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[Jacques de Vitry] d.1240. France. Born perhaps in Reims, studied in Paris, regular canon in Liège, crusade preacher, bishop of Acre and finally Dean of the College of Cardinals in Rome. James is important for letters and sermons relating to the recruitment to and progress of the Albigensian Crusade (1209-29), the Fifth Crusade (1217-21), and the Crusade of Frederick II (1227-29). He also wrote a Historia Iherosolimitana in three parts: the first, Historia Occidentalis, dealt with reforms which he felt to be necessary in the West to ensure the success of the Fifth Cr…

[of Aix-la-Chapelle; Albertus canonicus Aquensis] fl. early 12th century. Germany. Cleric at Aachen (Rhineland) and supposed author of a Latin Historia Ierolsolimitana (History of the Journey to Jerusalem), though this is a late attribution: the earliest manuscripts have neither author's name nor title.The work was written concurrently with or soon after the events of the first crusade (1095-99) and the period of early settlement in Outremer (1099-1119), evidently by a cleric in the Rhineland area using mainly oral sources, that is, the…

The crusades of the 11th to 13th centuries were a series of religiously-sanctioned military campaigns aimed mainly at regaining Christian control of Palestine, but also including the brutal suppression of the Albigensians (Cathars) in Southern France and the wars of the Teutonic Order against non-Christian populations in the Baltic region. These events held a particular prominence in the thinking of Western Europeans during this period, and are therefore well represented in historical writing.The capture of Jerusalem in 1099 by the knights of the first crusade gave rise to a d…

[Galterius cancellarius] fl. 1114-22. Palestine. Chancellor of Antioch. Wrote the Latin Bella Antiochena (Antiochene Wars). Walter is known only through the the text of this work. He apparently had a close relationship with Roger of Salerno, ruler of Antioch (1113-19), and was eyewitness to the two wars against the Selçuk Turks, 1114-15 and 1119-22. His narrative account is the most detailed source for the region of Antioch for the early Latin settlement period. There are seven extant manuscripts; the oldest and best is in the Grassegals codex, Paris, BnF, lat. 14378, from which t…

The Antiochene wars Walter the Chancellor Date: Unknown; Book 1 probably between late 1115 and mid-1119; Book 2 after 1119 Original Language: Latin Description The Bella Antiochena occupies 54 pages in its modern edition (Hagenmeyer), and 94 in translation (Asbridge and Edgington). It is an account of two wars waged by the Latin Christians against the Turks in northern Syria: Book 1 covers the war of 1115, in which Count Roger of Antioch defeated Bursuq ibn Bursuq of Hamadān (14 September); Book 2 describes the defence o…

Biography Walter is known only from his work, The Antiochene wars, where he refers to himself as ‘the author Walter’ and ‘I myself, Walter the Chancellor’. He was chancellor of Antioch at the least between the years1114 and 1122, the period covered by his narrative, though another chancellor, Ralph, is recorded in 1127. Primary Sources of Information Walter is known only from references in the Antiochene wars. Secondary Sources of Information T.S. Asbridge and S.B. Edgington, Walter the Chancellor’s The Antiochene wars. A translation and commentary, Aldershot UK, 1999, pp. 5-6 H.E. Ma…