AMBROSE (fl. 119o)

This article appears in Volume V01, Page 798 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: ALM-ANC

AMBROSE (fl. 119o) , Norman poet, and chronicler of the Third Crusade, author of a

work

WORK

called L'Estoire de la guerre sainte, which describes in rhyming French verse the adventures of Richard Coeur de Lion as a crusader. The poem is known to us only through one Vatican MS., and long escaped the notice of historians. The credit for detecting its value belongs to the

late

LATE

Gaston Paris, although his edition (1897) was partially anticipated by the editors of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica, who published some selections in the twenty-seventh volume of their Scriptores (1885).

Ambrose

followed Richard I. as a non-, combatant, and not improbably as a court-minstrel. He speaks as an eye-

witness

WITNESS
WITNESS (from O. Eng. witan, to know)

of the king's doings at Messina, in Cyprus, at the siege of Acre, and in the abortive campaign which followed the capture of that city.

Ambrose

is surprisingly accurate in his chronology; though he did not complete his

work

WORK

before 1195, it is evidently founded upon notes which he had taken in the course of his

pilgrimage

PILGRIMAGE (Fr. pelerinage, Lat. peregrinatio)

. He shows no greater political insight than we should expect from his position; but relates what he had seen and heard with a naive vivacity which compels attention. He is prejudiced against the Saracens, against the French, and against all the rivals or enemies of his master; but he is never guilty of deliberate misrepresentation. He is rather to be treated as a biographer than as a historian of the Crusade in its broader aspects. None the less he is the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

authority for the events of the years 1190-1192, so far as these are connected with the Holy Land. The Itinerarium Regis Ricardi (formerlyattributed to Geoffrey Vinsauf, but in reality the work of Richard, a canon of Holy Trinity, London) is little more than a free paraphrase of Ambrose. The first book of the Itinerarium contains some additional facts; and the whole of the Latin version is adorned with

flowers

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

of rhetoric which are foreign to the style of Ambrose. But it is no longer possible to regard the Itinerarium as a first-hand narrative.

Stubbs

's edition of the Itinerarium (Rolls

Series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

, 1864), in which the contrary hypothesis, is maintained, appeared before Gaston Paris published his discovery.
See the edition of L'Estoire de la guerre sainte by Gaston Paris in the Collection des documents inedits sur l'histoire de France (1897); the editor discusses in his introduction the

biography

BIOGRAPHY (from the Gr. (3ios, life, and yp&4 , writing)

of Ambrose, the value of the poem as a historical source, and its relation to the Itinerarium. R. Pauli's remarks (iri Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores, xxvii.) also deserve attention. ' (H. W. C. D.)
AMBROSE

End of Article: AMBROSE (fl. 119o)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/ALM_ANC/AMBROSE_fl_119o_.html">
AMBROSE (fl. 119o)
</a>

(Previous)
AMBROSE (ANDREY SERTIS-KAMENSKIY) (1708-1771)

(Next)
AMBROSE THE CAMALDULIAN

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email