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IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 1714: Burchard of Mount Sion's Descriptio Terre Sancte: Sources, Development, and Reception

Thursday 4 July 2019, 14.15-15.45

Organiser:Michael Schonhardt, Historisches Seminar, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Moderator/Chair:Philip Booth, Department of History, Politics & Philosophy, Manchester Metropolitan University
Paper 1714-aBurchard of Mount Sion's Descriptio: Toward a Stemma codicum
(Language: English)
Jonathan Rubin, Open University, Israel
Index terms: Crusades, Language and Literature - Latin, Religious Life
Paper 1714-bThe Afterlife of Burchard's Descriptio: The Manuscript Evidence
(Language: English)
Michael Schonhardt, Historisches Seminar, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Index terms: Crusades, Language and Literature - Latin, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Religious Life
Paper 1714-cLanguage, Style, and Literary Sources of Burchard of Mount Sion's Descriptio
(Language: English)
Eva Ferro, Seminar für Griechische und Lateinische Philologie, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Index terms: Crusades, Language and Literature - Latin, Religious Life
Abstract

While Burchard of Mount Sion's Descriptio Terre Sancte is possibly the most important medieval account of the Holy Land, surprisingly little is known about the actual text as authored by Burchard in the 1280s, as well as about its subsequent development. This is due to the fact that the edition used by scholars (ed. Laurent, 1864) is based on hardly a handful of manuscripts out of over a hundred extant witnesses. In this session we will present the first results of a systematic study of the Descriptio's manuscript tradition, shedding light on both Burchard's original text and the way in which later scribes/editors continuously refashioned it.