Gesta Tancredi in expeditione Hierosolymitana ("The Deeds of Tancred in the Crusade"), usually called simply Gesta Tancredi, is a prosimetric history[1] written in laconic Latin prose and episodes of verse by a certain Ralph of Caen (before 1079–after 1130). Tancred of Hauteville was an eleventh-century Norman petty lord about whom little is known Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. For the Wikipedia guideline regarding editing articles see WikipediaManual of Style. A verse is generally considered to be a single line in a metrical composition e His text provides an exceptional narrative of the First Crusade and events the Crusade entailed, one of only half a dozen firsthand Latin accounts. The First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II with the dual goals of conquering the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land and freeing [2]
Ralph is largely known to history for this work, though he acted as chaplain to Bohemond of Taranto in the First Crusade. Bohemond I (also spelled Bohemund or Boamund; c 1058&ndash 3 March 1111) Prince of Taranto and Prince of Antioch He was a native of Caen in Normandy who was a student of Arnulf of Chocques, the future Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. Caen (kɑ̃ is a commune in northwestern France. It is the Prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Normandy (Normandie Norman: Normaundie) is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. Arnulf Malecorne of Chocques (or of Rohes) (died 1118 was a leader among the Clergy during the First Crusade, and was Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is the title given to the Latin Rite Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem [3] Arnulf departed for the Crusade in the entourage of Robert II, Duke of Normandy. Ralph was taken up by Bohemond, during Bohemond's return to Francia. Francia or Frankia, later also called the Frankish Empire (imperium Francorum Frankish Kingdom (Latin regnum Francorum, "Kingdom of the After arriving with Bohemond's entourage at his return to Palestine (1107), Ralph took service with Bohemond's nephew Tancred, who ruled the principality of Antioch from 1108 to 1112. Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. The Principality of Antioch, including parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria, was one of the Crusader states created during the First Crusade
Though Gesta Tancredi depends to a great degree on eyewitness accounts, it was commenced after the death of Tancred (11 December 1112), in order to avoid possible charges of flattery by Ralph's patrons. The text covers the years 1096–1105. [4] Either the text, which breaks off abruptly, has lost its final sections covering the last six years of Tancred's career, or Ralph died before his work was completed, though he lived long enough to mention the death of Bohemond the Younger, who died in 1130. Bohemond II (1108 &ndash 1131 was the Prince of Taranto and Prince of Antioch from 1111
Gesta Tancredi, justified by Ralph's former intimacy with Bohemond and Tancred, focuses on the careers of the two men; it is dedicated to Arnulf. [5] Gesta Tancredi is the most important Latin source for the Norman campaigns in Cilicia (1097–1108), and for the early Norman rule in Antioch. The Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. Geography Cilicia extended along the Aegean coast east from Pamphylia, to Mount Amanus ( Gavurdağı Mount) which separated it from Syria Antioch on the Orontes (Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Δάφνῃ Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ Μεγάλη Antiochia ad Orontem also
Unusual for his generation in the West, Ralph of Caen was well educated in the Latin classics. Besides Virgil, whose work he knew well, he was acquainted with Ovid, who did not become popular until the twelfth-century Renaissance, and even Horace, who never developed much medieval reputation. Publius Vergilius Maro ( October 15, 70 BCE &ndash September 21, 19 BCE later called Virgilius, and known in English as Virgil or Publius Ovidius Naso ( March 20, 43 BC – 17 AD was a Roman poet known to the English -speaking world as Ovid who wrote on many topics including The Renaissance of the 12th century was a period of many changes during the High Middle Ages. Quintus Horatius Flaccus, ( Venosa, December 8, 65 BC - Rome, November 27, 8 BC known in the English-speaking world as Horace More directly, in view of his project, he had read Roman historians: Livy and Caesar (in his Gallic War), whom he took as his models, and also Lucan's Pharsalia and Sallust's history. Latin literature, the body of written works in the Latin language remains an enduring legacy of the culture of Ancient Rome. Titus Livius (traditionally 59 BC &ndash AD 17 known as Livy in English, was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome Commentarii de Bello Gallico is Julius Caesar 's third-person account of his nine years of war in Gaul. Marcus Annaeus Lucanus ( November 3, 39 AD – April 30, 65 AD better known in English as Lucan, was a Roman Pharsalia was also an ancient district in Greece in which Pharsalus was located For the philosopher see Sallustius; for other uses see Sallust (disambiguation. [6] His narrative (in 157 sections) is in prose when recounting events, rising to poetry to describe Tancred's capture and despoliation of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem in heroic, less literal terms. The Dome of the Rock ( Arabic: مسجد قبة الصخرة translit
Notes
- ^ Prosimetric means the combination of poetry and prose in a narrative, whether in oral storytelling or in print. Dudo of Saint-Quentin also wrote a history of the Normans in prose and verse, De moribus et actis primorum Normaniae ducum. Dudo, or Dudon was a Norman Historian, and dean of Saint-Quentin, where he was born about 965 (Bachrach 2005:8, note 24.
- ^ See the Introduction to Bernard S. Bachrach and David S. Bachrach. The Gesta Tancredi of Ralph of Caen: A History of the Normans on the First Crusade, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. , 2005, p. 1. ISBN 0754637107. This is the first English translation of the account.
- ^ Spear, David S. "The School of Caen Revisited" in The Haskins Society Journal: Studies in Medieval History Volume 4 ed. Robert B. Patterson Woodbridge, Suffolk:Boydell Press 1992 ISBN 0-85115-333-X p. 57
- ^ "The narrative breaks off during Tancred's siege of Apamea which fell in 1106. " Bachrach 2005:11, note 27.
- ^ Arnulf was asked to edit the text, some time after 1112. (Bachrach 2005: Introduction).
- ^ Bachrach 2005:5.
External links
- Gesta Tancredi at The Latin Library (from the Patrologia Latina edition). The Latin Library is a website that collects Public domain Latin texts The Patrologia Latina is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between
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