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Memoirs or Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the Conquest of Constantinople
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141 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1213
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434 people want to read
About the author
Geoffroi de Villehardouin
65 books4 followersGeoffroi de Villehardouin (vers 1150 - entre décembre 1212 et juillet 1218) est un chroniqueur et chevalier français croisé. Il a notamment participé à la conquête de Constantinople (1203-1204) pendant la quatrième croisade et à la formation de l’Empire latin d’Orient avec Baudouin VI de Hainaut. Il a été nommé maréchal de Champagne puis de Romanie, c’est-à-dire de l'Empire latin d'Orient.
Geoffroi de Villehardouin (c. 1150 – c. 1213–1218 was a knight and historian who participated in and chronicled the Fourth Crusade. He is considered one of the most important historians of the time period, best known for writing the eyewitness account De la Conquête de Constantinople (On the Conquest of Constantinople), about the battle for Constantinople between the Christians of the West and the Christians of the East on 13 April 1204. The Conquest is the earliest French historical prose narrative that has survived to modern times. Ηis full title was: "Geoffroi of Villehardouin, Marshal of Champagne and of Romania".
(Source: Wikipedia)
Geoffroi de Villehardouin (c. 1150 – c. 1213–1218 was a knight and historian who participated in and chronicled the Fourth Crusade. He is considered one of the most important historians of the time period, best known for writing the eyewitness account De la Conquête de Constantinople (On the Conquest of Constantinople), about the battle for Constantinople between the Christians of the West and the Christians of the East on 13 April 1204. The Conquest is the earliest French historical prose narrative that has survived to modern times. Ηis full title was: "Geoffroi of Villehardouin, Marshal of Champagne and of Romania".
(Source: Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 20, 2015
More like 3.5. Eyewitness account of the 4th Crusade by French nobleman Geoffrey de Villehardouin, Marshal of Champagne and Roumania [Byzantine Empire--probably more exactly Constantinople]. He was one of the major players in those events. His account begins in the late 1100s with the call to Crusade, taking us through the Sack of Constantinople, and through later ineptly fought battles and skirmishes involving other cities in that area, ending in 1207. His opponents were Greeks and the Wallachian king, Johannitza--not Saracens. It ends abruptly with the death of Marquis Boniface of Montferrat.
He seemed completely honest [by his lights] and leaves us a logical, reasonable recitation of the facts. He did no bragging about himself; in fact he wrote about himself in 3rd person and gave no more importance to himself than to anyone else. It was interesting to read an account by a crusader who thought it perfectly acceptable to turn on another Christian city so violently. Most discussions of the 4th Crusade bring out how horrible and unfair it was. Style was simple but somewhat stilted. The repetitious vocabulary could have been the fault of the particular translation. But the text was limpid and flowed along. It lacked any descriptive flourishes and bored me with interminable names of the noblemen and their titles. Three Byzantine emperors named Alexius confused me; it took me awhile to figure out exactly who he was writing about any time Alexius was mentioned. This is a valuable primary source on this historical period. It is not meant for entertainment or enjoyment.
He seemed completely honest [by his lights] and leaves us a logical, reasonable recitation of the facts. He did no bragging about himself; in fact he wrote about himself in 3rd person and gave no more importance to himself than to anyone else. It was interesting to read an account by a crusader who thought it perfectly acceptable to turn on another Christian city so violently. Most discussions of the 4th Crusade bring out how horrible and unfair it was. Style was simple but somewhat stilted. The repetitious vocabulary could have been the fault of the particular translation. But the text was limpid and flowed along. It lacked any descriptive flourishes and bored me with interminable names of the noblemen and their titles. Three Byzantine emperors named Alexius confused me; it took me awhile to figure out exactly who he was writing about any time Alexius was mentioned. This is a valuable primary source on this historical period. It is not meant for entertainment or enjoyment.
March 28, 2021
I will never forgive Venice for as long as I live. Excellent insight into the Frankish/Latin views of the Eastern Roman Empire, and just a good read to show how the Crusaders were not really totally pious dudes and were more interested in getting rich.
November 11, 2022
Madness. Definitely an early example of mission creep; instead of sailing ot Egypt or Syria and fighting the Arabs to reconquer the holy land, French and Venetians beseige a Dalmation city for Venice, get inovlved with a displaced Byzantine emperor, capture Constantinople and decide to crown one of their own Emperor. Then get bogged down in a fight with the Bulgars and Greeks.
December 31, 2022
Shocking to hear how unholy these men acted. This book will turn your outlook on the medieval crusades and lifestyle to a negative one. These are by no means Christians--neither the crusaders, nor those in Constantinople, nor the Venetians, nor the pope.
September 10, 2015
This book is a an account by one of the leaders of the Fourth Crusade which set out for the Holy Land in 1202 but never arrived. Instead, in 1204 the Crusaders attacked Constantinople the seat of the Eastern Orthodox Church. In addition to deposing the Byzantine Emperor, they looted and pillaged the city causing great loss of life. In other words rather than making war upon the Muslim power attacking the Holy Land, they destroyed the major Christian power in the region. The Fourth Crusade thus stands as one of the most barbaric and incompetently run military operations every conducted by Western Europe.
Villehardouin's book which provides the insider's view of the appalling fiasco has been a staple on undergraduate history courses in North America since the 1960s when seeing that the Viet Nam war was going wrong, the professors decided that they needed to teach their students that efforts of Western powers to intervene in foreign lands have often failed to achieve their objectives causing great destruction and loss of life.
Villehardouin's account the Fourth Crusade takes little time to read. Given the lessons that can be drawn from the work the time is well spent.
The reader of course knows what an absurd and tragic turn the fourth crusade will take before starting the book. Actually reading it then is something like listening to joke when one already knows the punch line. Nonetheless the book still surprises.
Given the objectives that the Crusaders left Northern France with, the ultimate outcome was absurd. However, the outcome was the result of many incremental decisions not one big decision. Villehardouin painstakingly recreates all the little decisions that were taken; all of which were correct in his view; and then simply notes that the crusaders were unable to fulfill their original objectives.
Of course, young North Americans saw the same chain of events take place in Indochina in the 1960s and 1970s. Currently, we are still watching Iraq as the series of events that George Bush set in motion by invading Iraq still have not ended. Moreover, no one can predict how or when they will end. Bush like Villehardouin is able to argue that all the decisions he took were good.
Villehardouin's book which provides the insider's view of the appalling fiasco has been a staple on undergraduate history courses in North America since the 1960s when seeing that the Viet Nam war was going wrong, the professors decided that they needed to teach their students that efforts of Western powers to intervene in foreign lands have often failed to achieve their objectives causing great destruction and loss of life.
Villehardouin's account the Fourth Crusade takes little time to read. Given the lessons that can be drawn from the work the time is well spent.
The reader of course knows what an absurd and tragic turn the fourth crusade will take before starting the book. Actually reading it then is something like listening to joke when one already knows the punch line. Nonetheless the book still surprises.
Given the objectives that the Crusaders left Northern France with, the ultimate outcome was absurd. However, the outcome was the result of many incremental decisions not one big decision. Villehardouin painstakingly recreates all the little decisions that were taken; all of which were correct in his view; and then simply notes that the crusaders were unable to fulfill their original objectives.
Of course, young North Americans saw the same chain of events take place in Indochina in the 1960s and 1970s. Currently, we are still watching Iraq as the series of events that George Bush set in motion by invading Iraq still have not ended. Moreover, no one can predict how or when they will end. Bush like Villehardouin is able to argue that all the decisions he took were good.
December 27, 2017
This is a remarkable account of the fourth crusade, if only because the author was there, and was a major player, as a Marshall. The book is written in a very reserved style, and Villehardouin makes no effort whatsoever to promote himself. Unfortunately, by so doing he buries the debates that must have gone on prior to major decisions, so unless something was obvious, it is unclear why certain events happened. Nevertheless, you should be able to reach your own conclusions. The account more or less overturns a lot of my assumptions of the time. Castles changed hands frequently, largely because the defenders ran. How they ran is not really explained, nor how, if a castle was surrounded, those inside could send messages for help. Nevertheless the story exposes the base character of many of the participants. So many "took the cross", and then somehow found a way not to turn up, or leave the crusade at the first opportunity. The nature of the battles is not shown, but you can read into it the powerful nature of the knight. This account is limited, but in my opinion, indispensable if you want to understand the nature of this crusade.
May 21, 2012
Everything else I have ever read about the Fourth Crusade - even from die-hard Catholic historians of the Hilaire Belloc sort - has tended to take the 'colossal blight on Christendom' perspective. So, it was very interesting to get the story from the point of view of a participant who thought it was a noble and glorious enterprise and puts a positive spin on the Crusaders' actions. It is not a long book and I think it is worth reading the first two-thirds just for this novel perspective. (The last third or so of the book is a melancholy account of campaigns in which every city in Thrace (practically) is destroyed by the Bulgarians, ending in a random place because of the author's death. It kind of ground me down.)
April 23, 2016
Once you get into the rhythm of the language, you forget that this is actually real history being told by a man that actually lived through it and engage in what is a remarkable story. Fascinating, it kept me going to look up the details of exactly when and where everything happened.
My only criticism is that the Kindle edition has quite a few errors in transcription and it jars a bit given the language is already slightly difficult. Nothing that meant I couldn't understand, just irritating little problems throughout.
The end is sudden and underlines that this is a real history, but I am left curious as to what happened next.
My only criticism is that the Kindle edition has quite a few errors in transcription and it jars a bit given the language is already slightly difficult. Nothing that meant I couldn't understand, just irritating little problems throughout.
The end is sudden and underlines that this is a real history, but I am left curious as to what happened next.
February 28, 2018
Amazon suggested this, presumably based on my previous purchase of Byzantium by Charles Morgan, which I added here a few books ago. This one is an eyewitness account of the events fictionalised in Byzantium, told by one of the leading crusaders, whereas Byzantium is told from the point of view of an English mercenary leading the Byzantine Imperial guard.
This volume is quite difficult to read, partly because of the antiquated language and partly because of the scanning and optical character unrecognition! However, it also has the merit of brevity, only just over 100 pages, and it covers the 3 or 4 years involved at quite a brisk pace.
I found a map of Byzantium/Constantinople at that time, and compared to modern Istanbul it was absolutely tiny, despite being one of the largest cities of the known world! There are a lot of castles and cities named, which I suppose, with a bit of research, aka Googling, could be matched to places on the map, but I couldn't be bothered with most of them!
Anyway, as a counterpoint to Byzantium, it was a worthwhile read!
This volume is quite difficult to read, partly because of the antiquated language and partly because of the scanning and optical character unrecognition! However, it also has the merit of brevity, only just over 100 pages, and it covers the 3 or 4 years involved at quite a brisk pace.
I found a map of Byzantium/Constantinople at that time, and compared to modern Istanbul it was absolutely tiny, despite being one of the largest cities of the known world! There are a lot of castles and cities named, which I suppose, with a bit of research, aka Googling, could be matched to places on the map, but I couldn't be bothered with most of them!
Anyway, as a counterpoint to Byzantium, it was a worthwhile read!
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July 26, 2018History from the time of the events, translated in
The nineteenth century. Interesting story told in the way of the thirteenth century. Badly edited; lots of typos. Gives one a thought I of why the eastern EUropia nd hated the western Europeans.
The nineteenth century. Interesting story told in the way of the thirteenth century. Badly edited; lots of typos. Gives one a thought I of why the eastern EUropia nd hated the western Europeans.
December 3, 2018
Brilliant for historical context and use in academic work but not a great read.
September 26, 2020
Much hypocrisy. Very entertaining.
August 15, 2023
Somewhat entertaining, interesting and insightful as a first-hand glimpse into the life of crusader. Kind of written in an annoying way though.
November 24, 2018
Well this book is amazing. It is highly recommended for Crusader History, fans, and anyone who wants to learn about the Fourth Crusade. He is kinda good at describing the battle tactics though. Makes it clear he was a professional at military stuff. Villehardouin was a guy whom every scroll concerning the Crusade was passed to, so that means his description is trustworthy, for anyone wanting to learn about the Crusade. But it's kinda biased because Geoffrey was a Crusader.
I really like the writing techniques of Villehardouin. His narrative especially is like he is beside the reader, still alive after 800 years, narrating it to them. So much alive.
I can say that this book helps the reader understand Villehardouin himself as well. He almost never mentions his name or actions in the book, and I guess that makes us believe he was a man of low self esteem.
In few words, an amazing book and a monument of French History.
I really like the writing techniques of Villehardouin. His narrative especially is like he is beside the reader, still alive after 800 years, narrating it to them. So much alive.
I can say that this book helps the reader understand Villehardouin himself as well. He almost never mentions his name or actions in the book, and I guess that makes us believe he was a man of low self esteem.
In few words, an amazing book and a monument of French History.
November 29, 2019
Bir Haçlının Hatıraları Cüneyt Kanat
February 7, 2017
History told in the voice of the people who lived it is always interesting. The human aspect of the story comes through even with the chronicler's clearly slanted view.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews