HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor
HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor
CONTEMPORARY AND ‘EYEWITNESS’ HISTORY 259The impact of the Third Crusade was felt particularly keenly inthe West, another factor reinforcing the need to “speak the truth”about what the crusaders had witnessed. 27 The Estoire de la guerre saintewas composed by the Norman minstrel Ambroise, in all likelihoodbetween 1190 and 1196. 28 Present at the siege of Acre (“si com ilvit a sa veüe”), 29 Ambroise pays enthusiastic tribute to Richard Cœurde Lion, offering his listeners a wealth of ‘exotic’ detail (a battalionof African warriors wearing red turbans are vividly described by thesimile: “sembloient cerisiers meurs”, l. 3357), 30 and occasionally waxingeloquent on the sufferings undergone by the pilgrims, whichincluded swarms of gnats (ll. 9526–41), whilst King Richard himselfwas stuck with so many Saracen arrows that he “resembloit un heriçon”(l. 11630). As Damian-Grint points out, Ambroise takes careto tell us the identity of his sources for virtually all of the episodesto which he had not been a direct witness. It is true that his styleis reminiscent of the epic, but, minstrel or clerk though he may havebeen, Ambroise prides himself on telling us the truth. That may bewhy, in the passage that follows, he takes umbrage with the jugleorand peddlers of mere hearsay:. . . vieilles chançons de gestedont jugleor font si grant festene vos sai mentir ne veir direne afermir ne contredirene jo ne trois que le m’espongesi ço est veir o tot mençonge; . . . (Estoire, ll. 4189–94)When employed by another historian from this period, Richard deTemplo, 31 the claim to eyewitness authority must, in contrast, betreated with caution. Richard’s Itinerarium is remarkably close to27As we shall see in a moment, this need would make itself felt even more insistentlyafter the Fourth Crusade—which culminated in an attack on fellow (orthodox)Christians and the sack of the civilized city of Constantinople.28For a lively discussion of Ambroise’s style and handling of episodes dealingwith warfare, see Hanley (2001) and (2001a), and esp. in the latter, p. 114: anintriguing episode involving a Christian battering ram so well-made that the Turkshave to employ a whole series of means to destroy it (everything but the kitchensink, in fact). Coverage also is provided in this thesis of the crusading account ofthe Minstrel of Rheims.29Ambroise, Estoire de la guerre sainte, ed. G. Paris, Collection des documents inéditssur l’histoire de France, vol. 11 (Paris, 1897), l. 4568.30Cf. Damian-Grint’s commentary (1999), 78–79; Bancourt (1982).31See Richard de Templo, Itinerarium Regis Ricardi, ed. W. Stubbs, Rolls Series,vol. 38/1 (London, 1864).
260 PETER AINSWORTHAmbroise’s Estoire de la guerre sainte and was almost certainly modeledon it; whole sections appear to have been translated from it. 32Time and space preclude more extensive coverage of the literatureinspired by or produced in the wake of the Third Crusade, notleast because our principal quarry is vernacular ‘eyewitness’ or nearcontemporaryhistory. However, we cannot finish this section withouta brief mention of one of the most important Latin works ofthe later twelfth century, William of Tyre’s Historia rerum in partibustransmarinis gestarum, translated into English as A History of deeds donebeyond the sea. 33 Born in Jerusalem in 1130, William studied in Europebefore returning to the Holy Land, where he became archdeaconof Tyre in 1167, then archbishop in 1175, by which time he wasalso chancellor of the kingdom. This work provides an account ofthe history of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem up to 1184 (Williamdied in 1186). A major source for the history of the Latin kingdomsoverseas, it was translated into French as early as 1220–23 and continuedin several recensions and under various titles until as late as1277. 34 Known for the liveliness of its narrative and its limpid style,the Historia grew out of conversations between William and Amalric,king of Jerusalem. Its scope was ambitious, beginning as it did withthe Muslim conquest of Syria in 634–40 35 before providing a historyof the First Crusade. A chronological account of each reign wasprovided, together with a portrait (after the manner of Suetonius) ofeach successive king. His subject, in the broadest of terms, is thecountry that he loved and saw as continuously under threat; Williamis arguably the first ‘western’ writer to use the term patria in thiscontext:His History portrays a land as well as its Frankish conquerors. Heworked hard to collect and sift information on what had happenedwhen he was not present as an eyewitness. If his informants’ reportsvaried, he set down each version, as the best he could do. He triedto write objectively, at the risk of annoying contemporaries. Mistakesin tactics or politics and irresponsible behavior get their share of blame.Nor does he spare his own feelings. ... William does full justice to the32Damian-Grint (1999), 71.33William of Tyre, Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum, ed. R. B. C.Huygens, 2 vols. (Turnhout, 1986); trans. A. Babcock and A. C. Krey as A Historyof deeds done beyond the sea, in Records of Civilization (New York, 1943).34See Tyl-Labory (1992).35Smalley (1974), 136 ff.
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CONTEMPORARY AND ‘EYEWITNESS’ HISTORY 259The impact of the Third Crusade was felt particularly keenly inthe West, another factor reinforcing the need to “speak the truth”about what the crusaders had witnessed. 27 The Estoire de la guerre saintewas composed by the Norman minstrel Ambroise, in all likelihoodbetween 1190 and 1196. 28 Present at the siege of Acre (“si com ilvit a sa veüe”), 29 Ambroise pays enthusiastic tribute to Richard Cœurde Lion, offering his listeners a wealth of ‘exotic’ detail (a battalionof African warriors wearing red turbans are vividly described by thesimile: “sembloient cerisiers meurs”, l. 3357), 30 and occasionally waxingeloquent on the sufferings undergone by the pilgrims, whichincluded swarms of gnats (ll. 9526–41), whilst King Richard himselfwas stuck with so many Saracen arrows that he “resembloit un heriçon”(l. 11630). As Damian-Grint points out, Ambroise takes careto tell us the identity of his sources for virtually all of the episodesto which he had not been a direct witness. It is true that his styleis reminiscent of the epic, but, minstrel or clerk though he may havebeen, Ambroise prides himself on telling us the truth. That may bewhy, in the passage that follows, he takes umbrage with the jugleorand peddlers of mere hearsay:. . . vieilles chançons de gestedont jugleor font si grant festene vos sai mentir ne veir direne afermir ne contredirene jo ne trois que le m’espongesi ço est veir o tot mençonge; . . . (Estoire, ll. 4189–94)When employed by another historian from this period, Richard deTemplo, 31 the claim to eyewitness authority must, in contrast, betreated with caution. Richard’s Itinerarium is remarkably close to27As we shall see in a moment, this need would make itself felt even more insistentlyafter the Fourth Crusade—which culminated in an attack on fellow (orthodox)Christians and the sack of the civilized city of Constantinople.28For a lively discussion of Ambroise’s style and handling of episodes dealingwith warfare, see Hanley (2001) and (2001a), and esp. in the latter, p. 114: anintriguing episode involving a Christian battering ram so well-made that the Turkshave to employ a whole series of means to destroy it (everything but the kitchensink, in fact). Coverage also is provided in this thesis of the crusading account ofthe Minstrel of Rheims.29Ambroise, Estoire de la guerre sainte, ed. G. Paris, Collection des documents inéditssur l’histoire de France, vol. 11 (Paris, 1897), l. 4568.30Cf. Damian-Grint’s commentary (1999), 78–79; Bancourt (1982).31See Richard de Templo, Itinerarium Regis Ricardi, ed. W. Stubbs, Rolls Series,vol. 38/1 (London, 1864).
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