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Writers and Gratitude
Rorgo Fretellus' description of the holy sites in and around Jerusalem - the Descriptio de locis sanctis - was one of the most popular Latin accounts of the Holy Land written during the time of the crusades. First composed in the late 1130s, there remain over a hundred manuscripts that attest to its popularity and wide diffusion. Yet in spite of this wealth of manuscript witnesses, many questions concerning this text and its author remain unresolved, and a critical edition of this work which would take into account its various redactions is still lacking.
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Not Everyone liked Pilgrimages
As the RTHL team goes through catalogues in search of Latin works about the Holy Land written during the crusades, one often comes across interesting things. During the crusades, pilgrimage guides devoted to the Holy Land were a very popular genre. They were often written by travelers who occasionally reused material from earlier accounts. One such text is found in a thirteenth-century manuscript preserved at the British Library in London (MS Harley 2333).
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