Manuscript
De expugnatione is untitled in its sole manuscript. Its first English editor, William Stubbs, gave it its modern title, which was picked up by Charles Wendell David, who preferred it for its similarity to the titles used by the Lisbon Academy, by Reinhold Pauli for his German edition of some excerpts, [5] and in the bibliographies of August Potthast and Auguste Molinier. [6] Charles Purton Cooper, in recognition of the text's form as an epistle, designates it Cruce Signati anglici Epistola de expugnatione Ulisiponis ("English Crusaders' Letter on the Conquest of Lisbon").
The unique manuscript was believed by Stubbs and Pauli to be the original autograph. David suggests however that it was not the original, which was probably written hastily during the crusade, but rather a later autograph edited by the author later, perhaps in his old age. [7]
The manuscript is located in the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Manuscript 470, fol. 125-146.
Authorship
The author of the De expugnatione names himself in his opening lines, although in an obscure abbreviated form that has perplexed scholars: Osb. de Baldr. R. salutem. Since at least the time of Archbishop Matthew Parker he has been known as "Osbern" and the manuscript's table of contents, written in a Renaissance hand, lists the work as Historia Osberni de Expeditione etc. ("Osbern's History of the Expedition, etc."). This purely conjectural name has been oft repeated and has become traditional. [6]
Ulrich Cosack, in his doctoral dissertation, argued that "Osbern" was an Anglo-Norman on the grounds that he showed a marked preference for narrating their deeds. [8] Pauli argued the same on the grounds that he used gallicisms, like garciones ("men"), but he also used anglicisms, like worma. [6] He probably hailed from the east of England, for the men of Suffolk appear frequently in his account, such as the seven youths of Ipswich who defended the siege tower using the protection of a mobile siege engine called the "Welsh cat".
Speeches
De expugnatione contains three speeches about crusading, from the mouths of three (probably deliberately) different men: Pedro Pitões, Bishop of Porto, Hervey de Glanvill and an anonymous "certain priest", possibly Raol himself. They are not "verbatim reports [but] more or less formal reconstructions". [3] The bishop, who persuaded the crusaders to turn aside and attack Lisbon, had seen his own cathedral of Santa Maria plundered by the Muslims in 1140, when they took off with some liturgical vestments and killed and enslaved members of his clergy. [9] To incite them to his aid, Pedro called the crusaders "God's people", who were on "a blessed pilgrimage", and told them that "[t]he praiseworthy thing is not to have been to Jerusalem but to have lived a good life while on the way". [3] His pleading lacks confidence, suggesting ethical uncertainty, and his sermon, based on Augustine, Isidore and Ivo of Chartres, is dry, but his use of the crusade for an attack on Lisbon suggests that concept was still flexible and could be detached from the pilgrimage to Jerusalem at that point in time. In his effort to soothe the crusaders' consciences, he urged them to "act like good soldiers" and affirmed that "[s]in is not in waging war but in waging war for the sake of plunder" and "[w]hen a war had been entered upon by God's will it is not permitted to doubt that it has been rightly undertaken". [3] [9] The bishop ultimately offered to pay the crusaders for their assistance, and did so with plunder from the successful siege. [3]
Hervey's speech appeals to family pride, the desire for glory, "the counsels of honour" and the unity to which the crusaders had sworn at the onset of the expedition. The priest, after reminding the soldiers that the Muslims had desecrated a cross "with the filth of their posteriors", [9] held up a relic of the True Cross [10] and reduced the host to tears before assuring them that "in this sign, if you do not hesitate, you will conquer. . . [for] if it should happen that anyone signed with this cross should die, we do not believe that life has been taken from him, for we have no doubt that he is changed into something better". He ended with a line he probably got from a letter written by Bernard de Clairvaux to the English crusaders in 1146: "Here, therefore, to live is glory and to die is gain". [3] After the priest's sermon many of those present re-took the cross, and presumably some who had not yet done so were inaugurated into the ranks of the crucesignati (cross-signed). [3] The influence of Bernard on both the bishop and the priest is evident. [3] [9]
Year 1147 (MCXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.
Ranulf de Glanvill was Chief Justiciar of England during the reign of King Henry II (1154–89) and was the probable author of Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie, the earliest treatise on the laws of England.
The Metropolitan Patriarchate of Lisbon is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or patriarchal archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.
The siege of Lisbon, from 1 July to 25 October 1147, was the military action against the Muslim-ruled Taifa of Badajoz that brought the city of Lisbon under the definitive control of the new Christian power, the Kingdom of Portugal.
Baldwin of Forde or Ford was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1185 and 1190. The son of a clergyman, he studied canon law and theology at Bologna and was tutor to Pope Eugene III's nephew before returning to England to serve successive bishops of Exeter. After becoming a Cistercian monk he was named abbot of his monastery at Forde and subsequently elected to the episcopate at Worcester. Before becoming a bishop, he wrote theological works and sermons, some of which have survived.
Events from the 1140s in England.
Gilbert de Hastings was an English monk in the Christian army of the Second Crusade who fought in the Siege of Lisbon. After the victory, he was chosen to be the first Bishop of Lisbon. Prior to his incumbency, the see of Lisbon was occupied by a Bishop of the mozarabic rite, that was killed by the pillaging crusaders, as described by the crusader monk Osbernus in De expugniatione Lyxbonensi . His antecedents are unclear, but it seems probable that he was a younger son of the well-known Anglo-Norman de Hastings family who held the Lordship of the Manor of Ashill in Norfolk, and who, at this time, were Hereditary Stewards of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds.
Charles Wendell David (1885–1984) was a noted American bibliophile, medievalist and librarian. He worked tirelessly both to reconstruct Europe's war-torn repositories and to establish new libraries in the United States.
The conquest of Santarém took place on 15 March 1147, when the troops of the Kingdom of Portugal under the leadership of Afonso I of Portugal captured the Taifa of Badajoz city of Santarém.
Hervey de Glanvill [Glanville] was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and military leader. He was a scion of a younger line of the Glanvill family, which had been established in East Anglia, especially Suffolk, since before 1086. He had several sons and daughters, the most prominent of which was Ranulf de Glanvill, who became justiciar of England.
The siege of Tortosa was a military action of the Second Crusade (1147–49) in Spain. A multinational force under the command of Count Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona besieged the city of Tortosa, then a part of the Almoravid Emirate, for six months before the garrison surrendered.
The Libellus de expugnatione Terrae Sanctae per Saladinum, also called the Chronicon terrae sanctae, is a short anonymous Latin account of the conquests of Saladin in the Holy Land between 1186 and 1191. The core of the text was written shortly after the events it describes and then supplemented by the addition of an account of the Third Crusade early in the thirteenth century. This probably took place at Coggeshall Abbey in England. Neither the original author nor the continuator/compiler is known by name.
In or about 1142 according to a brief reference in the Anglo-Norman text known as De expugnatione Lyxbonensi and the Portuguese text known as the Chronica Gothorum, a group of Anglo-Norman crusaders on their way to Jerusalem were invited by King Afonso I Henriques of Portugal to participate in an attempt to capture the Almoravid-controlled city of Lisbon. The Anglo-Norman forces might have been led by the brothers William and Ralph Vitalus as it is implied by the De expugnatione Lyxbonensi.
De itinere navali is an anonymous Latin account of the siege and capture of Silves in 1189, one of the expeditions of the Third Crusade. It was written by an eyewitness shortly after the events it records. It is known from a single copy made a few decades later. It has been translated into English three times.
De expugnatione Scalabis is an anonymous Latin account of the Portuguese conquest of Santarém on 15 March 1147. It is the earliest and most detailed source for that event and is informed by eyewitness accounts.
The siege of Silves was an action of the Third Crusade and the Portuguese Reconquista in 1189. The city of Silves in the Almohad Caliphate was besieged from 21 July until 3 September by the forces of Portugal and a group of crusaders from northern Europe on their way to the siege of Acre. The defenders capitulated on terms, the city was handed over to Portugal and the crusaders took a portion of the spoils.
The siege of Alcácer do Sal lasted from 30 July to 18 October 1217. The well fortified city of Alcácer do Sal was a frontier outpost of the Almohad Caliphate facing Portugal. It was besieged by forces from Portugal, León, the military orders and the Fifth Crusade. The latter were led by Count William I of Holland. The expedition was the brainchild of Bishop Soeiro II of Lisbon, whose diocese was threatened by regular raids from Alcácer. King Afonso II of Portugal did not take part in person, but the city was incorporated into his kingdom after its capitulation. The crusaders who took part in the siege, mainly from the Rhineland and the Low Countries, did so without papal authorization and were afterwards ordered to continue on to the Holy Land.
Soeiro Viegas was the bishop of Lisbon from 1211 until his death. He is most notable for launching the successful siege of Alcácer do Sal in 1217. He spent eight or more years of his episcopate in Rome, where he was on behalf of King Afonso II in 1211–1212 and attending the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215–1216. He was there litigating his own troubles in 1223 and 1226–1231. The first seven years of his episcopate were characterized by good relations with the crown, but the rest of his episcopate was characterized by conflict. He was exiled from his diocese for a time in 1223–1224.
The Carmen de expugnatione Salaciae is a Latin epic poem in 115 elegiac couplets describing the siege of Alcácer do Sal in 1217. It was written by Goswin of Bossut for Soeiro Viegas, bishop of Lisbon.
Goswin of Bossut was a Cistercian monk, crusader, composer and writer of Villers Abbey in the Duchy of Brabant.
