De expugnatione Lyxbonensi
Encyclopedia
De expugnatione Lyxbonensi ("On the Conquest of Lisbon") is an eyewitness account of the Siege of Lisbon
at the start of the Second Crusade
, and covers the expedition from the departure of the English contingent on 23 May 1147 until the fall of Lisbon on 28 June 1148. It was written in Latin
by one Raol, an Anglo
-Fleming
and probably a chaplain of Hervey of Glanvill in the army from East Anglia
. It is an important source for the organisation of the crusade, especially among the middle ranks of society. An English translation by Charles Wendell David
appeared in 1936 and was reprinted in 2001.
, gave it its modern title, which was picked up by Charles Wendell David, who preferred it for its similarity to the titles used by the Lisbon Academy, by Reinhold Pauli
for his German edition of some excerpts, and in the bibliographies of August Potthast
and Auguste Molinier
. C. P. Cooper, in recognition of the text's form as an epistle
, designates the it Cruce Signati anglici Epistola de expugnatione Ulisiponis ("English Crusaders' Letter on the Conquest of Lisbon").
The unique manuscript was believed by Stubbs and Pauli to be the original autograph. David suggests that it was not the original, which was probably written hastily during the crusade, but rather a later autograph edited by the author later, perhaps in his old age.
he has been known as "Osbern" and the manuscript's table of contents, written in a Renaissance hand, lists the work as Historia Osberni de Expeditione etc. ("Osbern's History of the Expedition, etc."). This purely conjectural name has been oft repeated and has become traditional.
Ulrich Cosack, in his doctoral dissertation, argued that "Osbern" was an Anglo-Norman
on the grounds that he showed a marked preference for narrating their deeds. Pauli argued the same on the grounds that he used gallicism, like garciones ("men"), but he also used anglicisms, like worma. He probably hailed from the east of England, for the men of Suffolk
appear frequently in his account, such as the seven youths of Ipswich
who defended the siege tower
from the protection of a "Welsh cat".
, Isidore
and Ivo of Chartres
, is dry, but his use of the crusade for an attack on Lisbon suggests that concept was still flexible and could be detached from the pilgrimage to Jerusalem at that point in time. In his effort to sooth the crusaders' consciences, he urged them to "act like good soldiers" and affirmed that "[s]in is not in waging war but in waging war for the sake of plunder" and "[w]hen a war had been entered upon by God's will it is not permitted to doubt that it has been rightly undertaken". The bishop ultimately offered to pay the crusaders for their assistance, and did so with plunder from the successful siege.
Hervey's speech appeals to family pride, the desire for glory, "the counsels of honour" and the unity to which the crusaders had sworn at the onset of the expedition. The priest, after reminding the soldiers that the Muslims had desecrated a cross "with the filth of their posteriors", held up a relic of the True Cross
and reduced the host to tears before assuring them that "in this sign, if you do not hestiate, you will conquer
. . . [for] if it should happen that anyone signed with this cross should die, we do not believe that life has been taken from him, for we have no doubt that he is changed into something better". He ended with a line he probably got from a letter written by Bernard de Clairvaux to the English crusaders in 1146: "Here, therefore, to live is glory and to die is gain". After the priest's sermon many of those present re-took the cross, and presumably some who had not yet done so were inaugurated into the ranks of the crucesignati (cross-signed). The influence of Bernard on both the bishop and the priest is evident.
Siege of Lisbon
The Siege of Lisbon, from July 1 to October 25, 1147, was the military action that brought the city of Lisbon under definitive Portuguese control and expelled its Moorish overlords. The Siege of Lisbon was one of the few Christian victories of the Second Crusade—it was "the only success of the...
at the start of the Second Crusade
Second Crusade
The Second Crusade was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade by Baldwin of Boulogne in 1098...
, and covers the expedition from the departure of the English contingent on 23 May 1147 until the fall of Lisbon on 28 June 1148. It was written in Latin
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration. Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors,...
by one Raol, an Anglo
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
-Fleming
County of Flanders
The County of Flanders was one of the territories constituting the Low Countries. The county existed from 862 to 1795. It was one of the original secular fiefs of France and for centuries was one of the most affluent regions in Europe....
and probably a chaplain of Hervey of Glanvill in the army from East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
. It is an important source for the organisation of the crusade, especially among the middle ranks of society. An English translation by Charles Wendell David
Charles Wendell David
Charles Wendell David was a noted American bibliophile, medievalist and librarian. He worked tirelessly both to reconstruct Europe's war-torn repositories and to establish new libraries in the United States.-Biography:...
appeared in 1936 and was reprinted in 2001.
Manuscript
De expugnatione is untitled in its sole manuscript. Its first English editor, William StubbsWilliam Stubbs
William Stubbs was an English historian and Bishop of Oxford.The son of William Morley Stubbs, a solicitor, he was born at Knaresborough, Yorkshire, and was educated at Ripon Grammar School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated in 1848, obtaining a first-class in classics and a third in...
, gave it its modern title, which was picked up by Charles Wendell David, who preferred it for its similarity to the titles used by the Lisbon Academy, by Reinhold Pauli
Reinhold Pauli
Reinhold Pauli was a German historian of England, born in Berlin. He studied much in England, and became professor of History at Göttingen. He wrote Life of King Alfred, History of England from the Accession of Henry II to the Death of Henry VII, Pictures of Old England and Simon de Montfort....
for his German edition of some excerpts, and in the bibliographies of August Potthast
August Potthast
August Potthast , German historian, was born at Höxter, and was educated at Paderborn, Münster and Berlin....
and Auguste Molinier
Auguste Molinier
August Molinier was a French historian.He was born at Toulouse. He was a pupil at the École des Chartes, which he left in 1873, and also at the École des Hautes Études; and he obtained appointments in the public libraries at the Mazarine , at Fontainebleau , and at Sainte-Geneviève, of which he...
. C. P. Cooper, in recognition of the text's form as an epistle
Epistle
An epistle is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum. The letters in the New Testament from Apostles to Christians...
, designates the it Cruce Signati anglici Epistola de expugnatione Ulisiponis ("English Crusaders' Letter on the Conquest of Lisbon").
The unique manuscript was believed by Stubbs and Pauli to be the original autograph. David suggests that it was not the original, which was probably written hastily during the crusade, but rather a later autograph edited by the author later, perhaps in his old age.
Authorship
The author of the De expugnatione names himself in his opening lines, although in an obscure abbreviated form that has perplexed scholars: Osb. de Baldr. R. salutem. Since at least the time of Matthew ParkerMatthew Parker
Matthew Parker was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder of Anglican theological thought....
he has been known as "Osbern" and the manuscript's table of contents, written in a Renaissance hand, lists the work as Historia Osberni de Expeditione etc. ("Osbern's History of the Expedition, etc."). This purely conjectural name has been oft repeated and has become traditional.
Ulrich Cosack, in his doctoral dissertation, argued that "Osbern" was an Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
on the grounds that he showed a marked preference for narrating their deeds. Pauli argued the same on the grounds that he used gallicism, like garciones ("men"), but he also used anglicisms, like worma. He probably hailed from the east of England, for the men of Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
appear frequently in his account, such as the seven youths of Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
who defended the siege tower
Siege tower
A siege tower is a specialized siege engine, constructed to protect assailants and ladders while approaching the defensive walls of a fortification. The tower was often rectangular with four wheels with its height roughly equal to that of the wall or sometimes higher to allow archers to stand on...
from the protection of a "Welsh cat".
Speeches
De expugnatione contains three speeches about crusading, from the mouths of three (probably deliberately) different men: Pedro Pitões, Bishop of Porto, Hervey de Glanvill and an anonymous "certain priest", possibly Raol himself. They are not "verbatim reports [but] more or less formal reconstructions". The bishop, who persuaded the crusaders to turn aside and attack Lisbon, had seen his own cathedral of Santa María plundered by the Muslims in 1140, when they took off with some liturgical vestments and killed and enslaved members of his clergy. To incite them to his aid, Pedro called the crusaders "God's people", who were on "a blessed pilgrimage", and told them that "[t]he praiseworthy thing is not to have been to Jerusalem but to have lived a good life while on the way". His pleading lacks confidence, suggesting ethical uncertainty, and his sermon, based on AugustineAugustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
, Isidore
Isidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
and Ivo of Chartres
Ivo of Chartres
Saint Ivo ' of Chartres was the Bishop of Chartres from 1090 until his death and an important canon lawyer during the Investiture Crisis....
, is dry, but his use of the crusade for an attack on Lisbon suggests that concept was still flexible and could be detached from the pilgrimage to Jerusalem at that point in time. In his effort to sooth the crusaders' consciences, he urged them to "act like good soldiers" and affirmed that "[s]in is not in waging war but in waging war for the sake of plunder" and "[w]hen a war had been entered upon by God's will it is not permitted to doubt that it has been rightly undertaken". The bishop ultimately offered to pay the crusaders for their assistance, and did so with plunder from the successful siege.
Hervey's speech appeals to family pride, the desire for glory, "the counsels of honour" and the unity to which the crusaders had sworn at the onset of the expedition. The priest, after reminding the soldiers that the Muslims had desecrated a cross "with the filth of their posteriors", held up a relic of the True Cross
True Cross
The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a Christian tradition, are believed to be from the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.According to post-Nicene historians, Socrates Scholasticus and others, the Empress Helena The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a...
and reduced the host to tears before assuring them that "in this sign, if you do not hestiate, you will conquer
In hoc signo vinces
In hoc signo vinces is a Latin rendering of the Greek phrase "" en touto nika, and means "in this sign you will conquer"....
. . . [for] if it should happen that anyone signed with this cross should die, we do not believe that life has been taken from him, for we have no doubt that he is changed into something better". He ended with a line he probably got from a letter written by Bernard de Clairvaux to the English crusaders in 1146: "Here, therefore, to live is glory and to die is gain". After the priest's sermon many of those present re-took the cross, and presumably some who had not yet done so were inaugurated into the ranks of the crucesignati (cross-signed). The influence of Bernard on both the bishop and the priest is evident.
Further reading
- Phillips, Jonathan. "Ideas of Crusade and Holy War in De expugnatione Lyxbonensi (The Conquest of Lisbon)", Holy Land, Holy Lands, and Christian History, ed. Robert N. Swanson, Studies in Church History, 36 (Woodbridge: 2000): 123–41.