Passages d'outremer, minature of Jerusalem, painted by Jean Coulombe

The ''Passages d'outremer'' is a chronicle of the

crusades 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 in ...

written in

Middle French Middle French (french: moyen français) is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from the 14th to the 16th century. It is a period of transition during which: * the French language became clearly distinguished from t ...

Sébastien Mamerot Sébastien Mamerot (between and 1440 – 1490) was a French clergyman, scholar, novelist, and translator. Biography Originally from Soissons, Mamerot served as clergyman and secretary to Louis de Laval, governor of Dauphiné (1448–1458), Champ ...

in 1473–1474. Drawing freely on legendary material, it covers the wars between

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

from the time of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

until 1462. Mamerot was the chaplain of Louis de Laval-Châtillon, governor of

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, who commissioned the ''Passages''. It is divided into 88 chapters and covers 272

folio The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...

s in

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

. Its full title is ''Passages fais oultre mer par les François contre les Turcqs et autres Sarrazins et Mores oultre marins'' ('Passages made overseas by the Franks against the Turks and other overseas Saracens and Moors'). The ''Passages d'outremer'' is conserved in three 15th-century manuscripts, all today in the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

(BnF), numbers fr. 5594, fr. 2626 and fr. 4769. A partial edition was printed at Paris by Michel Le Noir in 1518 under the title ''Les passaiges d'Oultremer faitz par les Françoys''. The manuscript BnF fr. 5594 is a masterpiece of

manuscript illumination An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...

Jean Colombe Jean Colombe ( la, Ioannes Colombus; b. Bourges ca. 1430; d. ca. 1493) was a French miniature painter and illuminator of manuscripts. He is best known for his work in ''Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry''. He was a son of Philippe Colombe and hi ...

, containing 66 full-page miniatures. It was finished after 1488, since it contains a copy of a letter from the Ottoman sultan

Bayezid II Bayezid II ( ota, بايزيد ثانى, Bāyezīd-i s̱ānī, 3 December 1447 – 26 May 1512, Turkish: ''II. Bayezid'') was the eldest son and successor of Mehmed II, ruling as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. During his reign, ...

to King

Charles VIII of France Charles VIII, called the Affable (french: l'Affable; 30 June 1470 – 7 April 1498), was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He succeeded his father Louis XI at the age of 13.Paul Murray Kendall, ''Louis XI: The Universal Spider'' (Ne ...

dated to that year.

Editions

Notes

Bibliography

* * * {{refend 1470s books Middle French literature French chronicles Crusade literature