Although the crusader states in the Holy Land were never hugely powerful in themselves, they had significance out of all proportion to their size for medieval Christendom at large, and were the continuing focal point for the crusading impulse from the west. In this key new text, Holt takes a fresh look at the Crusades and investigates their social, political and ethnic impact in the region. He looks at the involvement of the crusaders states in local politics - how they used division amongst their Muslim neighbours for their own benefit but also how they created alliances with them and fought alongside them, and their reaction to the perceived threat of the Christian Orthodox Byzantine Empire.