Rorgo Fretellus, also spelled FetellusJames Rose Macpherson, ed. (1896),
Fetellus (circa 1130 A.D.)
' (London:

Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society __NOTOC__ The Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society (PPTS) was a text publication society based in London, which specialised in publishing editions and translations of medieval texts relevant to the history of pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Particular at ...

), pp. v–x. (fl. 1119–1154),

Jonathan Riley-Smith Jonathan Simon Christopher Riley-Smith (27 June 1938 – 13 September 2016) was a historian of the Crusades, and, between 1994 and 2005, Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge. He was a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Pro ...

(1981), "Review of ''Rorgo Fretellus de Nazareth et sa description de la Terre Sainte: histoire et édition du texte'' by P. C. Boeren (North-Holland Publishing, 1980)", ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland'', 113(2), pp. 200–201. was a

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

priest in the

Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem ( la, Regnum Hierosolymitanum; fro, Roiaume de Jherusalem), officially known as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Frankish Kingdom of Palestine,Example (title of works): was a Crusader state that was establishe ...

who wrote a widely circulated description in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

of the Christian holy places in the Holy Land, the ''Descriptio de locis sanctis''.

Life

Fretellus was born in the

County of Ponthieu Ponthieu (, ) was one of six feudal counties that eventually merged to become part of the Province of Picardy, in northern France.Dunbabin.France in the Making. Ch.4. The Principalities 888-987 Its chief town is Abbeville. History Ponthieu play ...

and went to the Holy Land around 1110. In 1119 he was the chancellor of the

Prince of Galilee The principality of Galilee was one of the four major seigneuries of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, according to 13th-century commentator John of Ibelin, grandson of Balian. The direct holdings of the principality centred around Tiberias, i ...

and by 1121 he was a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

of the

archdiocese of Nazareth The Archbishop of Nazareth is a former residential Metropolitan see, first in the Holy Land, then in Apulian exile in Barletta (southern Italy), which had a Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Latin and a Maronite successor as titular sees, the first m ...

Benjamin Z. Kedar Benjamin Ze'ev Kedar (born 2 September 1938)Who's Who in Israel 2001 (Tel Aviv, 2002), p. 214: "KEDAR, Benjamin Z. is professor emeritus of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was president of the international Society for the Stu ...

(2000), "Fretellus", in John Block Friedman and Kristen Mossler Figg, eds., ''Trade, Travel and Exploration in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia'' (London and New York: Routledge), p. 202. By about 1148 he had become the archdeacon of the

patriarchate of Antioch Patriarch of Antioch is a traditional title held by the bishop of Antioch (modern-day Antakya, Turkey). As the traditional "overseer" (ἐπίσκοπος, ''episkopos'', from which the word ''bishop'' is derived) of the first gentile Christian c ...

, or perhaps of Nazareth.

Work

The ''Descriptio de locis sanctis'' survives in several recensions, all descended from a model composed by Fretellus in 1128–1132 or possibly as early as 1119–1121. The earliest finished version dates to 1137 or 1138 and was dedicated to

Jindřich Zdík Jindřich Zdík (also anglicized as ''Henry Zdík'') (c. 1083 – 1150 in Prague) was bishop of Olomouc from 1126 to 1150. Biography Zdík went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1137/1138. While he was there, Rorgo Fretellus of Nazareth dedica ...

bishop of Olomouc The following is a list of diocesan bishops and archbishops of Olomouc. Not much is known about the beginnings of the Diocese of Olomouc. It was reestablished in 1063 and in 1777 it was elevated to an archdiocese. Bishops of Olomouc *''89 ...

. A revised version was also published by Fretellus either about the same time as the first or perhaps as late as 1148. Its dedication is subject to different interpretations. It was most likely dedicated to Count

Rodrigo González de Lara Rodrigo González de Lara (''floruit'' 1078–1143) was a Kingdom of Castile, Castilian nobleman of the House of Lara. Early in his career he ruled that half of Asturias allocated to Castile. He was faithful to the crown throughout the reign of U ...

, governor of Toledo, but according to one modern editor the dedication was in fact to a

count of Toulouse The count of Toulouse ( oc, comte de Tolosa, french: comte de Toulouse) was the ruler of county of Toulouse, Toulouse during the 8th to 13th centuries. Originating as vassals of the kingdom of the Franks, Frankish kings, the hereditary counts ru ...

, probably Count

Raymond V Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

. If this latter view be correct, the ''Descriptio'' must date to 1148 and the

Second Crusade The Second Crusade (1145–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusa ...

. A third version was produced at the Avignonese papal ''curia'' between 1356 and 1362, when Cardinal

Nicolau Rossell Nicolau is a Portuguese and Catalan given name, a variant of Nicholas. People known by this name include: *Nicolau Coelho, Portuguese explorer *Nicolau dos Reis Lobato, East-Timorese politician and national hero *Nicolau Tolentino de Almeida, the f ...

incorporated into a copy of the ''

Liber censuum The ''Liber Censuum Romanæ Ecclesiæ'' (Latin for "Census Book of the Roman Church"; also referred to as the Codex of Cencius)Gregorovius, 1896, p. 645. is an eighteen-volume (originally) financial record of the real estate revenues of the papac ...

''. Jean Richard (1983), "Review of ''Rorgo Fretellus de Nazareth et sa description de la Terre Sainte: histoire et édition du texte'' by P. C. Boeren (North-Holland Publishing, 1980)", ''Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale'' 26(103), pp. 252–253. The ''Descriptio'' is not a very original work. It incorporates much earlier material to which Fretellus had access in the library of the cathedral of Nazareth, including possibly Pseudo-Eugesippus' ''Tractatus de distantiis locorum Terrae Sanctae''. Although "it does not tell us very much about the conditions in the towns and villages under Frankish rule", it is still a useful source on the learning to which a crusader cleric had access in the twelfth century. The ''Descriptio'' begins by describing the location of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

: "The city of Jerusalem is situated in the hill-country of Judea, in the province of Palestine".Macpherson (1986), p. 1. It is probable that in this famous passage Fretellus has simply combined his

Biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

geography (

Judaea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous south ...

) with the name of the former Arab province ( Filasṭīn).

Nur Masalha Nur-eldeen (Nur) Masalha ( ar, نور مصالحة ''Nūr Maṣālḥa''; born 4 January 1957) is a Palestinian writer and academic. He is a historian of Palestine and formerly professor of religion and politics and director of the Centre for R ...

(2018), ''Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History'' (London: Zed Books), p. 115.

Editions

*Macpherson, James Rose, ed.
Fetellus (circa 1130 A.D.)
'. London:

, 1896. *Boeren, Petrus Cornelis, ed. ''Rorgo Fretellus de Nazareth et sa description de la Terre Sainte: histoire et édition du texte''. North-Holland Publishing, 1980.

Life

Work

Editions

References

Further reading