De Profectione Ludovici VII in Orientem: The Journey of Louis the Seventh to the East [Paperback]

Odo of Deuil (Author), Virginia Gingerick Berry (Translator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 154 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc (Np) (June 1965)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393096629
• ISBN-13: 978-0393096620
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #972,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing First hand Account of the Second Crusade, September 28, 2007

By 

Mithridates VI of Pontus (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: De Profectione Ludovici VII in Orientem: The Journey of Louis the Seventh to the East (Paperback)

The Second Crusade (1147-1149) was a disaster from the Christian perspective. Such a momentous disaster that most contemporary historians of the time did not write about what happened. The author of Chronicon Mauriniacense wrote that "(Louis VII) was not able to do anything useful, worthy or mention, or actually, anything worthy of France" and Otto of Freising says that since everyone knows the magnitude of the calamity and it is not worth repeating. However, Historians need sources to know what happened! The lack of other writings makes Odo of Deuil's De Profectione Ludovici VII in orientem an immensely important document. It also helps that Odo was the royal chaplain of Louis, accompanied him on the Crusade, and thus had first hand knowledge of the events.

Odo's motives are very interesting and very obvious. Ostensibly his reason for writing is to provide his abbot of St Denis, the famous historian Suger, with raw material for a life of Louis VII. However, his chronicle is anything but a dry list of events. His purpose is to put his sovereign in a good light, attribute the defeat to the Byzantine Greeks, and most importantly provide information so that other crusaders in the future do not make the same mistakes. He lays out the route they took, geographic detail, various opinions of various leaders, invents critics of events to further explain them, and how to improve transportation of supplies etc. The main flaw to the work is that the text covers only the first 3/4 or so of the Crusade. It is not known if the rest of the source was lost or even written.

The introduction to this volume is truly remarkable. It is to the point, provides supported reasons for the conclusions made, and information on the manuscripts existing and a summary of the historical events of the Crusade. The Latin text is also useful for historians.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Valuable First-Hand Account of the Second Crusade, March 4, 2007

By 

Daniel L. Berek (Flanders, NJ, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: De Profectione Ludovici VII in Orientem: The Journey of Louis the Seventh to the East (Paperback)

First-hand accounts of events in Medieval history are not easy to come by; reliable accounts are even harder. Odo of Dueil chronicled the Second Crusade, which ended in disaster with the seige of Damascus in 1148. Though Odo did not accompany the crusaders, he did have access to a great deal of first-hand testimony to the event, which only he alone recorded for posterity. Odo's account is also of high literary quality, making it all the more worth reading. Though this translation dates back to 1947, the writing is fresh and does not sound stilted. For more serious scholars, the complete Latin text is included.