William of Tyre

WILLIAM OF TYRE. - He probably belonged to an Italian family, perhaps Roman, but he was born in Jerusalem around 1130-35. He completed his literary and theological studies in the West: his broad classical culture is demonstrated by the many references to ancient writers that his work presents. He also knew Greek and Arabic. Around 1160 he reappears in Jerusalem at the court of King Amalric I, who held him dear and made him a canon and then archdeacon of the church of Tyre; he was then the tutor of Baldwin who, having become king in 1174, made him his chancellor and in 1175 procured for him the archiepiscopal see of Tyre. He took a notable part in the political life of the Kingdom: he was ambassador to Constantinople repeatedly and also to Rome, where he later went for the Council of 1179.

His last documentary record is from 1185, but in 1184 he was still alive. His principal work is the Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum in 23 books, which however remained incomplete. It is a truly monumental work: in the first books it synthesizes what was furnished by the historiographical tradition on the First Crusade; afterward it is an original and authoritative source. Balanced in his judgments, especially in relations with the Byzantine Empire, averse to collecting the fantastic tales of the first writers of the Crusade, he also refrains from the fanaticism of other writers. His historical vision of the Crusades is a synthesis that long dominated until the critical revision of the 19th century. G. writes with grace, even with elegance: he may be called one of the best medieval historians. Another work on the history of the Eastern princes, in which he perhaps drew on Arab historians, has not been preserved; it was, however, used by William of Tripoli and James of Vitry.

Francesco Cognasso