Full bibliography

The article offers the first detailed study of a hitherto underappreciated narrative of the early years of Latin Settlement in Outremer following the First Crusade (1095–99), the Secunda pars historiae Iherosolimitane, often attributed to Lisiard of Tours. Taking inspiration from methodological developments in the field of “Crusade Studies” that have emphasized the narratives relating to this movement as crucial “cultural artifacts” of Latin Christian society, it seeks to demonstrate the valuable light this text sheds on twelfth-century perceptions of the Latin East, the importance of crusading to local identities, reactions to crusading failures, and international monastic networks. After establishing that the Secunda historia should be situated in northeastern France in the early 1150s, and linked in particular to the Premonstratensian order and a church council held at Laon Cathedral in March 1150, it is argued that the text served two key purposes. First, that after the failed Second Crusade (1146–49), efforts to explain defeat necessitated the incorporation of the Latin East’s history, rather than merely the First Crusade (the influence of which hung heavily over contemporary crusade promotion), as a site of divine punishment and reward; and second, that these same narratorial motives were harnessed to validate and promote further crusading.