Chronicle of the Third Crusade

A Translation of the Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi

Helen J Nicholson, Helen Nicholson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780367194727
• eBook ISBN: 9780429514739
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: History

Published in 1997, this is a translation of the Intnerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi, 'The Itenerary of the Pilgrims and the deeds of King Richard, ' based on the edition produced in 1864 by William Stubbs as volume 1 of his chronicles and memorials of the reign of King Richard I. This Chronicle is the most comprehensive and complete account of the Third Crusade, covering virtually all the events of the crusade in roughly chronological order, and adding priceless details such as descriptions of King Richard the Lionhearts personel appearance, shipping, French fashions and discussion of the international conventions of war. It is of great interest to medieval historians in general, not only historians of the crusade. The translation is accompanied by an introduction and exhaustive notes which explain the manuscript tradition and the sources of the text and which compare this chronicle with the works of other contemporary writers on the crusade, Christian and Muslim. The translation has been produced specifically for university students taking courses on the Crusades, but it will appeal to anyone with an interest in the Third Crusade and the history of the Middle Ages.

Book 1

Chapter 1: The Lord exterminates the people of Syria because of the people’s sins.

In the year of the Incarnation of the Word 1187, Urban III occupied the Apostolic See, Frederick [Barbarossa] was ruling in Germany, Isaac [Angelus] at Constantinople, Philip [II] was reigning in France, Henry [II] in England, and William [II] in Sicily. Then the Lord’s hand was aroused against His people - if we can properly call them ‘His’, as their immoral behaviour, disgraceful lifestyle, and foul vices had made them strangers to Him. For shameful practices had broken out in the East, so that everywhere everyone threw off the veil of decency and openly turned aside to filthy things. It would take a long time to describe their murders, robberies and adulteries, and it is not part of our scheme, which is to describe events and not to write a moral tract. Suffice it to say that when the Ancient Enemy spread the spirit of corruption far and wide, he particularly seized on Syria. So the region from which other areas had received religion now became an example of all immorality.

The Lord saw that the land of His Nativity, the place of His Passion, had fallen into the filthy abyss. Therefore He spurned His Inheritance, permitting the rod of His fury, Saladin [al-Malik al-Nāṣir Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Abu’l-Muẓaffar Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb], to rage and exterminate the obstinate people. Since they had no sense of honour to restrain them from illicit deeds, He preferred the Holy Land to serve the profane rites of Gentiles for a time than for His people to flourish any longer.

Various disasters foretold the approaching destruction: famine, earthquakes and frequent eclipses of both the moon and the sun. Even that strong wind which the astronomers had predicted from a planetary conjunction became another indication of these events. It certainly was a strong wind, for it shook the four corners of the earth and foretold that the whole globe would be shaken in uproar and battles.¹

1. For this forecast of a strong wind which would cause death and destruction see also Rigord, pp. 72–7; Roger of Howden, Gesta, 1 p. 324; Chronica, 2 p. 290.

Map 1. Sites connected with the campaigns of Saladin in the Holy Land, 1187–89.

Chapter 2: Saladin routs the Master of the Temple and others [Battle of the Springs of Cresson, 1 May 1187]. ²

2. This gives us very little idea of the background to the events which follow. There is a hint at the beginning of chapter 5. For more detail, but prejudiced against King Guy and the master of the Temple, see The Conquest of Jerusalem, pp. 11–32

So Saladin assembled armed forces and marched violently on Palestine. He sent the emir of Edessa, Manafaradin [Muẓaffer al-Dīn ibn Zain al-Dīn ‘Alī Kuchuk Keukburī, lord of Harrān and Edessa],³ on ahead with 7000 Turks to ravage the Holy Land. Now, when this Manafaradin advanced into the Tiberias region, he happened to encounter the master of the Temple, Gerard de Ridefort, and the master of the Hospital, Roger des Moulins.⁴ In the unexpected battle which followed, he put the former to flight and killed the latter.⁵

3. See ‘Imād al-Dīn, p. 15.

4. The orders of the Temple and Hospital were religious orders based in Jerusalem, with military functions. The Hospital of St John had been founded in the late eleventh century to care for sick pilgrims to the Holy Land. The order of the Temple was founded c. 1119 on the initiative of the Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem specifically to defend Christian pilgrims. During the twelfth century both the orders took on the defence of the Christians’ territory against Muslim attack. Because they combined the monastic and knightly functions they were very popular in the West and were widely endowed with property and privileges. For general information on the military orders see Forey, A. (1992), The Military Orders: From the Twelfth to the Early Fourteenth Centuries.

5. The most detailed account of the battle is in Libellus, pp. 210–6. Pope Urban III sent an account of the battle to the English clergy, translated in Conquest of Jerusalem, pp. 156–7. See also William of Newburgh, p. 256; Ralph of Diceto, 2 p. 50; Roger of Howden, Gesta, 2 p. 10, Chronica, 2 p. 319; ‘Imād al-Dīn, pp. 15–16. Later accounts are in Conquest of Jerusalem, p. 32; E-B, pp. 146–7; LFWT, pp. 67–8.

In this conflict, in which a handful of our people were surrounded by an immense army, a remarkable and memorable event occurred. A certain Templar - a knight by profession, of Touraine by nation, Jakelin de Mailly by name - brought all the enemy assault on himself through his outstanding courage. While the rest of his fellow knights (estimated to number 500) had either been captured or killed, he bore all the force of the battle alone and shone out as a glorious champion for the law of his God. He was surrounded by enemy troops and almost abandoned by human aid, but when he saw so many thousands running towards him from all directions he strengthened his resolve and courageously undertook the battle, one man against all.

His commendable courage won him his enemies’ approval. Many were sorry for him and affectionately urged him to surrender, but he ignored their urgings, for he was not afraid to die for Christ. At long last, crushed rather than conquered by spears, stones and lances, he sank to the ground and joyfully passed to heaven with the martyr’s crown, triumphant.

It was indeed a gentle death with no place for sorrow, when one man’s sword had constructed such a great crown for himself from the crowd laid all around him. Death is sweet when the victor lies encircled by the impious people he has slain with his victorious right hand. And because it so happened that the warrior had been riding a white horse and had white armour and weapons, the Gentiles, who knew that St George had this appearance in battle, boasted that they had killed the Knight of Shining Armour, the protector of the Christians.

The place where he had fought was covered with the stubble which the reapers had left standing when they had cut the grain shortly before. Such a great number of Turks had rushed in to attack, and this one man had fought for so long against so many battalions, that the field in which they stood was completely reduced to dust and there was not a trace of the crop to be seen.

It is said that there were some who sprinkled the body of the dead man with dust and placed the dust on their heads, believing that they would draw courage from the contact. In fact, rumour has it that one person was moved with more fervour than the rest. He cut off the man’s genitals, and kept them safely for begetting children so that even when dead the man’s members - if such a thing were possible - would produce an heir with courage as great as his.

Saladin was greatly exhilarated by his troops’ victory and his mind was kindled with the desire of seizing the kingdom of Jerusalem. And so he turned his mind to greater things.

Chapter 3: Saladin’s descent and origins.

To inform eager Posterity more fully about this great persecutor of the Christian faith, we shall set down something about his origins, as far as brevity permits.

He was from the nation of Mirmuraenus.⁶ His parents were not descended from the nobility, but neither were they common people of obscure birth. His father’s given name was Job [Ayyūb], and his was Joseph [Yūsuf]. Giving Hebrew names of circumcision when their sons are circumcised is a rite which thrives among many of the Gentiles and follows Muslim tradition.

6. Mayer, H. (1962), Itinerarium Peregrinorum, p. 250 note 1, states that this is a corruption of Amīr al-Mu’minīn, i.e. ‘Leader of the Believers’, which was a stock part of the caliph’s title. Our writer apparently took the phrase from the titles at the end of Saladin’s letter to Frederick I, below, Bk. 1 ch. 18. In fact Saladin was a Kurd. For his origins see Bahā’ al-Dīn, p. 4.

The princes take their names from the title of the law of Muḥammad, so that their names may remind them to be studious defenders of that law. Now, in the Gentile language the law is called the Hadin. From this he was called Salahadin, which translates as ‘reformer of the law’, or ‘peacemaker’.⁷ And just as our princes are called emperors or kings, so among them those who are preeminent are named Soldans, as if to mean ‘sole dominion’.

7. MSS A and G omit ‘or peacemaker’. In fact the name means ‘Goodness of the Faith’: Holt, P. M. (1986), The Age of the Crusades, p. xii.

His origins. Saladin received the first auspices of his future power under Nuradin [al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Zangī], sultan of Damascus [Dimashq]. Saladin collected illgotten gains for himself from a levy on the girls of Damascus: they were not allowed to practise as prostitutes unless they had obtained, at a price, a licence from him for carrying on the profession of lust. However, whatever he gained by pimping like this he paid back generously by funding plays. So through lavish giving to all their desires he won the mercenary favour of the common people.

He was given the hope of winning a kingdom by a Syrian soothsayer, who told him his future and that he would be sovereign over Damascus and Babylon [Cairo]. So he treasured ambitions in his heart, and although his influence was limited to a few possessions he began to hope for more than a kingdom. As time passed, he reached the age when his physical strength required that he take up the office of knighthood. He went as a candidate for knighthood to Enfrid of Turon [Humfrey II of Toron, or Tibnīn],⁸ an illustrious prince of Palestine, and received the belt of knighthood from him in accordance with the rite of the Franks.

8. Another tradition says Hugh of Tiberias, who appears in ch. 10, below. Humfrey II of Toron appears to be the original person involved in this legend: see Duparc-Quioc, S. (1955), Le Cycle de la Croisade, p. 131.

Chapter 4: Saladin seizes the kingdoms of Egypt, Damascus, India, and other lands.

At that time [1169] a certain Gentile, Shawar by name [Abu Shujā’ ibn Mujir Shāwar], had obtained the whole of Egypt [as vizier], under the authority of the Molan [the Caliph: Abū Muḥammad ‘Abd Allāh al-‘Adid] which means ‘Lord’ in the language of that country. Amalric the victorious king of Jerusalem had forced him to pay an annual tribute. Now, the Molan used to make a public appearance three times a year to receive the Egyptians’ adoration. Among his subjects he was believed to have such great power that the Nile was said to flood at his command. What is more, he respectfully fulfilled the statutes of the Gentiles’ religion, having as many concubines as there are days in...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Abbreviations
• List of Maps
• Introduction
• The Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi
• Prologue
• Book 1
• Book 2
• Book 3
• Book 4
• Book 5
• Book 6
• Bibliography
• Index