De la Conquete de Constantinople

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Attack by Crusaders on Constantinople in a miniature edition of Villehardouin's work from the 14th century

De la Conquête de Constantinople ( dt. : From the conquest of Constantinople ; gr. : Σχετικά με την κατάκτηση της Κωνσταντινούπολης) is the oldest work in historical French prose and one of the most important historical documents for the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204). The eyewitness account was written by Gottfried von Villehardouin , a knight and crusader who was involved in the conquest and sacking of Constantinople , the capital of the Byzantine Empire , on April 13, 1204 .

background

Cover of a printed version of the Chronicle

Villehardouin took part in 1199 in the tournament that Theobald III. and that was the starting point of the Fourth Crusade. During the five years that the crusade took place, he acted as envoy, ambassador, advisor and, in the battle of Adrianople , as a general. He only wrote his report years later.

Villehardouin wrote De la Conquête de Constantinople in the form of an epic . He writes in the third person and combines objectivity with church-loyal points of view. A frequently used technique is to tell a battle or episode according to subjective or militaristic guidelines and then follow up with your own personal and religious interpretation.

Villehardouin announces events in the future and emphasizes the ignorance of those involved in the moment. He describes the result in his own way and does not give the reader the freedom to evaluate the deeds of the characters himself. Hence it is worth comparing his reports with those of Robert de Clari . He recapitulates the events that led to Alexios III. negotiated with the crusaders.

For him, the crusade is more than just a holy war, it is an event of such importance that he has to bring it back to life in detail in his work and describe the actors. For example, he describes the Doge of Venice as a blind man who nevertheless reliably leads his men in battle. Research today cannot confirm this, but the tendency is that he was not blind, only nearsighted or very poorly sighted. Villehardouin often refers to the Roland song and, like the earlier work, describes the French army as chosen, destined to do God's will. And when Villehardouin describes Count Louis refusing to leave the battlefield, there are clear indications of the function of Roland's exaltation in his epic.

Villehardouin's work is a living account of the Fourth Crusade. At the beginning he claims that he is a pilgrim, but never explains his doctrine of the Crusade and there is no description of the influence Folques de Nuilli had on the origin of the Crusade. Misleading parts of the Conquête tell of how the legation was treated and of the negotiations that lead to Venice becoming the main port of the crusade. Many historians refer to the calculations that Villehardouin makes about the required number of men and horses as chivalrous enthusiasm combined with Christian idealism. Villehardouin claims that the Venetians were taken advantage of, but he reckons with inflated numbers because instead of the planned 33,000 men, only 11,000 competed. However, there may be crusaders departing from other ports.

Villehardouin narrates the Council of Zara in great detail and thus creates a negative image of this part of the crusade. He describes how the citizens of Zara pleaded with the crusaders not to attack the Christian city and gives an undisguised picture of the looting. At the same time he noticed that the Franks did not want to attack the city and that many deserted from the crusade. This attitude is repeated at the siege of Constantinople. Shamed by the actions of the crusaders, Villehardouin describes destruction and theft. He says that Constantinople has more famous and time-honored treasures than the rest of the world at large. Throughout his work, Villehardouin shows an understanding of history and of Greek culture, which enables a full view of things.

Text example

The first sections of the chronicle serve as a text example:

“ Sachiez que mille cent quatre-vinz et dix huit ans après l'incarnation nostre seingnor Jésus Christ, al tens Innocent trois, apostoille de Rome, et Philippe, roi de France, et Richart, roi d'Angleterre, ot un saint home en France qui ot nom Folques de Nuilli. Cil Nuillis siet between Lagny-sor-Marne et Paris; e il ère prestre et tenoit la paroiche de la ville. Et cil Folques dont je vous di, comença à parler de Dieu par France et par les autres terres entor, et Nostre Sires fist maint miracles por luy.

Sachiez que la renowned de cil saint home alla tant qu'elle vint a l'apostoille de Rome, Innocent; et l'apostoille envoya en France et manda al prod'ome que il empreschast des croiz par s'autorité. Et après y envoia un suen cardonal, maistre Perron de Chappes, croisié, et manda par luy le pardon tel come vos dirai: Tuit cil qui se croisieroient et feroient le service Dieu un an en l'ost, seroient quittes de toz les péchiez que il avoient faiz, dont il seroient confés. Por ce que cil pardons fu issi granz, si s'en esmeurent mult li cuers des gens; et mult s'encroisièrent por ce que li pardons ère si grans. "


Translation:

“ Know that a thousand-one-hundred-ninety-seven years after the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the time of Innocents the Third, the Apostle of Rome, and Philip, King of France and Richards, King of England, there were a holy man in France who was named Folques de Nuilli. This Neuilly lies between Lagny-sor-Marne and Paris; and he was a priest and held the parish of the city. And this Folques I speak of began to speak of God, in France and in the other countries around, and Our Lord, you must know, worked miracles for him.

Know further that the fame of this holy man so increased that it reached Rome as far as the apostle, Innocent; and the apostle sent to France and commissioned the worthy man to preach the cross (the crusade) in his authority. And then he had sent his cardinal there, Maistre Perron de Chappes, who had taken the cross himself, and through him gave the indulgence of which I tell you: All who took the cross and served God for a year in East / in the army, would be freed from all sins they had committed, of which they were acquitted in confession. And because this indulgence was so great, the hearts of men were very moved; and many took the cross because the indulgence was so generous. "

expenditure

  • Jean Alexandre Buchon, Paris 1828
  • J. M. Dent, Frank T. Marzials, London 1908
  • Franz Getz (transl.): The conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204 , Voigtländer ( Voigtländer's source books # 87), Leipzig 1915
  • Histoire de la Conquête de Constantinople: Un Chevalier a la Croisade , Tallandier, Paris 1981

literature

  • Noah D. Guynn: Violence and the writing of history in the medieval francophone world , Brewer ( Gallica # 29), Cambridge 2013, ISBN 978-1843843375

Web links

swell

  • Beer, Jeanette M. A .: Villehardouin: Epic Historian , Librarie Droz, 1968
  • Burckhardt, Jacob: Judgment on History and Historians , Garland Publishing, 1984
  • Godfrey, John: 1204: The Unholy Crusade , Oxford University Press, 1980
  • Joinville and Villehardouin: Chronicles of the Crusades , Penguin Books, 1963
  • Michaud, Joseph Francois: Michaud's History of the Crusades , AMS Press, 1973
  • Queller, Donald E.: The Fourth Crusade , University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977
  • Smalley, Beryl: Historians in the Middle Ages . Thames and Hudson, 1974, ISBN 0-684-14121-3 .