Crusade Texts in Translation

From Ashgate Publishing

Series Editors: Malcolm Barber, Peter Edbury, Bernard Hamilton and Norman Housley

The crusading movement, which originated in the 11th century and lasted beyond the 16th, bequeathed to its future historians a legacy of sources which are unrivalled in their range and variety. These sources document in fascinating detail the motivations and viewpoints, military efforts and spiritual lives, of the participants in the crusades. They also narrate the internal histories of the states and societies which crusaders established or supported in the many regions where they fought. Some of these sources have been translated in the past but the vast majority have been available only in their original language. The goal of this series is to provide a wide ranging corpus of texts, most of them translated for the first time, which will illuminate the history of the crusades and the crusader-states from every angle, including that of their principal adversaries, the Muslim powers of the Middle East.  For more information, and how to order these books, please see the Ashgate Publishing Website.

Current Volumes

Volume 1) Edbury, Peter W. (ed.), The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade: Sources in Translation
ISBN: 1 84014 676 1

This is a complete collection in modern English of the key texts describing Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem in October 1187 and the Third Crusade, which was Christendom's response to the catastrophe.  The largest and most important text in the book is a translation of the fullest version of the Old French "Continuation of William Tyre" for the years 1184-97.  This work includes Three accounts of The Battle of Hattin (1187).

 

Volume 2) Shirley, Janet (ed.), The Song of the Cathar Wars: A History of the Albigensian Crusade
ISBN: 0 7546 0388 1

The Song of the Cathar Wars is the first translation into English of the Old Provençal Canso recounting the events of the years 1204-1218 in Southern France. In an effort to extirpate the Cathar heresy, Pope Innocent III launched what is now known as the Albigensian Crusade, but it was fiercely resisted by the lords and people of the Languedoc, if in the end in vain. This 'song' was written in two parts, the first by William of Tudela, a supporter of the crusade; the second by an anonymous continuer, wholeheartedly in sympathy with the southerners, although not with the heretics themselves. It stands as a historical source of great importance, not least because it depicts the side that lost. The poem is also a skilful, dramatic and often impassioned composition, evoking the brilliant world of landed knights and the glories and bloody realities of battle.  We have republished a section from an early part of this text, dealing with The Siege of Termes (1210).

 

Volume 3) Nicholson, Helen J. (ed.), The Chronicle of the Third Crusade: The Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi
ISBN: 0 7546 0581 7

This book, known in English as The Itinerary of the pilgrims and the deeds of King Richard, is the most comprehensive and complete account of the Third Crusade, covering virtually all the events of the crusade in roughly chronological order, and adding priceless details such as descriptions of King Richard the Lionheart's personal appearance, shipping, French fashions and discussion of international conventions of war.  The account is particular useful for the siege of Acre in 1189-90, including a Description of Naval Battle off of Acre (1190).

 

Volume 4) Ashbridge, Tom, and Edgington, Susan, (eds.) Walter the Chancellor's The Antiochene Wars
ISBN: 1 84014 263 4

Walter the Chancellor wrote the Bella Antiochena, the Antiochene Wars, a narrative source in two books which describes, in remarkable detail, the events in the principality of Antioch in 1115 and 1119. Walter focused his work on the two major Muslim offensives against the Latin principality which took place in these years. A Muslim army from Baghdad invaded northern Syria in 1115 and was eventually defeated by the Prince Roger and the Antiochene army at Tall Danith. Then in 1119 the forces of nearby Aleppo, under the command of Il-ghazi, attacked the principality's eastern frontier and soundly defeated the Latins in what became known as the battle of the Field of Blood, a battle in which Prince Roger of Antioch was killed. Temporary command of Antioch fell to Patriarch Bernard until King Baldwin II of Jerusalem arrived in northern Syria and neutralised the threat posed by Il-ghazi at the second battle of Tall Danith. These events lie at the core of Walter's work, although he did record the aftermath of the Field of Blood in considerable detail up to 1122.

 

Volume 5) Shirley, Janet (ed.), Crusader Syria in the Thirteenth Century: The Rothelin Continuation of the History of William of Tyre with Part of the Eracles or Acre Text
ISBN: 1 84014 606 0

The Old French 'Rotherlin' Continuation of William of Tyre's Historia provides one of the best contemporary narratives of the history of the crusades and of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in the mid-thirteenth century.  Covering the period 1229-1261, it has vivid accounts of the disastrous expeditions led by Count Theobald of Champagne (1239-1240) and King Louis IX of France (1248-1254), as well as of other events of the east.  It includes this account of a Raid by Count Peter of Brittany against Muslim lands in 1239. 

 

Volume 6) Crawford, Paul (ed.), The Templar of Tyre: The deeds of the Cypriots
ISBN: 1 84014 618 4

The so-called 'Templar of Tyre' is the third and longest section of an important 14th-century chronicle known as the Gestes des Chiprois. Written by a Cypriot knight who served the Templar Master William of Beaujeu as an Arabic translator and a member of his immediate retinue, the 'Templar of Tyre' provides precious contemporary insights, often drawn from the author's personal experience, into events beginning in the early 1230s and ending in 1309 in the East and 1314 in the West. Notably, it covers the last days of the mainland Crusader states and the fall of Acre in 1291 (providing our only eyewitness chronicle of this disaster), as well as providing information on the period following 1291.

 

Volume 7) Richards, D.S., (ed.) The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin or al-Nawadir al-Sultaniyya wa'l-Mahasin al-Yusufiyya by Baha' al-Din Ibn Shaddad
ISBN: 0 7546 0143 9

Saladin is perhaps the one and only Muslim ruler who emerges with any clarity in standard tales and histories of the Crusades; this is a translation of Baha' al-Din Ibn Shaddad's account of his life and career. Ibn Shaddad (1144-1234) was clearly a great admirer of Saladin and was a close associate of his, serving as his qadi al-'askar (judge of the army), from 1188 until Saladin's death in 1193. His position and his access to information make this an authoritative and essential source for Saladin's career, while his personal relationship with the sultan adds a sympathetic and moving element to the account of his final years.

 

Volume 8) Shirley, Janet and Edbury, Peter W. (eds.), Guillaume de Machaut: The Capture of Alexandria
ISBN: 0 7546 0101 3

This rhymed chronicle, by one of France's most important literary figures of the 14th century, deals with the reign of King Peter of Cyprus (1359-1369), including his campaign against Alexandria in 1365 and his attacks on Tripoli and Ayas in 1367.  Please read this Book Review for more information.

 

Volume 9) Fudge, Thomas A. (ed.), The Crusade Against Heretics in Bohemia, 1418-1437: Sources and Documents for the Hussite Crusades
ISBN: 0 7546 0801 8

Nearly 200 texts are translated to provide accounts of these crusades, which took place in the mid-fifteenth century, from the viewpoints of both the Church and the Hussites.  These texts come from a wide range of contemporary sources including chronicles, sermons, manifestos, songs, bulls, imperial correspondence, military and diplomatic communiqués, liturgy, military ordinances, trade embargos, epic poems, letters from the field, Jewish documents, speeches, synodal proceedings, and documents from popes, bishops, emperors and city councils

 

Volume 10) Smith, Damian J., and Bufferym Helena (eds.), The Book of Deeds of James I of Aragon
ISBN: 0 7546 0359 8

The 'Book of Deeds' is the first known autobiography by a Christian king. Its author was James I of Aragon (1213-76), known as 'The Conqueror', one of the great political figures of 13th-century Europe and a successful crusader. In his 'Deeds', James describes the turbulent years of his minority, the thrilling capture of Majorca, the methodical conquest of the kingdom of Valencia, the reconquest of the kingdom of Murcia after Castile had failed to hold it, and many of the important events of his reign. While crusade and conquest of Spanish territory from the Muslims and Christian-Muslim relations on the frontier are central features of the account, the 'Deeds' are also a treasure trove of information on the image, power and purpose of monarchy, loyalty and bad faith in the feudal order, the growth of national sentiment, and medieval military tactics. At the same time, the book presents a unique insight into the mind of a medieval ruler, the supreme example we possess of the fears and ambitions of a man at the very centre of events.

 

Volume 11) Sweetenham, Carol (ed.), Robert the Monk's History of the First Crusade
ISBN: 0-7546-0471-3

This is the first English translation of Robert the Monk's Historia Iherosolimitana, a Latin prose chronicle describing the First Crusade. In addition to providing new and unique information on the Crusade (Robert claims to have been an eyewitness of the Council of Clermont in 1095), its particular interest lies in the great popularity it enjoyed in the Middle Ages.  Click here to read the Introduction to this book.

 

Volume 12) Bachrach, Bernard S. and Bachrach, David S. (eds.), The Gesta Tancredi of Ralph of Caen
ISBN: 0-7546-3710-7 

This text provides an exceptionally important narrative of the First Crusade and its immediate aftermath, covering the period 1096–1105, but is often neglected, due in no small part to the difficulties of its Latin. A native of the Norman city of Caen where he was a student of Arnulf, the future patriarch of Jerusalem, in 1107 Ralph joined Bohemond of Taranto's army as a military chaplain. After arriving in the East, Ralph took service with Bohemond's nephew Tancred, who ruled the principality of Antioch from 1108 to 1112.  His work is one of the most important sources for the Norman campaigns in Cilicia (1097–1108), and for the early Norman rule of Antioch. The work as a whole has a striking Norman point of view and contains details found in no other source, providing a corrective to the strong northern focus of most of the other narrative sources for the First Crusade.  Click here to read the Introduction to this book.

We thank Ashgate Publishing and the editors for their permission to republish the sections of text found on this page.

http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/sources/ctit.htm