A Crusader’s Death and Life in Acre: The 1266 Account-Inventory of Eudes of Nevers

A Crusader’s Death and Life in Acre uses five parchment rolls that inventoried the possessions of Eudes of Nevers, son of the duke of Burgundy, at his death in Acre in 1266 to open out a panorama of Christian crusader life. The contents of the rolls, or rouleaux, span from the pay rendered to knights and servants to the numerous possessions of a crusading nobleman. The inventory provides insight into the medieval Outremer even as it provokes questions about trade, diplomacy, remembrance, and the methodological challenges of evoking material objects in texts.

Anne E. Lester and Laura K. Morreale present the first complete modern French edition and English translation of the rouleaux along with seven crusade poems by Rutebeuf. In addition, A Crusader’s Death and Life in Acre contains a wealth of scholarly commentary that addresses the composition of the rouleaux, the life and relationships of Eudes, and the culture of crusading in its material, written, devotional, and poetic forms.

Contributors: Sharon Farmer, Andrew Jotischky, Anne Latowsky, Richard A. Leson, Maureen C. Miller, Jonathan Rubin, Uri Zvi Shachar, and Caroline Smith

Anne E. Lester is John W. Baldwin and Jenny Jochens Associate Chair in Medieval History at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of Creating Cistercian Nuns.

Laura K. Morreale is the coeditor of The French of Outremer, and the creator of several medieval digital projects, including the Oxford Outremer Map and the La Sfera Challenge.