Category: Part 4: The Crusades

William of Tyre (1130-1186) was one of the generations of Europeans who grew up in the new Kingdom of Jerusalem. William was born in Jerusalem and became a priest in the Church in the Holy Land, eventually rising to be Archbishop of Tyre, engaging in politics as an ambassador in his time. His “Chronicle of…

About the Author: The Swiss Theologian Brother Felix Faber (1441-1502), often Felix Fabri, leaves us one of the most vivid and human accounts of pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Brother Felix speaks of the horrors of life in the hold of a pilgrim ship, as well as the terrors of the sea, things like the…

About the Author: Henry Maundrell was an academic and later ordained in the Church of England. In 1697 he found himself in Jerusalem, and kept a record in a diary which he published in England about five years later. As noted, the custom that pilgrims received a tattoo was alive and well even then, using…

About the author: Stephen, count of Blois and Chartres (c. 1045-1102), was one of the richest and ablest among the princes who took part in the first crusade. According to legend he was the possessor of three hundred and sixty-five castles; in this letter we find him in temporary command of the whole Christian army.…