The Crusades...

....were the topic of an absolutely brilliant lecture yesterday at The Keys, the Catholic Writers' Guild, at St Mary Moorfields

Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith, who has written a number of books on the Crusades, gave us a real insight into the current Islamic mindset about the Crusades, and how it was formed. All sorts of things went into this talk - Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, and Kaiser Wilhelm, and Saladin (did you know he was a Kurd? No, nor did I) and much more.

BTW, all Catholic writers/journalists/broadcasters are eligible to join the Guild. Current Master of the The Keys, which is the London branch, is journalist Melanie McDonagh. There are also branches in the North-West (meeting in Manchester at the University chaplaincy) and in the North East. If you are interested, send a Comment to this blog, WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS INCLUDED OR I CANNOT REPLY TO YOU and I'll send you further information.