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Chronicles of the Crusades
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General SummaryMANY European chroniclers, English, French, and German, have described the Third Crusade and have related the exploits of its principal hero, Richard the Lion-hearted. One of the most important accounts is the Itinerary of King Richard. It is believed to have been composed by a certain Richard de Templo, canon of Holy Trinity Church, London. The author of the Itinerary declares that the notes for his book were drawn up amid the din of battles and the stir of martial camps. The work professes, therefore, to be a narrative by an eye-witness to the things mentioned in it. This statement must be received with caution, for Richard de Templo appears to have borrowed heavily from an Anglo-Norman poem dealing with the deeds of the English king in the Holy Land.
Chapter XXXV Richard the Lion-Hearted and the Third Crusade1
178. Personality of Richard2
He had the courage of Hector, the magnanimity of Achilles, and was equal to Alexander and not inferior to Roland3 in valor; nay, he outshone many illustrious characters of our own times. The liberality of a Titus4 was his, and, which is so rarely found in a soldier, he was gifted with the eloquence of Nestor and the prudence of Ulysses; and he showed himself preeminent in the conclusion and transaction of business, as
one whose knowledge was not without active goodwill to aid it, nor his goodwill wanting in knowledge. Who, if Richard were accused of presumption, could not readily excuse him, knowing him for a man who never acknowledged defeat, impatient of an injury, and impelled irresistibly to vindicate his rights, though all he did was characterized by innate nobleness of mind. Success made him better fitted for action; fortune ever favors the bold, and though she works her pleasure on whom she will, Richard was never overwhelmed with adversity. He was tall of stature and graceful in figure; his hair between red and auburn; his limbs were straight and flexible; his arms rather long, and not to be matched for wielding the sword or for striking with it; and his long legs suited the rest of his frame; while his appearance was commanding, and his manners and habits suitable; and he gained the greatest celebrity, not more from his high birth than from the virtues that adorned him. But why need we take much labor in extolling the fame of so great a man?
1 . London, 1848. George Bell and Sons.
2Itinerarium Regis Ricardi, bk. ii, ch. 5.
3 See page 428.
4 Roman emperor, 79–81 A.D.
Chicago: Chronicles of the Crusades in Readings in Early European History, ed. Webster, Hutton (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1926), 369. Original Sources, accessed October 24, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=5SHN59WWZGY26UF.
MLA: . Chronicles of the Crusades, in Readings in Early European History, edited by Webster, Hutton, Boston, Ginn and Company, 1926, page 369. Original Sources. 24 Oct. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=5SHN59WWZGY26UF.
Harvard: , Chronicles of the Crusades. cited in 1926, Readings in Early European History, ed. , Ginn and Company, Boston, pp.369. Original Sources, retrieved 24 October 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=5SHN59WWZGY26UF.
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