The Crusade Of Frederick Barbarossa

This is the first English translation of the main contemporary accounts of the Crusade and death of the German Frederick I Barbarossa (ruled 1152-90). The most important of these, the 'History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick' was written soon after the events described, and is a crucial, and under-used source for the Third Crusade (at least in the Anglophone world). The account begins with two letters describing the disaster of Hattin and Saladin's subsequent conquest of most of the Holy Land (the second of these is addressed to the duke of Austria). It goes on to describe how the emperor took the Cross, the preparations and recruitment for the Crusade, the diplomatic contacts of Barbarossa with the Byzantine Emperor and the Sultan of Iconium in an attempt to secure a peaceful passage for the expedition, and the Crusade itself: the journey through the Balkans and the gruelling march through Asia Minor, beset by Turkish attack, until its arrival at Antioch on 21st July 1190, eleven days after the emperor had drowned while crossing a river in Cilician Armenia. The 'History' gives a vivid account of the sufferings of the German army as it traversed Asia Minor. The account of the expedition itself appears to be, or to be based upon an eyewitness record, cast in the form of (often) a daily memoir. However, it concludes with an account of the captivity and release of Richard I in Germany, Henry VI's conquest of the kingdom of Sicily, and of the preparations for a new Crusade under his leadership. In addition, a number of further accounts related to, and expanding, the 'History of the Expedition' have also been translated, including a contemporary newsletter about the death of the emperor, as well as the narrative of Otto of St Blasien, placing the Crusade into context twenty years later, and a contemporary account of the capture of Silves in Portugal by German crusaders on their way to the Holy Land in 1189. This collection is a valuable companion volume to the three other volumes relating to the Third Crusade in this series: The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade, trans. Edbury, the Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi, trans. Nicholson, and The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin, trans. Richards.

It was neither of these popes who actually called for the crusade, it was the octogenarian pope who only ruled for two months before his death: Gregory VIII. Although it took some time to convince Barbarossa to take his crusading vow again (at this point, he was in his sixties and had already been on one failed crusade), he eventually agreed and led a meticulously organized force towards the Holy Land.

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Reviewed by: The Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa: The History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick and Related Texts Chris Jones Loud, Graham A. , trans., The Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa: The History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick and Related Texts (Crusade Texts in Translation, 19), Farnham, Ashgate, 2010; hardback; pp. xvi, 225; 2 b/w illustrations; R.R.P. Â60.00; ISBN 9780754665755. In the latest volume of Ashgate's 'Crusade Texts in Translation' series, Graham Loud collects and translates what he rightly labels the 'principal accounts' of the German crusade that set out in 1189. As Loud notes, this expedition, launched in response to the loss of much of the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem to Saladin, is often somewhat neglected by Anglophone historians. The latter are often more interested in the slightly later venture led by the English king Richard the Lionheart and his French counterpart, Philippe II. The neglect of the German contribution to the Third Crusade is owed, perhaps, to its somewhat anticlimactic ending: following a lengthy journey through Hungary, Byzantium, and Asia Minor, its leader, the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, drowned somewhat ignominiously in a river without actually reaching the Holy Land. Although the crusaders struggled on to Antioch, the army was decimated by disease and subsequently dispersed. The expedition can be summed up in a remark by the anonymous author of the Historia de Expeditione Friderici Imperatoris: 'For day after day, good things and happiness, and the abundance of a good market, were promised to us, but it all turned out very differently' (p. 115). And yet Barbarossa's crusade is, as Loud frequently highlights, worth remembering, not least because it possesses particularly rich and detailed sources.

The centrepiece of Loud's collection, and the work that occupies most of the volume, is a full translation of the Historia de Expeditione. This offers a near-contemporary account of preparations preceding the German crusade and of its progress. As Loud notes, the level of detail relating to this expedition's participants is far in excess of that which appears in sources for earlier crusades. Further information on the majority of these participants is helpfully provided in the footnotes, although it is unclear why certain figures, such as Gaubert of Aspremont and Adalbert of Wisselberg, are excluded from this treatment.

Alongside the Historia de Expeditione, the volume includes material from two closely related texts. The second item is a translation of the Historia Peregrinorum from its prologue up until the crusaders' arrival at Vienna. As the remainder of this chronicle is very similar to the Historia de Expeditione and seems to have drawn upon a version of it, Loud does not translate the remainder of the text. He does, however, include significant variations in the Historia Peregrinorum's account in the footnotes to the Historia de Expeditione. [End Page 239]

Alongside these three key sources for Frederick's crusade, Loud includes four additional texts. One of these is an anonymous letter, possibly addressed to a German cleric, concerning the emperor's death. It is followed by excerpts from the chronicle of Otto of St Blasien, a text which gives some sense of how Frederick's crusade came to be regarded by the next generation. Loud also includes a short account of a group of German crusaders who did not take the land route but who decided to sail to the Holy Land by ship. On the way, they became involved with a Portuguese army in the conquest of the town of Silves. The volume is rounded off by an example of Frederick's pre-crusade preparations, the land peace issued at Nuremberg in 1188.

The value of this latest contribution to the impressive series,Crusade Texts in Translation, is established by the first fewsentences of the volume's preface: "From the time of Sir Walter Scottonwards, discussion of the Third Crusade of 1189-92 has tended tofocus on Richard the Lionheart and the Anglo-Norman Crusade...Incomparison, the German expedition led by Emperor Frederick I, which incontrast to those of the kings of France and England took the'traditional' overland route through the Balkans and Asia Minor, hasbeen neglected, despite its intrinsic interest" (vii). The seventexts translated in this volume by Graham Loud should help to addressthis situation. These texts include three major works: theHistoria de expeditione Friderici Imperatoris, compiled ca.1200; the Historia peregrinorum, also compiled ca. 1200; andselections from the chronicle of Magnus of Reichersberg, compiled atsome point prior to 1195. Laud has also included translations ofseveral other texts which, though still useful, appear less directlyrelevant to Barbarossa's crusade or are less extensive than the majorworks.

The history of a medieval text is rarely as straightforward as it mayappear in a modern edition or translation. The texts translated inthis volume are no exception. The interrelationship between the threemain texts is complex and is addressed in great detail in theintroduction. The longest text, the Historia de Expeditione isvirtually contemporary with the events described, but the completetext only survives in two manuscripts, both dating from the eighteenthcentury. The authorship of the work is also problematical. Loudargues that it is most probably a composite text and the work of morethan one author. Most of the Historia appears to represent aneyewitness account of the crusade of 1189-90, but an appendix includesaccounts of later events such as the attempt by Barbarossa'ssuccessor, Henry VI, to conquer the kingdom of Sicily and his attemptto transform the German kingdom into a hereditary monarchy. Some ofthese events, as Loud suggests, might be viewed as ramifications ofFrederick's crusade, others appear to be of more general significance.

A further level of complexity is added to Historia deExpeditione by its heavy reliance on a diary written by a Bavariancleric. The cleric actually participated in the Crusade, but thediary only survives as excerpts in the chronicle of Magnus ofReichersberg. Magnus indicates that a copy of the diary had been sentto him from the Holy Land, but, as Loud notes, it is by no means clearthat its text was incorporated into the chronicle without alteration.The third major crusade text included in this volume, the HistoriaPeregrinorum, survives in a single thirteenth-century manuscriptfrom the monastery of Salem. Its narrative, divided into threesections, describes Saladin's conquest of Palestine, preparations forthe Crusade, and Barbarossa's death. Although based extensively onthe Historia de expeditione, the Historia Peregrinorumoccasionally differs from or makes additions to its narrative. Loudhas translated only those parts of the text that provide anindependent testimony.

As already noted, the remainder of the volume incorporates shortertexts, of differing types, that offer independent testimony regardingthe crusade or other, related events. The Epistola de morteFriderici Imperatoris, apparently written immediately afterBarbarossa's death, provides a brief account of the crusade's passagethrough Asia Minor. Excerpts from the Chronicle of Otto of StBlasien, part of a more general chronicle compiled c.1209-10,offer a retrospective view of Barbarossa's crusade, and accounts ofthe capture of Richard I and the abortive, "German" crusade of 1197.A third text does not deal specifically with Barbarossa's, but ratherwith a seaborne expedition that set off from Germany, in 1189, andended up campaigning in Portugal. The capture of the Portuguese townof Silves by German crusaders, among others, provides the focal pointof the text. Finally, Loud provides a translation of the imperialland peace of 1188, an example of one of the measures implemented byBarbarossa to secure domestic tranquility during his absence.

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