of the political and ethnic problems we have today.

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Plot Keywords:

middle east | crusades | bigotry | medieval times | religious persecution | 

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Taglines:

Geschichte der Kreuzzüge

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Genres:

Documentary | History | War

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 January 1995 (UK)

Also Known As:

Crusades: Pilgrim in Arms

Company Credits

Production Co:

A&E Television Networks, BBC Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

200 min 192 min 200 min (4 parts)

Color:

Color

User Reviews

you wan't the truth? you can't handle the truth ....

... to quote the great Jack Nicholson. while it is true that in any conflict there are atrocities on both sides, not one of the negative commentators can refute any of the claims made in this series, they can only point out that it is one sided. well yes, that is the point, it is about the Christian crusades, if it was about the side of the muslims it would have been called "jihad" or something. it is very suitable that a python would handle this subject since much of it verges on farcical, if it weren't so utterly horrible. just the fact that when they finally get to to Jerusalem not only is it not occupied by the people that were supposedly oppressing it (the turks were already kicked out) that in fact everybody was getting along quite well. that's a python moment if there ever was one! i can hear the dialogue now

Christian: "We have to come to rescue you from the infidel blasphemers!"

jerusalem resident: "No thank you, we're doing just dandy actually, perhaps you would like to save the next city?"

Christian: "But we have travelled for years through untold hardship and struggle to kick out the infidels! God has willed it!"

jerusalem resident: "Look, it's not my fault we're not being oppressed, what do you want me to do, beat myself over the head?"

and so on .... and of course they end up looting and pillaging the "holy city". and you know, i don't think the Arab world has forgotten this period as much as we have, and we are still paying for those dark and bloody times. i'm glad this series was made, we must face the truths of history, no matter how ugly they are or how much they shatter our fragile myths we have created to shield ourselves from the true horrors of our past.