Recueil des Historiens des Croisades

The Recueil des Historiens des Croisades (trans: Collection of the Historians of the Crusades) is a major collection of several thousand medieval documents written during the Crusades. The documents were collected and published in Paris in the late 19th century, and include documents in Latin, Greek, Arabic, Old French, and Armenian. The documents cover the entire period of the Crusades, and are frequently cited in scholarly works, as a way of locating a specific document. When being quoted in citations, the collection is often abbreviated as RHC or R.H.C..

Images of the documents can be viewed in some major libraries. The 1967 reprint of the entire collection by Gregg Press can also be found in major libraries, and there are also full-text PDF files available online, which have been made available by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France Gallica project. Documents can be downloaded in their entirety, or stepped through page by page, with both the original text, and a French translation.

Collections

The major collections within the RHC are:

Historiens Occidentaux

Five volumes from Occidental or "Western" historians (often abbreviated RHC Oc or RHC Occ)

1. William of Tyre, Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum
2. William of Tyre continued; Latin and Old French continuators of William of Tyre
3. Peter Tudebode, Gesta Francorum, Historia Peregrinorum, Raymond of Aguilers, Fulcher of Chartres, Gesta Francorum expugnantium iherusalem, Secunda pars historiae iherosolymitanae, Gesta Tancredi, Robert the Monk, letters of Stephen II, Count of Blois and Anselm of Ribemont
4. Baldric of Dol, Guibert of Nogent, Albert of Aix
5. Ekkehard of Aura, Caffaro di Rustico da Caschifellone, Walter the Chancellor, Historia Nicaena vel Antiochena, Theodori Palidensis Narratio profectionis Godefridi ducis ad Jerusalem, Passiones beati Thiemonis, Documenta Lipsanographica ad I. bellum sacrum spectantia, Primi belli sacri Narrationes minores, Exordium Hospitalariorum, Historia Gotfridi, Benedict Accolti, Li Estoire de Jerusalem et d'Antioche, Itineratio di la gran militia a la pavese, Fulco, Gilo of Paris

Lois

Two volumes of the Assizes of Jerusalem and Cyprus

1. John of Ibelin, Geoffrey le Tort, James of Ibelin, Philip of Novara, La Clef des Assises de la Haute Cour du Royaume de Jerusalem et de Chypre, Le Livre au Roi
2. Livre des Assises de la Cour des Bourgeois, Abrégé du Livre des Assises de la Cour des Bourgeois, Bans et Ordonnances des Rois de Chypre, 1286-1367, Formules, Appendix: Documents relatifs à la successibilité au trone et à la régence, Document relatif au service militaire, Les Lignages d'Outremer, various charters

Historiens Orientaux

Four volumes from Eastern historians (often abbreviated RHC Or)

1. Tarikh of Abu al-Fida, al-Kamil at-Tarikh of Ibn al-Athir
2. Ibn al-Athir continued, Badr al-Din al-Ayni
3. Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad, Ibn Khallikan, Abd al-Latif, Ibn Jubayr, Kitab an-Nujum az-Zahirah, Kitab mirat az-Zaman, Kamal ad-Din selections of Bughyat al-talab fi Tarikh Halab, Ibn al-Athir's at-Tarikh al-Atabakiya
4. The Book of Two Gardens by Abu Shama (d. 1267)

Historiens Grecs

Two volumes from Greek historians

1. Michael Attaliata, Michael Psellos, Anna Comnena, John Cinnamus, Nicetas, Joannes Zonaras, Michael Glycas, Nicephorus Gregoras, Ephraemius, Ioannes Phocas, Neophytus Presbyter, George Acropolites, Liber de Syria Expugnata, Liber de Jerusalem Expugnata
2. Notes to Part 1, Nicetas Choniates, Theodorus Prodromius

Historiens Armeniens

Two volumes from Armenian historians (often abbreviated RHC Darm or RHC Doc. Arm.)

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

1. Matthew of Edessa, Gregory the Priest, Basil the Doctor, Nerses Shnorhali, Gregory Dgh'a, Michael the Syrian, Guiragos of Kantzag, Vartan the Great, Samuel of Ani, Hayton of Corycus, Bahram of Edessa, Hetoum II of Armenia, Constable Sempad's Chronicle of the Kingdom (also spelled Smpad)
2. Nerses of Lambron, Smbad the Constable, Mekhithar of Dashir, various charters

References

• English-language page which links to PDFs of all of the volumes
• Internet Medieval Sourcebook