Authors Jean de Joinville and Geoffroy de Villehardouin

The two famous Old French chronicles in this volume were composed by soldiers who took part in the Holy Wars.  Villehardouin’s Conquest of Constantinople is the first trustworthy and fully informed history of the Crusades.  Distinguished by its simplicity and lucidity, it is an account of the Fourth Crusade, which ironically ended as a war against the Eastern Christians of the Orthodox Church.  Joinville’s Life of Saint Louis was inspired by the author’s close attachment to the pious king and provides a vivid picture of his times and the ways of life in the East.