The Libellus de expugnatione Terrae Sanctae per Saladinum (or Little Book about the Conquest of the Holy Land by bal% al-D+n) is the most substantial contemporary Latin account of the conquest of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1187. Seemingly written by a churchman who was in Jerusalem itself when the city was besieged and captured, the Libellus fuses historical narrative and biblical exegesis in an attempt to recount and interpret the loss of the Holy Land, an event that provoked an outpouring of grief throughout western Christendom and sparked the Third Crusade. This book provides an English translation of the Libellus accompanied by a new, comprehensive critical edition of the Latin text and a detailed study in the introduction.
List of illustrations
Preface
Abbreviations
Maps
Introduction
Structure
Historical background
Summary of text
Reliability and authorship of Part I
Style, language, and exegesis
The continuation (Parts II and III)
Manuscripts
Date
Notices, editions, and translations
Principles of edition and translation
Sigla used in this edition
Text and translation
Appendix 1Ralph of Coggeshalls Chronicon Anglicanum: Sources for 1187
Appendix 2Gazetteer
Appendix 3Biblical references
Bibliography
Index
This book provides an English translation of Libellus de expugnatione Terrae Sanctae per Saladinum accompanied by a new critical lĂ