Georges Tate

Georges Tate retraces the stages of this bloody confrontation between two worlds in this small volume—L'Orient des Croisades (lit. 'The East of the Crusades'; UK edition – The Crusades and the Holy Land; US edition – The Crusaders: Warriors of God)—published by Éditions Gallimard in their Découvertes collection. According to standards of the collection, the book is profusely illustrated with colour plates—illustrations taken from medieval illuminated manuscripts, maps, mosaics, frescoes, photographs, drawings, engravings, 19th-century paintings, etc.—and printed on glossy paper.

Georges Tate studied at the École normale supérieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud and received a doctorate in literature, then he taught history at the École Supérieure des Lettres de Beyrouth [fr]. He was secretary and then became director of the Institut d'archéologie du Proche-Orient from 1980 to 1990. From 1990 to 1994, he was professor of ancient history at the University of Franche-Comté. He also held the position of Cultural Advisor in Baghdad. As a specialist in the East from the 3rd century BC to the 12th century AD, he has published numerous articles on Syria's rural economy and society from Roman times to the Byzantine Empire.

Georges Tate (26 February 1943 – 5 June 2009) was a French historian and professor of ancient history and archaeology at the Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University, Doctor of Arts and correspondent of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. He was a specialist on the history of late antiquity and Early Middle Ages in Near East.