Michał Pawlak

The Latin Middle East in the Second Half of XIIIth century according to the Chronicle of So-called Templar of Tyre

The aim of this short study is to present the problem, which has not yet appeared in the polish historical literature. The article treats of two main issues. First of them is concerned with the identity of the chronicle’s author, whereas the other one pays attention to the events emerged from his narrative.
The Old French Chronique du Templier de Tyr constitutes the third part of the larger composition Les Gestes des Chiprois and describes the last decades of the Frankish rule in the Levant. The edition took place in 2000 and was prepared by Laura Minervini.
In the chronicle one can notice the change of perspective. It is so, because the author did not belong to crucesignati, who every year were arriving to the Holy Land. He was born in the Latin East. As a member of the Frankish society he conducted his account, filled with intensive and personal memories, untill the culmination, which was the fall of Acre in 1291. The chronicler participated in that dramatic event. Although the story lasted till 1314 (the ultimate chronologically shown episode is the one related with the trial of the Templars and the death of the Grand Master Jacques de Molay), he continued the narrative, as it can be supposed, more from the sense of duty than from the inclination towards it. Moreover, his testimony is the only latin source that demonstrates the siege of the city by the Mameluks and its fall, as they were seen by the eye-witness.
The reconstruction of the chronicler’s life and the solution of the problem, whether he was or not a member of the Templar military order finds difficulties, due to the lack of information. The only notes, that we have at our disposal, are the ones of the autobiographical character directly from the text.
Presumably he was born in Tyre circa 1253, where he seems to have spent his youth. In 1269 he became one of four servants of Margaret of Antioch, the wife of John of Montfort, the lord of Tyre. He needed to be closely connected to both of them, because he was able to detect the changes in their physical appearance. After the death of John of Montfort in 1283 he left Tyre and moved to Acre, where he received work at the Templar secretariat. All that time he stayed in entourage of the Grand Master William of Beaujeu. He played an important role in the hierarchy of order. He was obliged to draw and copy documents. He even once translated from Arabic the letter of the Egyptian sultan. When Acre was captured by the Mamluks, as well the other inhabitants of the city, he fled to Cyprus.
It is not possibile to determine with the accuracy, if the chronicler really joined the order or maybe remained a secular person, who was only temporary affiliated to the Templars. We are not able to propose any conclusion, because there is a deficiency of final evidence in favour or against of two mentioned options. The author described in detail the last years of the Latin States in the Middle East. He distinguished four fields of interest and focused on: the problem of succession in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the antagonism between princes of Antioch (and at the same time counts of Tripoli) and Embriaco family, conflicts between Templars and Hospitallers and the Levantine rivalry between Genua and Venice. It is worth mentioning that the whole geographical horizon of the chronicle is really impressive. It spreads from the Western Europe to the Far East and from Constantinople to Gibraltar. In the middle of this world occurs Mediterranean with Syrian and Palestinian coast.