Roger Crowley (born 1951) is a British historian and author known for his books on

maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Pr ...

and

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

history.

Life and career

Roger Crowley was educated at

Sherborne School (God and My Right) , established = 705 by Aldhelm, re-founded by King Edward VI 1550 , closed = , type = Public school Independent, boarding school , religion = Church of England , president = , chair_label = Chairman of the governors ...

and read English at Emmanuel College Cambridge. As the child of a naval family, early experiences of life in Malta gave him a deep interest in the history and culture of the Mediterranean world, which has remained the major subject of his work. He has travelled widely in the Greek-speaking world, taught English in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

and walked across Western Turkey. He worked for many years as a publisher before pursuing a full-time writing career. He is married and lives in England in the Gloucestershire countryside. He has a reputation for writing compelling narrative history based on original sources and eyewitness accounts combined with careful scholarship. He is the author of a loose trilogy of books on the history of the

: ''Constantinople: The Last Great Siege/1453'' (2005), drawing on his interest in Istanbul, ''Empires of the Sea'' (2008) about the contest for the Mediterranean between the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

and Christian Europe, which was a

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, wh ...

(UK) History Book of the Year in 2009 and a

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Bestseller – and ''City of Fortune'' on

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

’s maritime empire (2011). These were followed by '' Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire'' (2015), an account of early Portuguese activities in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

. His latest book, ''Accursed Tower: The Crusaders' Last Battle for the Holy Land'' (Yale, 2019) chronicles the end of the crusades and the fall of

Akko Acre ( ), known locally as Akko ( he, עַכּוֹ, ''ʻAkō'') or Akka ( ar, عكّا, ''ʻAkkā''), is a city in the coastal plain region of the Northern District of Israel. The city occupies an important location, sitting in a natural harb ...

in 1291. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. Roger has talked to audiences as diverse as

Melvyn Bragg Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, (born 6 October 1939), is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is best known for his work with ITV as editor and presenter of '' The South Bank Show'' (1978–2010), and for the BBC Radio 4 documen ...

’s

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

programme ''

In Our Time In Our Time may refer to: * ''In Our Time'' (1944 film), a film starring Ida Lupino and Paul Henreid * ''In Our Time'' (1982 film), a Taiwanese anthology film featuring director Edward Yang; considered the beginning of the "New Taiwan Cinema" * ''In ...

'', the Center Analyses in Washington,

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, the

Hay Festival The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival ( cy, Gŵyl Y Gelli), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, ...

, and the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unit ...

, appeared on TV programmes, written articles and reviews, and lectured to tour groups.

Bibliography

* "The First Global Empire" ''History Today'' (2015) 656#10 pp 10–1
online

Books

* ''1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West''. New York: Hachette Books, 2005.(US edition) * ''Great Constantinople: The Last Siege''. London: Faber, 2005.(UK edition) * ''Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World''. New York: Random House, 2008. (US edition) (UK edition) London: Faber, 2008. * ''City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas''. New York: Random House, 2012. (US edition) (UK edition) London: Faber, 2012. * '' Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire''. New York: Random House, 2015. (UK edition) London: Faber, 2015. * ''Accursed Tower: The Crusaders' Last Battle for the Holy Land''. London: Yale University Press, 2019 (UK edition) (US edition) Basic Books, 2019.

References

External links

Personal website
1951 births Living people British non-fiction writers British maritime historians Alumni of the University of Cambridge {{UK-historian-stub