Marino Sanudo the Elder, Secrets for Those Faithful to the Cross 3.10.5
https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/336
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 from Marino
Sanudo’s account of the Holy Land describes Saladin’s destruction of the coastal cities,
including Caesarea, in the aftermath of the disastrous conclusion of the siege of Acre in
midsummer of 1191.
Text
Cernens tortuosus
coluber Saladinus captam civitatem Ptolomaydam et pugnatorum suorum multitudinem interemptam
consternatus est animo. Nam electos ibi locaverat pugnatores (II. cap. supra) et diffidens
cetera posse tueri, maritima loca destruxit: Poyphyriam scilicet, et
Caesaream, Iopen, Ascalonem, Gazam et Darum. Post haec rex
Riccardus Iopen reaedificans sub munita fidaque custodia tutam reliquit.
1
Textual Note
Ed. Bongars 1611Corrigenda Note
Minor corr.Translation
Saladin, the slippery
snake, observing that the city Ptolomayda was captured and many of his warriors killed, was
dispirited, for he had stationed his select warriors there (Chapter 2 above). Losing hope
that the other places could be protected, he destroyed the coastal towns, namely, Porphyria,
Caesarea, Iope, Ascalon, Gaza, and Darus. After this King Richard
rebuilt Iope and left it safe under strong and loyal guards.
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: 3.10.5, p: 198.
- 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: 315.
How to Cite This Entry
Joseph L. Rife, “Marino Sanudo the Elder, Secrets for Those Faithful to the Cross 3.10.5,” in Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, entry published June 30, 2023, https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/336.
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Bibliography:
Joseph L. Rife, “Marino Sanudo the Elder, Secrets for Those Faithful to the Cross 3.10.5.” 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/336.About this Entry
Entry Title: Marino Sanudo the Elder, Secrets for Those Faithful to the Cross 3.10.5
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 3.10.5”
- Joseph L. Rife, entry contributor, “Marino Sanudo the Elder, Secrets for Those Faithful to the Cross 3.10.5”
Additional Credit:
- TEI encoding by William L. Potter
- Electronic text added by Joseph L. Rife
- Testimonia identified by Joseph L. Rife