This article examines both contemporary sources and (in particular) modern works on the Crusades to the Middle East, highlighting both the material available for study and the current state of scholarship of women and Islamic cultures during the period.

It should be noted that this article is concerned only with the Crusades to the Levant, and does not deal with the literature for the Reconquista in Spain or crusades elsewhere. It is divided into two sections, the first devoted to Muslim women, and the sec…