Odo of Deuil
Odo of Deuil (1110 – 18 April 1162), his first name also spelled Odon, Eude or Eudes, was a French historian of and participant in the Second Crusade (1147–1149).
Born at
His narrative of the Crusade is entitled De profectione Ludovici VII in Orientem (On Louis VII's journey to the East), which relates the progress of the crusade from France to Antioch.[1] It was written so that Suger could compose a history of Louis' life. Eudes explains the failure of the crusade in terms of human action rather than as the will of God, in contrast to the reasoning of Otto of Freising. His aims were to glorify Louis, but also to provide a guide for future crusaders so that the mistakes of the Second Crusade would not be repeated.
Eudes blamed the
Eudes' account ends with the remnant of the crusade arriving at Antioch, and so does not include a description of the Siege of Damascus.
He returned to France and became abbot of Saint-Denis in 1151.[3]
Notes
- ^ a b "Eudes of Deuil's" De profectione Ludovici VII in Orientem "as a source for the Second Crusade", Jonathan Phillips, The Experience of Crusading, Vol. I, ed. Marcus Bull and Norman Housley, (Cambridge University Press, 2003), 80.
- ^ Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades, Volume 2, (Cambridge University Press, 1999), 274.
- ^ Odo of Deuil's "The Journey of Louis VII to the East", Rudi Paul Lindner, The Middle Ages in Texts and Texture: Reflections on Medieval Sources, ed. Jason Glenn, (University of Toronto Press, 2011), 166.
Sources
- Odo of Deuil, De profectione Ludovici VII in Orientem, tr. V.G. Berry (New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1948).
- J. Phillips, "Odo of Deuil's De profectione Ludovici VII in Orientem as a source for the Second Crusade", in M. Bull et al. (eds), The Experience of Crusading, 2 Vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 1.80-95.
- S. Runciman, A History of the Crusades, 3 Vols (London: Cambridge University Press, 1951-4).