Editing Steven Runciman (section)

==Assessment==
Edward Peters (2011) says Runciman's three-volume narrative history of the Crusades "instantly became the most widely known and respected single-author survey of the subject in English."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peters |first=Edward |url={{GBurl|PSOSJWG3E2MC|pg=PA314}} |title=The First Crusade: "The Chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres" and Other Source Materials |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-0812204728 |page=314 |author-link=Edward Peters (scholar) }}</ref>

[[John M. Riddle]] (2008) says that for the greater part of the twentieth century Runciman was the "greatest historian of the Crusades." He reports that, "Prior to Runciman, in the early part of the century, historians related the Crusades as an idealistic attempt of Christendom to push Islam back." Runciman regarded the Crusades "as a barbarian invasion of a superior civilization, not that of the Muslims but of the Byzantines."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Riddle |first=John M |url={{GBurl|rhWpPr93KjMC|pg=PA315}} |title=A History of the Middle Ages, 300–1500 |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |year=2008 |isbn=9780742554092 |page=315 |author-link=John M. Riddle |language=en}}</ref>

[[Thomas F. Madden]] (2005) stresses the impact of Runciman's style and viewpoint:
<blockquote>It is no exaggeration to say that Runciman single-handedly crafted the current popular concept of the crusades. The reasons for this are twofold. First, he was a learned man with a solid grasp of the chronicle sources. Second, and perhaps more important, he wrote beautifully. The picture of the crusades that Runciman painted owed much to current scholarship yet much more to Sir Walter Scott. Throughout his history Runciman portrayed the crusaders as simpletons or barbarians seeking salvation through the destruction of the sophisticated cultures of the east. In his famous "summing-up" of the crusades he concluded that "the Holy War in itself was nothing more than a long act of intolerance in the name of God, which is a sin against the Holy Ghost.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Madden |first=Thomas F |url={{GBurl|fKYxKsgVpmMC|pg=PA216}} |title=The New Concise History of the Crusades |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |year=2005 |isbn=9780742538221 |page=216 |author-link=Thomas F. Madden |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>

Mark K. Vaughn (2007) says "Runciman's three-volume ''History of the Crusades'' remains the primary standard of comparison." However, Vaughn says that Tyerman "accurately, if perhaps with a bit of hubris, notes that Runciman's work is now outdated and seriously flawed."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vaughn |first=Mark K. |date=2007 |title=God's War: A New History of the Crusades |url=https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2015&context=nwc-review |url-status=live |journal=[[Naval War College Review]] |volume=60 |issue=2 |page=159 |issn=0028-1484 |jstor=26396832 |oclc=1779130 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924141636/https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2015&context=nwc-review |archive-date=2020-09-24 |language=en}}</ref> Tyerman himself has said, "It would be folly and hubris to pretend to compete, to match, as it were, my clunking computer keyboard with his [Runciman's] pen, at once a rapier and a paintbrush; to pit one volume, however substantial, with the breadth, scope and elegance of his three."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Madden |first=Thomas F. |author-link=Thomas F. Madden |date=December 2006 |title=Fighting the Good Fight |url=https://www.firstthings.com/article/2006/12/fighting-the-good-fight |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022182427/https://www.firstthings.com/article/2006/12/fighting-the-good-fight |archive-date=2020-10-22 |access-date=2022-03-03 |publisher=[[First Things]] |language=en}}</ref>