24 April 2024: Dr Andrew Buck

Between Chronicon and Chanson: The First Crusade and the Art of Storytelling in Medieval Jerusalem

Wednesday 24th April 2024 (week 10 of term): Dr Andrew D. Buck, Cardiff University

12:10pm in Room 3.58 of the John Percival Building on Colum Drive and via Zoom

Though the Chronicon of Archbishop William of Tyre (d.1184) has long been subject to interest from scholars of the crusades, the elements of his text (Books 1-8) which cover the events of the First Crusade (1095-99) have largely remained of secondary importance to historiographical analysis of the author and his work. In fact, some modern scholarship, which has frequently worried only about an empirical reconstructionist approach, overtly overlooks these sections, treating them as overly derivative or of value only for assessing the existence of now-lost Ur-texts. This paper redresses this by tracing the potential echoes found within the Chronicon of the chanson traditions which emerged around the events and narratives of the First Crusade in Latin Europe, to help consider his source as a form of storytelling, one that speaks to a culture of performance and how common identity could be transmitted through history-telling in medieval Jerusalem.

This seminar will be hybrid although Andrew will be present and we encourage in-person attendance in Room 3.58 of the John Percival Building. To join online click here.