- Gesta Tancredi
"Gesta Tancredi in expeditione Hierosolymitana" ("The Deeds of Tancred in the Crusade"), usually called simply "Gesta Tancredi", is a prosimetric history ["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". (Bachrach 2005:8, note 24.] written in Latinprose and episodes of verse by a certain Ralph of Caen (before 1079–after 1130). His text provides an exceptional narrative of theFirst Crusade and events the Crusade entailed, one of only half a dozen firsthand Latin accounts. [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.]Ralph is largely known to history for this work, though he acted as chaplain to
Bohemond of Taranto in the First Crusade. He was a native ofCaen inNormandy who was a student ofArnulf of Chocques , the futureLatin Patriarch of Jerusalem .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] Arnulf departed for the Crusade in the entourage of Robert II, Duke of Normandy. Ralph was taken up by Bohemond, during Bohemond's return toFrancia . After arriving with Bohemond's entourage at his return toPalestine (1107), Ralph took service with Bohemond's nephew Tancred, who ruled theprincipality of Antioch from 1108 to 1112.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. ["The narrative breaks off during Tancred's siege of
Apamea which fell in 1106." Bachrach 2005:11, note 27.] 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."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. [Arnulf was asked to edit the text, some time after 1112. (Bachrach 2005: Introduction).] "Gesta Tancredi" is the most important Latin source for the Norman campaigns in
Cilicia (1097–1108), and for the early Norman rule inAntioch .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 withOvid , who did not become popular until the twelfth-century Renaissance, and evenHorace , who never developed much medieval reputation. 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 " andSallust 's history. [Bachrach 2005:5.] His narrative (in 157 sections) is in prose when recounting events, rising to poetry to describe Tancred's capture and despoliation of theDome of the Rock in Jerusalem in heroic, less literal terms.Notes
External links
* [http://thelatinlibrary.com/raoul.html Gesta Tancredi] at
The Latin Library (from thePatrologia Latina edition).
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