Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I - The Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa: the History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick and Related Texts

CRUSADE TEXTS IN TRANSLATION

Volume 19

About the volume

This is the first English translation of the main contemporary accounts of the Crusade and death of the German Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (ruled 1152-90). The main text here, the History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick, was written soon after the events described, and is a crucial, and much under-used source for the Third Crusade. It narrates the preparations and recruitment for the Crusade, 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 and appears to be, or to be based upon an eyewitness record, cast in the form of (often) a daily memoir. A number of subsidiary texts also translated illustrate and expand this main account, and place the crusade in context.

About the translator

G. A. Loud is Professor of Medieval Italian History at the University of Leeds, UK

To my wife, and to the memory of Thomas Wiedemann (19502001)

THE CRUSADE OF FREDERICK BARBAROSSA

Crusade Texts in Translation

Editorial Board

Malcolm Barber (Reading), Peter Edbury (Cardiff),
Bernard Hamilton (Nottingham), Norman Housley (Leicester),
Peter Jackson (Keele)

Titles in the series include

Peter Jackson
The Seventh Crusade, 12441254
Sources and Documents

Malcolm Barber and Keith Bate
Letters from the East
Crusaders, Pilgrims and Settlers in the 12th13th Centuries

Bernard S. Bachrach and David S. Bachrach
The Gesta Tancredi of Ralph of Caen
A History of the Normans on the First Crusade

Colin Imber
The Crusade of Varna, 1443-45

Carol Sweetenham
Robert the Monks History of the First Crusade
Historia Iherosolimitana

Damian J. Smith and Helena Buffery
The Book of Deeds of James I of Aragon
A Translation of the Medieval Catalan Llibre dels Fets

The History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick and Related Texts

Translated by

G. A. LOUD
University of Leeds, UK

First published 2010 by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright 2010 G. A. Loud

G. A. Loud have asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the translator of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
The Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa: The History of the Expedition of the Emperor

Frederick and Related Texts. (Crusade Texts in Translation)
1. Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, ca. 11231190. 2. Crusades--Third, 1189-1192Sources. 3. Germany History Frederick I, 11521190 Sources. I. Series II. Magnus, of Reichersberg. III. Otto, von St. Blasien, d. 1223. IV. Loud, G. A.
943.024-dc22

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, ca. 11231190.

[Historia de expeditione Frederici Imperatoris. English]
The Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa: The History of the expedition of the Emperor Frederick and related texts / [translated and annotated by] G.A. Loud.

p. cm. (Crusade Texts in Translation)

Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, ca. 11231190. 2. Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, ca. 11231190 Death and burial. 3. Crusades Third, 11891192 Early works to 1800. 4. Holy Roman Empire History Frederick I, 11521190 Early works to 1800. 5. Crusades Third, 11891192 Sources. I. Loud, G. A. II. Title.
D163.A3F74 2009
956.014dc22 2009053574

ISBN 9780754665755 (hbk)
ISBN 9781472413963 (pbk)
ISBN 9781315615165 (ebk)

From the time of Sir Walter Scott onwards, discussion of the Third Crusade of 1189-92 has tended to focus on Richard the Lionheart and the Anglo-Norman Crusade. Much more recently, the publication of English translations of primary sources in this same series by Peter Edbury and Helen Nicholson has allowed students also to study the siege of Acre in depth from its beginnings in the autumn of 1189. In comparison, the German expedition led by the Emperor Frederick I, which in contrast to those of the kings of France and England took the traditional overland route through the Balkans and Asia Minor, has been neglected, despite its great intrinsic interest. The death of the emperor, drowned while crossing, or bathing in, a river in Armenia, tends to be seen as rendering the expedition a fiasco, although it is argued here that this was very far from being the case. My own interest in this subject has stemmed directly from my teaching in the University of Leeds of both Crusader history and more recently that of medieval Germany. It has been the latter, in particular, which has encouraged me to investigate the sources and the background to Fredericks expedition, and my thanks must go to the students who over the last three years have taken what was a pretty experimental module. A number of others have made substantial contributions to this project. My publisher John Smedley encouraged me to turn the brief extracts that I had translated for my students into a book, and one of the series editors, Bernard Hamilton, has read and commented on the entire manuscript, some of it more than once. Professor John Davies of the University of Liverpool helped me with the translation of some of the more problematic passages in the Historia de Expeditione, during what was otherwise an entirely social occasion. I have also benefited from extensive help from two of my colleagues at Leeds, Alan Murray and Ian Moxon, both of whom have shown that (contrary to popular stereotypes) Scots can be the most generous of friends. Alan has shared his knowledge of Crusader and German history, and of German geography, and has furnished me with copies of his articles and copious bibliographical advice. Both he and Ian have also read drafts of the introduction. Ian meanwhile has done his best to remedy the defects of my classical education. Time and again he has abandoned whatever he was then doing to assist me with Latin passages where I was hopelessly confused or in error. I hope that he will forgive some of my more free or colloquial renditions, painful as they must be to his austere respect for the Latin language. I have striven to render these translations as accurate as possible, but any translator must tread a fine line between accuracy and intelligibility. Similarly, I have tried to be consistent with regard to place and personal names, but when in doubt have tended to use the forms most familiar to Anglophone readers. Needless to say, none of those named above bear any responsibility for any flaws in the finished product; although without their assistance there would have been far more than there now are.