ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the works crusades were advertised and their content debated in the numerous periodicals, magazines, and newspapers of the day. Although authors of articles and reviews were usually anonymous, research has shown that they included key literary and political figures of the day and covered almost every subject of interest, including the crusades. The crusades were chosen as the subject for international and national essay competitions and a number of essays on the subject of their short and long-term impact and influence can be found in contemporary periodicals. In 1846, the lawyer and historian, Sir Archibald Alison, author of a popular history of Europe, published a 30-page essay titled 'The Crusades' in the conservative Edinburgh-based Blackwood's Magazine. Mackintosh devoted several pages to the history of the latter, quoting his primary sources in footnotes, and, as a lawyer, he addressed the argument of whether the crusades were just.
