RRR: Chronicle entry/narrative sources
201
year: 1120
initiator: Fulcherus Carnotensis
text: May 1118 – Late 1120. [32] Fulcherus Carnotensis [Fulcher of Chartres] addresses his readers in the ‘Prologus’ to his Historia Hierosolymitana [covering, in instalments, the years 1095 to 1125, with an addendum to 1127].
May 1118 – Late 1120. [32] Fulcherus Carnotensis [Fulcher of Chartres] addresses his readers in the ‘Prologus’ to his Historia Hierosolymitana [covering, in instalments, the years 1095 to 1125, with an addendum to 1127].
sources: Fulcher of Chartres, pp. 115-18
RRR: Chronicle entry/narrative sources
263
year: 1128
initiator: ‘Hugo Peccator’
institution: Templars
text: (1128?). ‘Hugo Peccator’ [41] writes a defence of the Templar way of life.
(1128?). ‘Hugo Peccator’ [41] writes a defence of the Templar way of life.
sources: Jean Leclercq, ‘Un document sur les débuts des Templiers’, Revue d’histoire écclesiastique 52 (1957), pp. 81-91
RRR: Chronicle entry/narrative sources
351
year: 1137
initiator: Rorgo Fretellus archidiacon of Antioch
recipient: Henry Sdyck, bishop of Olomouc
text: 1136 – Easter 1137. R[orgo] Fretellus archidiaconus Antiochenus dedicates his Descriptio de locis sanctis to Henry Sdyck, bishop of Olomouc [Olmütz].
1136 – Easter 1137. R[orgo] Fretellus archidiaconus Antiochenus dedicates his Descriptio de locis sanctis to Henry Sdyck, bishop of Olomouc [Olmütz].
sources: Rorgo Fretellus of Nazareth, pp. xvi, 6-8; Hiestand, ‘Un centre intellectuel’, pp. 19-32
RRR: Chronicle entry/narrative sources
352
year: 1137
initiator: Rorgo Fretellus archidiacon of Antioch
recipient: Count Rodrigo González of Toledo
text: 1136 – Easter 1137. [Rorgo] Fretellus archidiaconus Antiochenus dedicates his De locis sanctis terre Jerusalem to Count Rodrigo González of Toledo.
1136 – Easter 1137. [Rorgo] Fretellus archidiaconus Antiochenus dedicates his De locis sanctis terre Jerusalem to Count Rodrigo González of Toledo.
sources: Rorgo Fretellus of Nazareth, pp. 53-4; Hiestand, ‘Un centre intellectuel’, pp. 26-32
RRR: Chronicle entry/narrative sources
1146
year: 1184
initiator: Willelmus Tyrensis archiepiscopus
text: Dec. 25 1183 - Sept. 29 1184? [189] Willelmus Tyrensis archiepiscopus [William of Tyre] addresses his readers in the prologue to his Chronicon.
Dec. 25 1183 - Sept. 29 1184? [189] Willelmus Tyrensis archiepiscopus [William of Tyre] addresses his readers in the prologue to his Chronicon.
sources: William of Tyre, pp. 97-101
RRR: Chronicle entry/narrative sources
1337
year: 1192
initiator: English chaplain of the Knights Templar
institution: Templars
text: Aug. 1 1191 - Sept. 2 1192. [243] Account of events from May 1187 to November 1190 written in the Holy Land by an English chaplain of the Knights Templar and circulated.
Aug. 1 1191 - Sept. 2 1192. [243] Account of events from May 1187 to November 1190 written in the Holy Land by an English chaplain of the Knights Templar and circulated.
sources: Mayer, Das Itinerarium, pp. 245-357
RRR: Chronicle entry/narrative sources
1480
year: 1200
institution: Holy Sepulchre
text: †(c. 1200). Report of a heavenly letter, discovered over the altar of St Symeon on Golgotha in Jerusalem and accepted as authentic by the patriarch and by Akarias archiepiscopus, commanding Christians to observe Sundays strictly on pain of divine punishment.
†(c. 1200). Report of a heavenly letter, discovered over the altar of St Symeon on Golgotha in Jerusalem and accepted as authentic by the patriarch and by Akarias archiepiscopus, commanding Christians to observe Sundays strictly on pain of divine punishment.
sources: Roger of Howden 4:167-169 (RRH no. 778)
RRR: Chronicle entry/narrative sources
1497
year: 1202
initiator: Patriarch Aymar Monachus of Jerusalem
text: Before 1202. [272] Patriarch Aymar Monachus of Jerusalem writes and circulates a verse account of the loss and recovery of the city of Acre.
Before 1202. [272] Patriarch Aymar Monachus of Jerusalem writes and circulates a verse account of the loss and recovery of the city of Acre.
sources: Aymar Monachus, ‘Liber Tetrasticus, pp. 73-118
RRR: Chronicle entry/narrative sources
1537
year: 1204
initiator: Cardinals Soffred of St Praxedis and Peter of St Marcellus, papal legates
recipient: Pope Innocent III
text: Late Autumn. [279] The papal legates, Cardinal Soffredus of St Praxedis and Cardinal Peter of St Marcellus, report on their mission to Pope Innocent III. (1) Soffred begins the account. When he reached Acre there was a truce with the Sarraceni, but there was warfare between the king of Armenia and the count of Tripoli and the citizens of Antioch, because, it was said, the count had unjustly occupied Antioch and expelled the nobles, who refused fealty on the grounds of their support of the other heir by primogeniture [Raymond Rupin]. Soffred took counsel often with the magistri of the Knights Templar and the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem and made for Antioch, warning the count of Tripoli and the citizens of Antioch that he was on his way and asking them to send representatives to meet him. He reached Tripoli on Martinmas, but no one responded to his summons or replied to his letters. Remaining in Tripoli, because sailing was hard in winter, he sent to each side the bishops of Tortosa [Anteradensis] and Bethlehem. On the Feast of the Purification the prince of Tripoli [Bohemond] arrived, but only to settle his own affairs and not in response to the summons, because he objected to having been excommunicated by the patriarchs of Jerusalem and Antioch, and other bishops. By Passion Sunday negotiations between him and the Hospitallers of St John, on whose behalf he had been excommunicated, had broken down. Exhausted, Soffred returned to Acre, which was expecting a fleet [of crusaders] from the West. The French nobles, the king of Jerusalem, the magister of the Temple and others persuaded Soffred to sail to the port of Antioch. With him went the magister of the Temple, the generalis praeceptor of the Hospital, Stephanus de Pertico, comes Moncia de Hungaria and an emissary of the marquess of Montferrat. Soffred met the king of Armenia and waited with him for 9 days for the arrival of the king of Jerusalem. Leon denied the right of the legates and papal authority in this matter. Meanwhile the prince had not responded to the appeals. The king of Armenia promised to raise 20000 armed men in the service of Christianity if his nephew’s rights were recognized. Frustrated, Soffred went to Margatum. While he was there Cardinal Peter reached Cyprus and then Acre, before travelling to Antioch and Cilician Armenia. (2) Cardinal Peter continues the account. He called many times for the parties - the king of Armenia, the count or prince of Tripoli, and the citizens of Antioch - to resolve their differences according to the terms already laid down by Soffred. Leon refused to negotiate before [Bohemond] had been expelled from Antioch. He wanted the legates to have custody of his nephew. Peter was unable in law to agree and, on the advice of the patriarch of Antioch, the archiepiscopus Borsensis/Tharsensis, the bishops, chapters and abbots of the province of Antioch, dominus [episcopus] Cremonensis and others who were with him, forbade the waging of war and repeated that he was ready to give justice to both sides. Soffred, who had returned to Acre, urged Peter to collaborate with the countess of Flanders and other crusaders [peregrini] to negotiate peace. After a discussion with the king of Jerusalem, the Knights Templar, the Hospitallers of St John and the noble crusaders [peregrini], Peter summoned all sides to submit to his judgement. His letters were carried by the king of Jerusalem, the barones peregrini [leading crusaders] and the episcopus Cremonensis, threatening the parties with excommunication. The king of Armenia offered a truce of 40 days, but the other side would not accept this. The king also agreed to submit to the legates’ judgement on the dispute he had with the Templars, on account of which his land had been placed under an interdict, but he did not send a satisfactory answer. The count of Tripoli did not come or send anyone because of his objection to excommunication. The bishop of Tripoli, most of his canons and a notary of the count came but gave no reasonable excuse. Peter had to leave for Constantinople. Soffred appointed as judge delegates in Peter’s place, Caesariensis archiepiscopus, episcopus Cremonensis and the Acconensis electus, while at the same time recognizing, along with the king of Jerusalem, the Knights Templar, the Hospitallers of St John, the barones, the crusaders [peregrini] who had come to Acre, that his mission had failed.
Late Autumn. [279] The papal legates, Cardinal Soffredus of St Praxedis and Cardinal Peter of St Marcellus, report on their mission to Pope Innocent III. (1) Soffred begins the account. When he reached Acre there was a truce with the Sarraceni, but there was warfare between the king of Armenia and... more
sources: ‘Gesta Inocentii’, cols. cli-clix (RRH no. 794)
RRR: Correspondence/envoy
1808
year: 1218
initiator: James of Vitry
recipient: Pope Honorius III
text: Sept. 14 and 22. In the army besieging Damietta. James of Vitry [I. Acconensis ecclesie minister] writes to Pope Honorius and to his friends. He narrates how, after returning from Caesarea, the Christian army in Palestine built a new castle [Castrum Peregrinorum] by the sea, at a place on the road to Jerusalem called Districte, how the Sarraceni made an unsuccessful attack on Caesarea, how, after the Christian army had returned to Acre, a fleet of 40 Frisian and German cogones arrived not long after Easter and a council-of-war [commune consilium] decided to invade Egypt [Egyptum]. He describes the wealth of Egypt, its flatness, the absence of major fortifications other than Damiata, Babylonia - called Kayre by the Egyptians - and Alexandria, the sites of Christian pilgrimage in the country and the fact that it is the centre of the production of balsam. He maintains that most of the population are still Christian, if pacific, and comments on the fact that there are Christian populations in the East. He narrates how on 24 May the patriarch of Jerusalem embarked with the relic of the True Cross, which was a splinter of that which had been lost [at Hattin], how the army voyaged to Egypt, arrived before Damietta and established an encampment on an island before the city. He describes the practice of the incubination of hen eggs, the situation of the city, the flooding of the river Nile, sickness in the army, the difficulty, even with siege engines, of ship-borne assaults on a strong tower in the middle of the river from which a chain barred the progress of shipping. The attacks continued for 4 months until the Frisians, under magister Oliverus Coloniensis cancellarius, constructed a magnificent and expensive floating siege engine on 2 ships and the tower was captured. At the time of writing [14 September] the Christians, who were expecting reinforcements, were planning a crossing of the Nile to attack Damietta. Many Sarraceni were deserting and being baptized, while part of the garrison of Mons Thabor had been sent to Egypt and their castle had been destroyed, as had been the city of Gibelet [Gibel ?] and 5 fortresses between Tyre and Damascus, at a time when the Christians had strengthened the fortresses [munitiones] of Districtum and Caesarea on the way to Jerusalem. Further, the sultan of Egypt had died from sorrow at the loss of the tower in the Nile. James of Vitry asks for prayers that the Christians successfully take Egypt. In the copy of his letter to the pope, James reports that 9 ships with domnus Petrus Hanibal and other Romans arrived in the week after 24 August. Cardinal Pelagius of Albano, the papal legate, has reached Acre with a Roman prince and is daily expected in Egypt. In the copy of his letter to his friends, James of Vitry asks for prayers for those who have died, including magister Walterus de Tornacho archidiaconus ecclesie Acconensis, who did much good in Acre; magister Constantius de Duacho decanus ecclesie Acconensis; domnus Iohannes de Cameracho ecclesie Acconensis cantor; domnus Reinerus, a cleric in James’s household who became Sancti Michaelis in Accon pastor; H. serviens episcopi Acconensis; magister Thomas cancellarius Noviomensis; magister Leonius qui legebat de Theologia in civitate Acconensi; magister Alexander nepos magistri R. cardinalis; Iohannes iunior de Cameraco nepos cantoris ecclesie Acconensis; magister Reinaldus de Barbachon ecclesie Acconensis thesaurarius. James adds that he was very ill for 2 months in the camp before Damietta.
Sept. 14 and 22. In the army besieging Damietta. James of Vitry [I. Acconensis ecclesie minister] writes to Pope Honorius and to his friends. He narrates how, after returning from Caesarea, the Christian army in Palestine built a new castle [Castrum Peregrinorum] by the sea, at a place on the road... more
sources: James of Vitry, Lettres, pp. 101-11, no. 4 (RRH no. 915)