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	R.C. Smail
R.C. Smail is Emeritus Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He first began publishing on the crusades in the 1950s. His most influential and popular work was his Crusading Warfare (1097-1193), published by Cambridge University Press in 1956. In it, Smail's approach was considered unique at the time of initial publication due to the author's focus on the years 1129 to 1187, which up until 1956 and even in the present (to a lesser extent) had not received as much attention as other periods. Smail argues this period was important and that there is more to the history of warfare then just detailed accounts of battles. Smail notes that warfare was central to life for the crusaders in Syria by examining the policies of Latin rulers, relations between the Franks and native populations, and the structures of opposing armies. Of special interest for those interested in crusades historiography is the author's opening chapter on crusades historians in which he traces the development and status of historians of military warfare. During his long and distinguished career, R.C. Smail supervised a number crusades scholars working on doctorates at Cambridge, including Sylvia Schein, ... [Continued...] As a sign of the broad respect historians have for R.C. Smail's contributions to crusades scholarship the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East held a conference in 1985 in R.C. Smail's honor. The papers were later published under the title, Crusade and Settlement: Papers read at the First Conference of the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East and presented to R.C. Smail, edited by Peter W. Edbury (University College Cardiff Press, 1985).
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