Marino Sanudo the Elder, Secrets for Those Faithful to the Cross 3.5.7
https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/334
Context
Marino Sanudo the Elder of Torcello, from a wealthy and powerful Venetian
family, was a statesman and geographer who spent much of his career from the late 13th
century until his death in 1338 living and travelling abroad, particularly in the
Peloponnese and Aegean islands, Cyprus and Cilicia, Constantinople, the Levant, and Egypt,
but also in western and northern Europe. A learned and eloquent advocate for a new crusade
to the Holy Land, he wrote the voluminous Secrets for Those Faithful to the
Cross (Secreta fidelium Crucis), a strategic manual full of
economic, military, and geographic detail as well as maps, and presented different versions
of it to popes Clement V (in 1307) and John XXII (in 1321). This passage relates the
movements of the Crusaders between March and May of 1099 C.E., when they advanced down the
Levantine coast from Syria toward their conquest of Jerusalem, stopping in Caesarea to
celebrate the Pentecost.
Text
Adveniente autem Martio
populus qui remanserat in Antiochia rogat comitem Flandriae et ducem Gotifredem ut se ad
civitatem Ierusalem deducant, allegantes quam bene alii transierant. Profecti igitur cum
pervenissent ad Liciam civitatem, quae pro Imperatore Constantinopolitano tenebatur,
invenerunt se xv. milia. Inde rediit Boamundus ad Antiochiae custodiam. Ceteri iverunt ad
Gibel; ibi incipiebat districtus Calyphae Aegyptii super mare. Deinde venerunt usque ad
civitatem Arachis, aliisque iuncti sunt. Tunc murmur inter peregrinos oritur, quod lancea
Antiochiae inventa non esset lancea Christi, sed pro quadam baractaria et lucri gratia id
actum est. Venit simplex sacerdos, cui revelatio facta fuit et petiit ignem maximum
praeparari, et in ipso cum lancea intrare ut vel sic crederent, si illaesus exiret. Sexta
igitur feria, qua die Christus lancea est transfossus, ignis accenditur, et sacerdos
praemissa oratione, illaesus ignem intravit et exiit. Tunc etiam redierunt nuntii a Calypha
Aegypti, qui de Antiochia missi fuerunt. Promissio vero illius quae prius tam lata fuit nunc
explicatur, quia concederet peregrinis ut decenti vel trecenti sine armis simul possent ire
in Ierusalem et facta oratione abscedere. Super quo indignati barones respondent absque eius
licentia se ituros. Remittunt igitur Tripolis obsidionem, clamante populo, ut irent
Ierusalem. Ibi celebraverunt Pascha, decima die Aprilis, et per maritimam regionem euntes
usque Caesaream, ilic celebraverunt Pentecosten. Hanc autem viam
fecerunt consilio Surianorum, qui habitabant in Libano, maxime propter commoditatem navigii
Cyprensium, Venetorum, Ianuensium, et quorundam Frixonum, qui gratia peregrinationis
venerant.
1
Textual Note
Ed. Bongars 1611Corrigenda Note
Minor corr. (spelling, punctuation)Translation
At the beginning of
March [1099 C.E.], those who had remained in Antioch asked [Robert II] the Count of Flanders
and Duke Godfrey to postpone (their march) to Jerusalem, claiming that they would cross over
them as quickly as the others. Therefore they set out and came to the city of Licia, which
was held for [Alexius I] the Emperor of Constantinople. They numbered 15,000. From there
Bohemond returned to guard Antioch. The others went to Gibel, where the territory of
[al-Mustaʽli Billah] the Caliph of Egypt on the coast began. Then they came to the city of
Arachis and joined the rest of the army. At that time a rumor arose among the pilgrims that
the lance found in Antioch was not the Lance of Christ, but that it had been discovered by
some deception for profit. The simple priest [Peter Bartholemew] to whom the revelation had
been made came forward and asked that a great fire be prepared for him and he would enter it
with the lance, so that they would believe him if he made it out unscathed. So on the sixth
day, the day on which Christ was pierced by the lance, the fire was lit. When he had made a
prayer, the priest went into and came out of the fire unscathed. Then the messengers who had
been sent on from Antioch returned from the Caliph of Egypt. His promise which had been
brought earlier was now made plain, namely, that he granted that 200 to 300 pilgrims could
go together unarmed to Jerusalem, make their prayers, and depart. The barons, growing angry
over this, replied that they would go (to Jerusalem) without his permission. Therefore, by
request of the people, they abandoned the siege of Tripoli so that they might go to
Jerusalem. There they celebrated Easter on April 10, and, going along the coast as far as
Caesarea, they celebrated Pentecost there. They took this route on
the advice of Syrians who lived in Lebanon, mainly out of convenience to the fleet of
Cypriots, Venetians, Genoese, and some Frisians who came on pilgrimage.
2
Translation Note
Adapted from Lock 2011Works Cited
- 1 Marino Sanudo, Gesta Dei per Francos Sive Orientalium Expeditionum et Regni Francorum Hierosolimitani Historia 2: Liber Secretorum Fidelium Crucis Super Terrae Sanctae Recuperatione et Conservatione, ed. Jacques Bongars (Hanover: Wechelian, 1611), bk: 3.5.7, p: 146.
- 2 Marino Sanudo, Marino Sanudo Torsello, The Book of the Secrets of the Faithful of the Cross: Liber Secretorum Fidelium Crucis, trans. Peter Lock, Crusade Texts in Translation 21 (London: Routledge, 2011), p: 234.
How to Cite This Entry
Joseph L. Rife, “Marino Sanudo the Elder, Secrets for Those Faithful to the Cross 3.5.7,” in Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, entry published June 30, 2023, https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/334.
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Bibliography:
Joseph L. Rife, “Marino Sanudo the Elder, Secrets for Those Faithful to the Cross 3.5.7.” In Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, edited by Joseph L. Rife., edited by Joseph L. Rife. Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project, 2023. Entry published June 30, 2023. https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/334.About this Entry
Entry Title: Marino Sanudo the Elder, Secrets for Those Faithful to the Cross 3.5.7
Authorial and Editorial Responsibility:
- Joseph L. Rife, general editor, Vanderbilt University
- Joseph L. Rife, editor, Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia
- David A. Michelson, Daniel L. Schwartz, and William L. Potter, technical editor, “Marino Sanudo the Elder, Secrets for Those Faithful to the Cross 3.5.7”
- Joseph L. Rife, entry contributor, “Marino Sanudo the Elder, Secrets for Those Faithful to the Cross 3.5.7”
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- TEI encoding by William L. Potter
- Electronic text added by Joseph L. Rife
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