The Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa

This is the first English translation of the main contemporary accounts of the Crusade and death of the German Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (ruled 1152-90). The principal text here, the 'History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick', was written soon after the events described, and is a crucial, and much under-used source for the Third Crusade. It narrates the preparations and recruitment for the Crusade, and the Crusade itself: the journey through the Balkans and the gruelling march through Asia Minor, beset by Turkish attack, until its arrival at Antioch on 21st July 1190, eleven days after the emperor had drowned while crossing a river in Cilician Armenia. The 'History' gives a vivid account of the sufferings of the German army as it traversed Asia Minor and appears to be, or to be based upon an eyewitness record, cast in the form of (often) a daily memoir. A number of subsidiary texts also translated illustrate and expand this main account, and place the crusade in context.