BURCARDO (BROCARDO) del MONTE SION (di SASSONIA). – Traveller in the Holy Land, author of a famous Descriptio Terrae Sanctae, born at Barby in Magdeburg around 1220. Some manuscripts and several editions of the work place him in the Order of Preachers, which is very probable. From the sole date (1283) and from certain allusions found in the book, it appears that B. resided in Palestine for about ten years, thereby having the opportunity to visit the holy places repeatedly.
His account is of great historical value for the abundance of information and detail that, as an eyewitness, he provides concerning the Near East, especially the biblical sites and Eastern customs and usages. Familiar with the language of the country, B. gathered his information directly from Christians and Muslims, examining it diligently and impartially, without sparing either praise for Christians of the Eastern rite or criticism of those of the West, who often showed themselves by their conduct unworthy of residing in the holy places.
Thus, in B.’s work we have a faithful image of the state of the Holy Land during the final years of the Crusader occupation. Just as the so-called Antico Compendio was in vogue during the 11th and 12th centuries, so the Descriptio Terrae Sanctae remained popular until the 16th century, often being plundered by unscrupulous narrators who simply took from B. information about the holy places they had never seen or visited, particularly with regard to Galilee.
R. Röhrich, Bibliotheca geographica Palaestina, Berlin 1890, pp. 56–60; F.-M. Abel, Écrits des dominicains sur la Terre Sainte, in Miscell. Dominic., Rome 1923, pp. 227–29.