Gunther von Pairis - The capture of Constantinople: the Hystoria Constantinopolitana of Gunther of Pairis

THE MIDDLE AGES SERIES

Ruth Mazo Karras, General
Editor Edward Peters, Founding Editor

A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher.

The Capture of
Constantinople

The Hystoria Constantinopolitana
of Gunther of Pairis

Edited and translated by

ALFRED J. ANDREA

PENN

University of Pennsylvania Press

Philadelphia

Copyright 1997 University of Pennsylvania Press

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Published by

University of Pennsylvania Press

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6097

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gunther, von Pairis, ca. 1150ca. 1210.

[Historia Constantinopolitana. English]

The capture of Constantinople : the Hystoria Constantinopolitana of Gunther of Pairis / edited and translated by Alfred J. Andrea.

p. cm. (Middle Ages series)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8122-3356-5 (alk. paper)

1. Instanbul (Turkey) HistorySiege, 12031204 2. Civilization, Medieval8th century. 3. Byzantine EmpireHistory. I. Andrea, Alfred J., 1941. II. Title. III. Series.

PA8330.G85H97 1997

949.61'8013dc21

96-45687

CIP

This book is dedicated, with love, to my parents:
Alfred and Athena Filios Andrea.

Preface

The publication of this translation and study marks the end of a project begun well over a decade ago. I undertook this work with the naive assumption that six to twelve months would suffice to prepare a suitable translation and a few appropriate words of commentary upon what then seemed to me to be a minor source for the Fourth Crusade. Happily, I was wrong. The complexity and sophistication of Gunther of Pairis's Hystoria Constantinopolitana have provided years of fascination and delight.

In the course of these labors I have benefited from the support of many institutions and the wise counsel of many friends. To the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung of Bad Godesburg, Germany I owe the favor of an extended period of residence in Munich which enabled me to examine at leisure two extant manuscripts of the Hystoria Constantinopolituna. The American Philosophical Society awarded a grant-in-aid, enabling me to return to Europe to complete this archival research. The University of Vermont has given several stipends which helped me to continue research. The university also granted a year of sabbatical leave for the completion of the project. A generous grant from the Translations Program of the National Endowment for the Humanities made it possible for me to accept that leave by providing funds to supplement my sabbatical salary and also to assist in various stages of research and typescript preparation. The staffs of the manuscript divisions of the Universitatsbibliothek and the Bayerische Staats-bibliothek, both of Munich, Germany, and of the Bibliotheque de la Ville, Colmar, France, have helped make my work in their respective archives enjoyable as well as productive.

My colleagues, in both the Department of History and the European Studies Program of the University of Vermont, have been similarly supportive, even when I must have stretched their patience with my incessant lectures, papers, and seminars on Gun-ther. Their tolerant good humor and collegial encouragement have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated. Professors Z. Philip Ambrose and Pieter Wessling deserve special recognition for their kindness in discussing with me matters relating to their respective fields of expertise. Without the competent assistance of the inter-library loan staffs of both the University of Vermont and the University of Puget Sound, I could never have completed this research. Professors Michael Curley of the University of Puget Sound and Francis R. Swietek of the University of Dallas, who read and commented upon early versions of this translation, deserve special thanks for their many kind suggestions and for having rescued me from several embarrassing errors. The late Professor Donald E. Queller of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a dear friend and valued colleague, consistently showed generous support of my work, even though he and I amiably disagreed on some basic issues of interpretation. My friend Roswitha Dunlap helped guide me through the often convoluted passages of some especially opaque academic German prose. Virginia de Fede-Cove and Florence Phillippi ably typed early drafts of portions of this book, and Carolyn Perry, with her usual efficiency and sense of order, prepared a complete typescript, often working from nearly illegible manuscripts. After Francis Swietek made a number of important suggestions for the improvement of that draft, the staff of Second Foundation, Inc. of South Burlington, Vermont (now Ventech of Louisville, Kentucky) converted the typescript to computer files free of charge. This generous gift enabled me to revise the book substantially with a minimum of labor. Bridget M. Butler, Nancy Effron, and Amory Garmey patiently printed out numerous drafts of this book once I had learned the heady power of word processing.

I must not overlook the support given by my family. Without the many sacrifices and countless instances of support, both great and small, of my wife, Juanita, and son and daughter, Peter Damian and Kristina Ladas, I would not have had the time and freedom to complete this task.

Acknowledgment of all these debts in no way relieves me of the obligation to repay friends, colleagues, and family with a measure of the kindness and generous aid that they have given me, neither does it lift from my shoulders the sole responsibility for all that has been printed on the pages that follow.

A.J.A.

Burlington, Vermont

The feast of St. Martin,

1995

Abbreviations