Odo Arpin of Bourges (also Arpinus, Harpinus, or Harpin) ( 1060 – c. 1130) was a medieval

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...

r and monk. He inherited the lordship of

Dun A dun is an ancient or medieval fort. In Ireland and Britain it is mainly a kind of hillfort and also a kind of Atlantic roundhouse. Etymology The term comes from Irish language, Irish ''dún'' or Scottish Gaelic ''dùn'' (meaning "fort"), ...

and became viscount of

Bourges Bourges () is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital city of the former province of Berry. History The name of the commune derives either from the Bituriges, t ...

between 1092 and 1095 after marrying Matilda of Sully, whose sister Alice was the daughter-in-law of Stephen, Count of Blois. He may have shared the viscountcy with Matilda's father Gilo. At some point between 1097 and 1101, Odo sold his possessions in Bourges and Dun to King Philip I of France for sixty thousand shillings. This may or may not have been done to finance his crusade. He participated in the

Crusade of 1101 The Crusade of 1101 was a minor crusade of three separate movements, organized in 1100 and 1101 in the successful aftermath of the First Crusade. It is also called the Crusade of the Faint-Hearted due to the number of participants who joined this ...

, probably with Stephen of Blois, and travelled through

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, where he swore a loyalty oath to

Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...

Alexios I Komnenos Alexios I Komnenos ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, 1057 – 15 August 1118; Latinized Alexius I Comnenus) was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during ...

. Odo was in

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

in 1101,

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

in 1102, and fought in the

Second Battle of Ramla The Second Battle of Ramla (or Ramleh) took place on 17 May 1102 between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Fatimids of Egypt. Background The town of Ramla lay on the road from Jerusalem to Ascalon, the latter of which was the largest F ...

, where he was captured. He was not executed because of his connection to Emperor Alexius, but was instead imprisoned in Ascalon and later

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. Alexius arranged for him to be released. On his way home, Odo visited

Pope Paschal II Pope Paschal II ( la, Paschalis II; 1050 1055 – 21 January 1118), born Ranierius, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 August 1099 to his death in 1118. A monk of the Abbey of Cluny, he was cre ...

in Rome, and at the Pope's suggestion he became a monk at Cluny, which may have been necessary because had sold all his property before the crusade. He became

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

La Charité-sur-Loire La Charité-sur-Loire (before 1961: ''La Charité'') is a commune in the Nièvre department and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of eastern France. Geography La Charité-sur-Loire lies on the right, eastern bank of the river Loire, about 25 km no ...

around 1107, and added the revenues of numerous other properties to the monastery, including one in Anatolia donated by Emperor Alexius. Odo's capture was incorporated into the

Crusade cycle The Crusade cycle is an Old French literary cycle of ''chansons de geste'' concerning the First Crusade and its aftermath. History The cycle contains a number of initially unrelated texts, collated into interconnected narratives by later redacto ...

of epic poetry, in the section known as ''Les Chétifs'' ("the captives"). He is the only historical figure in ''Les Chétifs'' but he also appears in other parts of the cycle with historical crusaders such as

Godfrey of Bouillon Godfrey of Bouillon (, , , ; 18 September 1060 – 18 July 1100) was a French nobleman and pre-eminent leader of the First Crusade. First ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 to 1100, he avoided the title of king, preferring that of princ ...

Sources

* Giles Constable, "The three lives of Odo Arpinus: Viscount of Bourges, crusader, monk of Cluny", in ''Crusaders and Crusading in the Twelfth Century'' (Ashgate, 2008). *Jonathan Shepherd, "The 'muddy road' of Odo Arpin from Bourges to La Charité-sur-Loire", in ''The Experience of Crusading'', vol. 2 (Cambridge, 2003). {{DEFAULTSORT:Odo Arpin Of Bourges Christians of the Crusade of 1101 Cluniacs 1060s births 1130s deaths