Constructing kingship breaks new ground by examining and contextualizing the role of the crusades in the growth and development of the French monarchy in the Central Middle Ages. It considers the challenge to political authority that confronted the French kings and their family members as a result of their failure to join the early crusades and their less than impressive involvement in later ones. Crusading kings such as Louis IX of France and Richard I of England exert a unique hold on our historical imagination; it is easy to forget that European rulers were not always eager participants in...