Laura Morreale

"Accounting, Recounting, and the Count: Eudes de Nevers on Crusade"

In the year 1265 the thirty-six-year-old Eudes de Nevers, son of Count Hugh IV of Burgundy, set off to the Holy Land on crusade just as his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had before him. Eudes was celebrated in story and song as the flower of chivalry, and he took with him an entourage of high-born, battle-ready companions. Supporting such a large and noteworthy expedition, however, was hardly a simple undertaking. Eudes’s campaign required substantial provisioning; from the pots and pans, chickens and donkeys, hand towels and bed linens needed for everyday life to the luxury textiles and liturgical vestments used for ceremonial occasions, much was required to successfully make the journey from his homeland to the Holy Land. Many of the items Eudes brought on crusade were recorded in a document produced upon his death in Acre in August 1266 in what is now called The Account-Inventory of Eudes de Nevers. The Account-Inventory, which lists the names of those who undertook the journey, and the material objects the young count possessed has been re-edited for the first time in 150 years, translated into English by a team of historians and Old French scholars, and commented upon for a forthcoming publication from Cornell University Press. This talk will examine what we now know about the Count, what we have learned about crusading from this new version of the Account-Inventory, and how the process of collaborative scholarship has enriched our understanding of Eudes de Nevers and his world.

Laura Morreale is an Independent Scholar and historian of the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Italian peninsula whose research interests include municipal historiography and medieval French-language writing outside of the Kingdom of France. She has been the project director or supervising scholar for more than a dozen digital medieval studies initiatives and is affiliated with the Department of History at Harvard University, the Global Medieval Studies Program at Georgetown University, and the Center for Medieval Studies at Fordham University.

Co-sponsored by Cornell University Press, Literature in English, and History