Ibn Al-Athir ابن الاثیر الجزري

Ibn Al-Athir or Abu'l-Hasen Ali ibn al-Athir was the son of Abu'l-Kerim Mohammed Athir ed-Din, who was governor of Djezirat ibn Omar in Mesopotamia, for Kotb-ad-Din Maudoud, the son of Zengy (Zengi زنكي) and brother of Nuradin (نور الدين محمود ابن عماد الدين زنكي), the famous ruler of Damascus and Aleppo. Abu'l Hasen Ali was born 12 May, 116o. At about the age of twenty he went to Mosul with his father, and was in the city at the time of Saladin's siege (Feb. 1186). At Mosul he devoted himself to historical and other studies, but not to the entire neglect of public affairs. He was often sent to the Caliph of Bagdad, and in 1 188-9 accompanied the prince of Sindjar to the Holy War. He must thus have been an eyewitness of the state of things in Syria towards the beginning of the siege of Acre. From this point till his death he appears to have given himself up to letters. He can be traced at Mosul, at Aleppo (where the Arminian eunuch Toghril” who was then ruling in the name of Saladin's little grandson Al Malec al Aziz, the son of that Ad-Daher who figures so frequently in Bohadin بهاء الدين ابن شداد” was his patron), at Damascus, and again at Mosul, where he died in Shaban 630 a.h.

Of Ibn Al-Athir's two chief works one is a history of the Atabecs of Mosul, i.e. an account of the doings of Zengy and his descendants. This work is of great importance in Crusading history, more especially as the recollections of the writer's own father extended back to early days of Frank conquest in the East. It was given to the world in 121 1. More noteworthy still is his gieat Mohammedan history, which embraces the whole period from the creation of the world to the year of the Hegira 628 (9 Nov. 1230—28 Oct. 1 231). This great work was compiled under the protection of Loulou (ob. 1259), who ruled at Mosul first as minister of Naser ad-Din Mahmoud [Zengy's last descendant,] and afterwards in his own name. Upon this great work, one of the glories of Arabic historical literature, Abu'lfeda أبو الفدا based his own history to a great extent.

Bibliography:

ابن الأثير: مقدمة كتاب الكامل في التاريخ، تحقيق أبي الفدا عبد الله القاضي، 10 أجزاء، بيروت 1987م.

Little (D.), "Historiography of the Ayyubid and Mamluk epochs", in The Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol.1, ed. by.  Daly (M.) and Petry (C. F.), Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Partner (P.), God of Battles: Holy wars of Christianity and Islam, Princeton University Press, 1997.

Ralph of Coggeshall

Ralph of Coggeshall or the abbot of Coggeshall (on the Blackwater, near Colchester, in Essex), from 1207 to 1218, is the author of a Latin chronicle which extends from the year 1066 to 1223 or 1224. This chronicle is a very meagre collection of facts till 1117 a.d. With this year however they became much fuller. The writer gives a great number of details relative to the third Crusade, some of which, such for example as that telling how the Syrian woman in Jerusalem kept king Richard posted up in all that was going on within the c'ty, are to be found nowhere else. This incident is perhaps mere legendary gossip ; but the account Ralph gives of the loss and recapture of Joppa (Aug. 1192) is, on the whole, as important as either of those given in this book. It was drawn from the lips of Hugh de Neville, who was present in the battle. More valuable still is Ralph's account of the king's adventures after leaving the Holy Land. This narrative too, as will be seen from the text, our author drew from the (probably verbal) account of Anselm, the king's chaplain, who accompanied Richard on his voyage home, and, as it seems, wrote a history of this king which is now, however, unfortunately lost. Of the facts of Ralph's life hardly anything is known. He is said to have resigned his office owing to ill-health, but the date of his death has not been ascertained.

Ralph of Coggeshall's Chronicon Anglicanum, like Richer' s History and Sigebert's Chronicle, is one of the comparatively speaking few mediaeval histories of which the author's autograph is preserved. In the parts relative to Richard's captivity the original MS. (Cotton Vespasian, 8 x.) has inserted an appeal to Anselm's authority in the margin ; and the many erasures and additions here are doubtless due to the author himelf, who availed himself of the occasion furnished by the chaplain's visit, to make his narrative fuller and more correct. A thirteenth century writer tells us that Anselm, the king's chaplain, " regis comes ubique intus et foris," wrote the Acta of Richard the First ; as also, according to the same authority, did Milo, abbot of le Pin, the king's almoner.

Bibliography:

Stevenson (J.), Radulphi de Coggeshall Chronicon Anglicanum, De expugnatione Terræ Sanctæ libellus, Thomas Agnellus De morte et sepultura Henrici regis Angliæ junioris, Gesta Fulconis filii Warini, excerpta ex Otiis imperialibus Gervasius Tileburiensis, London, 1875.

Corner (D.), "Coggeshall, Ralph of (1207–1226)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press

William Breton (William le Breton)

William Breton appears to have been born between 1165 and 1 1 70 a.d. He was thus almost of exactly the same age as Philip Augustus, whose exploits he has celebrated in his two great works "The History of the Life and Deeds of Philid Augustus" (prose) and the " Philippeis " in verse. William is said to have studied at Nantes. Later in life he became Philip's elerk or chaplain, and followed this king on more than one expedition. He was also tutor to one of Philip's natural children, and seems to have died in or after 1224.

The Historia continues Rigord's work mentioned above, and extends to 12 19; the concluding part thence to 1223 is the work of an anonymous monk of St. Denys. The Philippeis, a Latin hexameter epic in XII. books, is dedicated to Philip's son, alluded to above, then a boy some fifteen years old.

Bibliography:

"William the Breton". Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press, 1911

Rigord

Rigord or Rigold was a native of Languedoc, where this name is found in the 13th century. He is possibly the Bernardus Rigordi whose name is in the necrology of the abbey of St. Denis under May 5. As he tells us he was already getting old in 1205, it has been inferred that he was born about 1 145 a.d. He was a physician before he became a member of St. Denys, somewhere about the year n 90, when he would have unequalled opportunities for collecting the material for the great work he had begun at least ten years before, at his abbot's request, he gave it to the world and presented a copy to the king himself early in 1196. He issued three editions of his work. These seem to have been issued about the years 1196, 1200, and 1206.

Bibliography:

Archer (T. A.), The Crusade of Richard I, London, 1889.