HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor

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.