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The First Crusade was arguably one of the most significant events
of the Middle Ages. It was the only event to generate its own epic
cycle, the Old French Crusade Cycle. The central trilogy at the
heart of the Cycle describes the Crusade from its beginnings to the
climactic battle of Ascalon, comprising the Chanson d'Antioche, the
Chanson des Chetifs and the Chanson de Jerusalem. This translation
of the Chetifs and the Jerusalem accompanies and completes the
translation of the Antioche and makes the trilogy available to
English readers in its entirety for the first time. The value of
the trilogy lies above all in the insight it gives us to medieval
perceptions of the Crusade. The events are portrayed as part of a
divine plan where even outcasts and captives can achieve salvation
through Crusade. This in turn underlies the value of the Cycle as a
recruiting and propaganda tool. The trilogy gives a window onto the
chivalric preoccupations of thirteenth-century France, exploring
concerns about status, heroism and defeat. It portrays the material
realities of the era in vivid detail: the minutiae of combat,
smoke-filled halls, feasts, prisons and more. And the two newly
translated poems are highly entertaining as well, featuring a
lubricious Saracen lady not in the first flush of youth, a dragon
inhabited by a devil, marauding monkeys, miracles and much more.
The historian will find little new about the Crusade itself, but
abundant material on how it was perceived, portrayed and performed.
The translation is accompanied by an introduction examining the
origins of the two poems and their wider place in the cycle. It is
supported by extensive footnotes, a comprehensive index of names
and places and translations of the main variants.
The Old-French Chanson d'Antioche has long intrigued historians and
literary scholars. Unusually among epic poems, it follows closely a
well documented historical event - the First Crusade - and appears
to include substantial and genuine historical content. At one time
it was believed to be based on an account by an eye-witness,
'Richard the Pilgrim'. Carol Sweetenham and Susan Edgington have
combined forces to investigate such claims, and their findings are
set out in a comprehensive introduction which, firstly, examines
the textual history of the poem from its possible oral beginnings
through several re-workings to its present form, achieved early in
the thirteenth century. A second chapter assesses the Chanson's
value as a source for the crusade, and a third considers its status
as a literary text. A complete prose translation follows, the first
in English and based on the definitive edition. The Chanson is
revealed as a lively narrative, with tales of chivalry, villainy,
and even episodes of humour. There are extensive footnotes to the
translation, and an appendix provides supplementary material from a
different manuscript tradition. There is also a cast list of heroes
and villains with biographical information for the 'real' ones and
literary analogues for the fictional characters. The Chanson
d'Antioche can now be read for enjoyment, and for a whole new
perspective on crusading in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
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Literature of the Crusades (Hardcover)
Simon Thomas Parsons, Linda Paterson; Contributions by Ruth Harvey, Simon Thomas Parsons, Simon John, …
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R2,047
Discovery Miles 20 470
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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An interdisciplinary approach to sources for our knowledge of the
crusades. The interrelation of so-called "literary" and
"historical" sources of the crusades, and the fluidity of these
categorisations, are the central concerns of the essays collected
here. They demonstrate what the study of literary texts can do for
our historical understanding of the crusading movement, challenging
earlier historiographical assumptions about well-known poems and
songs, and introducing hitherto understudied manuscript sources
which elucidate a rich contemporary compositional culture regarding
the matter of crusade. The volume discusses a wide array of
European textual responses to the medieval crusading movement, from
the Plantagenet and Catalan courts to the Italy of Charles of
Anjou, Cyprus, and the Holy Land. Meanwhile, the topics considered
include the connexions between poetry and history in the Latin
First Crusade texts; the historical, codicological and literary
background to Richard the Lionheart's famous song of captivity;
crusade references in the troubadour Cerveri of Girona; literary
culture surrounding Charles of Anjou's expeditions; the use of the
Melusine legend to strengthen the Lusignans' claim to Cyprus; and
the influence of aristocratic selection criteria in manuscript
traditions of Old French crusade songs. These diverse approaches
are unified in their examination of crusading texts as cultural
artefacts ripe for comparisonacross linguistic and thematic
divides. SIMON THOMAS PARSONS teaches Medieval History at Royal
Holloway, University of London and King's College London; LINDA
PATERSON is Professor Emerita at Warwick University. Contributors:
Luca Barbieri, Miriam Cabre, Jean Dunbabin, Ruth Harvey, Simon
John, Charmaine Lee, Helen J. Nicholson, Simon Parsons, Anna
Radaelli, Stephen Spencer, Carol Sweetenham.
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Literature of the Crusades (Paperback)
Simon Thomas Parsons, Linda Paterson; Contributions by Ruth Harvey, Simon Thomas Parsons, Simon John, …
|
R782
Discovery Miles 7 820
|
Ships in 12 - 17 working days
|
An interdisciplinary approach to sources for our knowledge of the
crusades. The interrelation of so-called "literary" and
"historical" sources of the crusades, and the fluidity of these
categorisations, are the central concerns of the essays collected
here. They demonstrate what the study of literary texts can do for
our historical understanding of the crusading movement, challenging
earlier historiographical assumptions about well-known poems and
songs, and introducing hitherto understudied manuscript sources
which elucidate a rich contemporary compositional culture regarding
the matter of crusade. The volume discusses a wide array of
European textual responses to the medieval crusading movement, from
the Plantagenet and Catalan courts to the Italy of Charles of
Anjou, Cyprus, and the Holy Land. Meanwhile, the topics considered
include the connexions between poetry and history in the Latin
First Crusade texts; the historical, codicological and literary
background to Richard the Lionheart's famous song of captivity;
crusade references in the troubadour Cerverà of Girona; literary
culture surrounding Charles of Anjou's expeditions; the use of the
Mélusine legend to strengthen the Lusignans' claim to Cyprus; and
the influence of aristocratic selection criteria in manuscript
traditions of Old French crusade songs. These diverse approaches
are unified in their examination of crusading texts as cultural
artefacts ripe for comparison across linguistic and thematic
divides.
The Old-French Chanson d'Antioche has long intrigued historians and
literary scholars. Unusually among epic poems, it follows closely a
well documented historical event - the First Crusade - and appears
to include substantial and genuine historical content. At one time
it was believed to be based on an account by an eye-witness,
'Richard the Pilgrim'. Carol Sweetenham and Susan Edgington have
combined forces to investigate such claims, and their findings are
set out in a comprehensive introduction which, firstly, examines
the textual history of the poem from its possible oral beginnings
through several re-workings to its present form, achieved early in
the thirteenth century. A second chapter assesses the Chanson's
value as a source for the crusade, and a third considers its status
as a literary text. A complete prose translation follows, the first
in English and based on the definitive edition. The Chanson is
revealed as a lively narrative, with tales of chivalry, villainy,
and even episodes of humour. There are extensive footnotes to the
translation, and an appendix provides supplementary material from a
different manuscript tradition. There is also a cast list of heroes
and villains with biographical information for the 'real' ones and
literary analogues for the fictional characters. The Chanson
d'Antioche can now be read for enjoyment, and for a whole new
perspective on crusading in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
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. The text has close links
with the vernacular literary tradition and is written in a racy
style which would not disgrace a modern tabloid journalist. Its
reflection of contemporary legends and anecdotes gives us insights
into perceptions of the Crusade at that time and opens up
interesting perspectives onto the relationship of history and
fiction in the twelfth century. The introduction discusses what we
know about Robert, his importance as a historical source and his
place in the literary tradition of the First Crusade.
The Canso d'Antioca is a fascinating text which deserves more
attention than it has received. It is a fragment of a much larger
epic describing the events of the First Crusade, related to the Old
French Chanson d'Antioca but with many unique features. As such it
presents a double interest to scholars of both history and
literature. It is a source text for the First Crusade with
information not contained in any other source. It is also an early
and seminal text for Occitan epic, few examples of which survive.
And arguably it represents the first work of vernacular verse
history in France, raising fundamental questions about the junction
of epic and historiography. This is the first published edition of
the text since Paul Meyer's version in 1884. It is based on the
single extant manuscript of the Canso found in Roda in Northern
Spain and now in Madrid, accompanied by a translation into English
on facing pages. The text is supported by detailed notes and a
glossary of proper names cross-referenced to all major First
Crusade sources. The introduction discusses in detail the history
of the text and manuscript, the value of the Canso as a historical
document, and its place both within the historical tradition of the
Crusade and within Occitan literary tradition and 12th-century
vernacular historiography.
A pioneering approach to contemporary historical writing on the
First Crusade, looking at the texts as cultural artefacts rather
than simply for the evidence they contain. The First Crusade
(1095-1101) was the stimulus for a substantial boom in Western
historical writing in the first decades of the twelfth century,
beginning with the so-called "eyewitness" accounts of the crusade
and extending to numerous second-hand treatments in prose and
verse. From the time when many of these accounts were first
assembled in printed form by Jacques Bongars in the early
seventeenth century, and even more so since their collective
appearance in the great nineteenth-century compendium of crusade
texts, the Recueil des historiens des croisades, narrative
histories have come to be regarded as the single most important
resource for the academic study of the early crusade movement. But
our understanding of these texts is still far from satisfactory.
This ground-breaking volume draws together the work of an
international team of scholars. It tackles the disjuncture between
the study of the crusades and the study of medieval
history-writing, setting the agenda for future research into
historical narratives about or inspired by crusading. The basic
premise that informs all the papers is that narrative accounts of
crusades and analogous texts should not be primarily understood as
repositories of data that contribute to a reconstruction of events,
but as cultural artefacts that can be interrogated from a wide
range of theoretical, methodological and thematic perspectives.
MARCUS BULL is Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Professor of Medieval
and Early Modern Studies at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill; DAMIEN KEMPF is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at
the University of Liverpool. Contributors: Laura Ashe, Steven
Biddlecombe, Marcus Bull, Peter Frankopan, Damian Kempf, James
Naus, Lean Ni Chleirigh, Nicholas Paul, William J. Purkis, Luigi
Russo, Jay Rubenstein, Carol Sweetenham,
A pioneering approach to contemporary historical writing on the
First Crusade, looking at the texts as cultural artefacts rather
than simply for the evidence they contain. The First Crusade
(1095-1101) was the stimulus for a substantial boom in Western
historical writing in the first decades of the twelfth century,
beginning with the so-called "eyewitness" accounts of the crusade
and extending to numerous second-hand treatments in prose and
verse. From the time when many of these accounts were first
assembled in printed form by Jacques Bongars in the early
seventeenth century, and even more so since their collective
appearance in the great nineteenth-century compendium of crusade
texts, the Recueil des historiens des croisades, narrative
histories have come to be regarded as the single most important
resource for the academic study of the early crusade movement. But
our understanding of these texts is still far from satisfactory.
This ground-breaking volume draws together the work of an
international team of scholars. It tackles the disjuncture between
the study of the crusades and the study of medieval
history-writing, setting the agenda for future research into
historical narratives about or inspired by crusading. The basic
premise that informs all the papers is that narrative accounts of
crusades and analogous texts should not be primarily understood as
repositories of data that contribute to a reconstruction of events,
but as cultural artefacts that can be interrogated from a wide
range of theoretical, methodological and thematic perspectives.
MARCUS BULL is Andrew W Mellon Distinguished Professor of Medieval
and Early Modern Studies at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill; DAMIEN KEMPF is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at
the University of Liverpool. Contributors: Laura Ashe, Steven
Biddlecombe, Marcus Bull, Peter Frankopan, Damian Kempf, James
Naus, Lean Ni Chleirigh, Nicholas Paul, William J. Purkis, Luigi
Russo, Jay Rubenstein, Carol Sweetenham,
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. The text has close links
with the vernacular literary tradition and is written in a racy
style which would not disgrace a modern tabloid journalist. Its
reflection of contemporary legends and anecdotes gives us insights
into perceptions of the Crusade at that time and opens up
interesting perspectives onto the relationship of history and
fiction in the twelfth century. The introduction discusses what we
know about Robert, his importance as a historical source and his
place in the literary tradition of the First Crusade.
The First Crusade was arguably one of the most significant events
of the Middle Ages. It was the only event to generate its own epic
cycle, the Old French Crusade Cycle. The central trilogy at the
heart of the Cycle describes the Crusade from its beginnings to the
climactic battle of Ascalon, comprising the Chanson d'Antioche, the
Chanson des Chetifs and the Chanson de Jerusalem. This translation
of the Chetifs and the Jerusalem accompanies and completes the
translation of the Antioche and makes the trilogy available to
English readers in its entirety for the first time. The value of
the trilogy lies above all in the insight it gives us to medieval
perceptions of the Crusade. The events are portrayed as part of a
divine plan where even outcasts and captives can achieve salvation
through Crusade. This in turn underlies the value of the Cycle as a
recruiting and propaganda tool. The trilogy gives a window onto the
chivalric preoccupations of thirteenth-century France, exploring
concerns about status, heroism and defeat. It portrays the material
realities of the era in vivid detail: the minutiae of combat,
smoke-filled halls, feasts, prisons and more. And the two newly
translated poems are highly entertaining as well, featuring a
lubricious Saracen lady not in the first flush of youth, a dragon
inhabited by a devil, marauding monkeys, miracles and much more.
The historian will find little new about the Crusade itself, but
abundant material on how it was perceived, portrayed and performed.
The translation is accompanied by an introduction examining the
origins of the two poems and their wider place in the cycle. It is
supported by extensive footnotes, a comprehensive index of names
and places and translations of the main variants.
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