The Gesta Dei per Frances of Abbot Guibert of Nogent
The Gesta Dei per Frances of Abbot Guibert of Nogent
This thesis submits the Gesta Dei, composed between 1108 and 1112, to a detailed literary and historiographical examination in order to establish its author's unique status amongst contemporary historians of the First Crusade. It is shown how, for all its indebtedness to the Anonymous' Gesta Francorum, Guibert's unfinished masterpiece is a work in its own right, the fruit of its author's concern to preserve the memory of the expedition to Jerusalem, do it literary justice and facilitate a proper understanding of what it meant. In this, Guibert is revealed as possessed of a quasi-modern conception of the historian's task. Anticipating much of what St Bernard was to say, Guibert described the Crusade as the Lord's own particular creation, launched to avenge the wrongs perpetrated against pilgrms to the Holy Places, liberate Jerusalem from the Moslem, reestablish Christianity in the East (thus conceivably setting the scene for the End) and save the French from damnation. Guibert is shown to have a deep understanding of knighthood, anticipating much of what was to appear in the classic medieval texts on the subject. In the same way, his other concerns are demonstrated to be far wider than those of a typical twelfth century monk. His review of Eastern Christianity constitutes the first great lament by a member of the Latin Church over the `faithlessness' of the Greek Orthodox. His critique of the Prophet Muhammad's creed represents the mostcomplete examination of Islam the Occident had yet seen. The limited pre-Crusade image, distorted by biblical and eschatological emphases, gives way to a clearer appreciation of where Islam had come from and a concern to understand how and why it arose, who was responsible for it, how it stood in relation to Christianity and what its beliefs and usages were.
University of Southampton
1986
Coupe, Michael David
(1986)
The Gesta Dei per Frances of Abbot Guibert of Nogent.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
This thesis submits the Gesta Dei, composed between 1108 and 1112, to a detailed literary and historiographical examination in order to establish its author's unique status amongst contemporary historians of the First Crusade. It is shown how, for all its indebtedness to the Anonymous' Gesta Francorum, Guibert's unfinished masterpiece is a work in its own right, the fruit of its author's concern to preserve the memory of the expedition to Jerusalem, do it literary justice and facilitate a proper understanding of what it meant. In this, Guibert is revealed as possessed of a quasi-modern conception of the historian's task. Anticipating much of what St Bernard was to say, Guibert described the Crusade as the Lord's own particular creation, launched to avenge the wrongs perpetrated against pilgrms to the Holy Places, liberate Jerusalem from the Moslem, reestablish Christianity in the East (thus conceivably setting the scene for the End) and save the French from damnation. Guibert is shown to have a deep understanding of knighthood, anticipating much of what was to appear in the classic medieval texts on the subject. In the same way, his other concerns are demonstrated to be far wider than those of a typical twelfth century monk. His review of Eastern Christianity constitutes the first great lament by a member of the Latin Church over the `faithlessness' of the Greek Orthodox. His critique of the Prophet Muhammad's creed represents the mostcomplete examination of Islam the Occident had yet seen. The limited pre-Crusade image, distorted by biblical and eschatological emphases, gives way to a clearer appreciation of where Islam had come from and a concern to understand how and why it arose, who was responsible for it, how it stood in relation to Christianity and what its beliefs and usages were.
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Published date: 1986
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Local EPrints ID: 460758
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/460758
PURE UUID: 37e387f7-8404-4e21-bbb9-385ac3dedefa
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 18:29
Last modified: 04 Jul 2022 18:29
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Author:
Michael David Coupe
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