The Staufer dynasty (often known in English as the Hohenstaufen) ruled over the kingdom of Germany and, hence, the Western Empire, from the middle of the twelfth century to the middle of the thirteenth. Originating in the duchy of Swabia, Conrad iii (d.1152) was the first of the house to ascend the German throne. Conrad iv (d.1254) was the last of seven members of the dynasty to hold that office. Of those seven, three – Frederick Barbarossa (d.1190), Henry vi (d.1197) and Frederick ii (d.1250) – were also inaugurated emperor. For a century, then, the Staufer dynasty dominated political affairs in central Europe. Like many other royal and aristocratic families over the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, successive generations of the dynasty participated in crusading expeditions. Their military efforts intertwined with some of the most significant phases in crusading history, including Conrad iii's participation in the Second Crusade in the 1140s, and Frederick Barbarossa's departure in 1189 at the head of a substantial German army as part of the Third Crusade (he died the following year in Asia Minor, en route to the Holy Land). Observers – medieval and modern alike – have paid particular attention to the crusade conducted by Frederick ii to the Near East in 1228–9. In about a year in the region, Frederick restored the Holy City to Christian control through negotiation (it had been captured by Saladin in 1187), and underwent an inauguration ceremony in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre formally to become king of Jerusalem, all while under a sentence of excommunication issued by the papacy.

Fischer's book on the crusades of the Staufer follows closely his comparable 2021 volume Österreichs Kreuzzüge, which traced the crusading efforts over several generations of the Babenberg dynasty. The book presently under review comprises eight chapters of varying lengths. Four of the lengthiest narrate the political and military history of a particular crusading expedition to Jerusalem spearheaded by a Staufer monarch (Conrad iii and the Second Crusade; Frederick Barbarossa and the Third Crusade; Henry vi and the ‘German’ crusade of 1197–8; the above-mentioned crusade of Frederick ii). The approach of this book, then, correlates with what has come to be known as the ‘traditionalist’ view of crusade history. This term was influentially treated by Giles Constable more than two decades ago as part of an effort to provide a taxonomy of historiography on crusade studies. Essentially, according to this ‘traditionalist’ view, crusades were chiefly those expeditions which were targeted at Jerusalem (or the Near East), and which took place before 1291, before the last vestiges of Latin-held territory in the region fell.

Though much of the content of Fischer's book will be familiar to historians of the crusades and the Latin East, it does contain material that is of interest. The section dealing with the expedition of the future Conrad iii to Jerusalem in the mid-1120s (pp. 22–31) is useful; often, in Anglophone historiography especially, Conrad's involvement with the affairs of the Latin East is associated only with the Second Crusade, with the circumstances of his journey to the Holy City some two decades earlier generally mentioned in passing, if at all. Perhaps the most interesting content of this book comes in the final chapter, which thematically examines Staufer crusading activity ‘in Skizzen und Schlaglichtern’ (‘in sketches and highlights’). The subjects briefly considered include the role played by women in crusading history (pp. 207–13), the influence of the crusades in the work of renowned German poets such as Wolfram of Eschenbach (pp. 216–21), and the place of crusading history in nineteenth- and twentieth-century imaginings of the storied figure of Frederick Barbarossa (pp. 224–30).

Yet, it is nevertheless the case that academics with an interest in crusading history in the High Middle Ages will likely find in this book little that they regard as innovative. Though published by a university press (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, associated with Göttingen, in its Böhlau imprint), this book is evidently targeted at a broader audience than a purely academic one. While it is arguably invidious to assess a book seemingly intended for popular audiences according to academic standards, it is still worth highlighting relevant developments in crusade studies in the past few decades, greater engagement with which may have proved profitable. One thinks here above all of thought-provoking work devoted to the functions and characteristics of dynastic crusading in the period under focus. This strand of historiography includes works such as James L. Naus's study of the French crown's involvement in crusading over successive generations during roughly the same timespan as the Staufer, and Nicholas L. Paul's book on the place of crusading history in the formation of aristocratic family memories in Western Europe in this era. A short but useful study by Rudolf Hiestand, published nearly thirty years ago, took a similar approach to twelfth-century Germany. Taking inspiration from such works, it would be possible to explore how far participation in crusading was a conscious effort by members of the Staufer house to shape a dynastic image. One might also consider the extent to which earlier dynastic activity shaped later efforts; to what degree did a figure like Frederick ii take the cross as a way of intentionally following in the footsteps of crusading forebears Frederick Barbarossa (his grandfather) or Conrad iii? Addressing questions such as these might have provided a means of fleshing out the narrative bones of this book.

While the final chapter does feature a short appraisal of the crusade east of the Elbe against the Wends of Eastern Europe (pp. 221–4) – that expedition, commenced in 1147, is usually categorised as one front of the Second Crusade – one cannot help but feel it would have been instructive to have included a fuller discussion of the Staufer (often indirect) involvement in Latin Christian expansion at its eastern borders, through, for instance, the dynasty's dealings with the Teutonic Order. That process, which unfolded over the following centuries, long after the Staufer dynasty lost its hold on the German throne, encompassed the conquest and colonisation of land that later became Prussia, along with other lands around the Baltic. This process of expansion, begun in the era of the Staufer, was also carried out at least in part under the banner of the cross.