Philip of Novara

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Philip of Novara (* around 1195, † around 1265) was an Italian chronicler and lawyer . He came from the northern Italian city of Novara , but lived and worked in the crusader states of the Latin East.

Life

It is unclear how Philip of Novara got into the Christian world of Outremers , but in 1218 he took part in the Crusade of Damiette (fifth crusade) in the service of the Cypriot knight Pierre Chappe . In the following years he was on Cyprus a loyal knight John of Ibelin , the "old man from Beirut," and struggled with this in the Lombard war against the governor of the Emperor Frederick II. , Inter alia on 15 June 1232 in the in slaughter Agridi . Philipp wrote an epic chronicle of this conflict in which he very one-sidedly described Johann von Ibelin as the ideal of an honorable and just feudal lord and criticized Emperor Friedrich II as an uncultivated despot .

Philipp von Novara also appeared as a legal scholar for the House of Ibelin and the baronial party they led. In its objection, in the June 5, 1242 declared Acre gathered Haute Cour of Jerusalem , each by the emperor or his son, King Conrad IV. , Appointed government of the Kingdom of Jerusalem illegitimate because King Conrad had never appeared in the Kingdom and of the Vassals of the kingdom have received the feudal oath . As a result, the barons are not obliged to obey the king and are therefore empowered to determine their own government. Around 1250 Philip wrote a treatise on the feudal law of Outremers ( Le Livre de forme de Plait ), which particularly influenced the writings of the legal scholar Johann von Ibelin-Jaffa , a nephew of the "old man".

For moral edification, Philip of Novara wrote the text "The Four Ages" ( Les quatre âges de l'homme ) around 1260, which contain principles for the education of nobles.

literature

  • Philipp von Novara (Author), Marcel de Fréville (Ed.): Les quatre âges de l'homme. Traité moral . Johnson Books, New York 1968 (reprinted Paris 1888 edition).
  • John L. Lamonte (transl.), Merton J. Hubert (arr.): The Wars of Frederick II against the Ibelings in Syria and Cyprus . Columbia University Press, New York 1936 (English translation of the "Chronicle" Philipp von Novaras).
  • Peter W. Edbury (Ed.): Philip of Novara. Le Livre de forme de Plait . Cyprus Research Center, Nicosia 2009, ISBN 978-99-63081-12-7 .
personal data
SURNAME Philip of Novara
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Philippe de Novara; Philip of Novara
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chronicler and Legist
DATE OF BIRTH around 1195
DATE OF DEATH around 1265