Research Guides: Crusades: Manuscripts

Andy Holt Virtual Library

Textual Sources of the Chanson de Geste
Part of Andy Holt Virtual Library's "Manuscripts of Medieval France with Vernacular Texts", a collection of over 800 links to manuscript facsimiles and nearly all of the French medieval literary canon.

British Library

Richard I and Saladin Jousting

Luttrell Psalter, 1325, fol. 82r

Add.42130.fol.61.det(L)
Richard I and Saladin jousting. From the "Luttrell Psalter," begun before 1340 for Sir Geoffrey Luttrell.
Egerton 1500, fol. 46
Crusaders in chainmail armor go to war. Bishops lead soldiers in armor during the invasion of Palestine. Early fourteenth century.
Royal 2 A. XXII, f.220
A Crusader Westminster Psalter England (Westminster or St Albans),circa 1250
Royal 14 C VII
Includes images of Itinerary to Jerusalem. From Matthew Paris, Historia Anglorum, Chronica majora, Part III; Continuation of Chronica maiora
Royal MS 15 EI
French translation of William of Tyre's History of the Crusades. Flanders, late fifteenth century.
Royal 15 E I. fol. 438
Siege of Jerusalem by Saladin. From a translation of a Latin history of the crusades, late fifteenth century.
Royal 16 G. VI. fol 101 v
Saracens and crusaders
Royal 16 G VI, fol. 352 v
Capture of Acre, 1191. From "Chroniques de France ou de Saint Denis."
Royal 20. c.vii, fol. 24 v
Siege of Acre. From Chroniques de France ou de St. Denis, 1375-1400.
Yates Thompson MS 12
Translation of William of Tyre's History of the Crusades. France, c.a1250-1260

St. Petersburg, Russia: Russian National Library.

Illuminated manuscript

Fol. 338
Louis IX during the seventh crusade. From Les Grandes Chroniques de France, middle fifteenth century.

Manuscripts Databases

VFL Database
Database that locates specific manuscripts by Roll number for study of the VFL microfilm collection.
Biblioteca apostolica vaticana
Vatican Library manuscripts catalog
CORSAIR
Online catalog of the Morgan Library
Mandragore, base des manuscrits enluminés de la BnF
Find and view descriptions and images of manuscripts in the Bibliotheque nationale de France
British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts
Find and view descriptions and images of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the British Library.
Biblioteca Nacional de Espana
Manuscritos
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
Digitized manuscripts in German state libraries.
Digital Scriptorium
Digital Scriptorium is a growing consortium of American libraries and museums committed to free online access to their collections of pre-modern manuscripts.
more...less...
Our website unites scattered resources from many institutions into a national digital platform for teaching and scholarly research. It serves to connect an international user community to multiple repositories by means of a digital union catalog with sample images and searchable metadata.
UCLA Catalogue of Digitized Medieval Manuscripts
This site was designed to enable users to find fully digitized manuscripts currently available on the web.

Microfilms located in the Special Collections/ VFL

Historia Hierosolymitana. 1125.
Text of Robert of Reims' Historia Hierosolymitana.
Vatican City, Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, Cod. Vat. lat. 2000.
BAV MSS MICROFILM 222
Historia Hierosolymitana. 1152.
Text of Robert of Reims' Historia Hierosolymitana.
Vatican City, Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, Cod. Vat. lat. 2001.
BAV MSS MICROFILM 7370
Historia Hierosolymitana. 1200
Text of Robert of Reims's Historia Hiersolymitana, up to Book 9, Chapter 3, "religiosis viris tam Graecis quam..."
Vatican City, Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, Cod. Ott. lat. 8.
BAV MSS MICROFILM 2476
Historia regum Britanniae. 1175.
Text of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historiae regum Britanniae and Robert of Reims' Historia Hierosolymitanae.
Vatican City, Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, Cod. Vat. lat. 2005.
BAV MSS MICROFILM 7431
Cambridge: St. John's College MS R.14.9 (884)
VFL Roll 12057.5

Part four contains a tract on the crusades
London: British Library Add. 46919
VFL Roll 6951.2

Poem on Crusades by Hugh de Tabarie
Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum.
Eracles
William of Tyre
Vatican City, Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, Cod. Reg. lat. 737.
BAV MSS MICROFILM 11274
Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum.
Histoire de la guerre sainte
William of Tyre
Vatican City, Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, Cod. Pal. lat. 1963.
BAV MSS MICROFILM 3589
Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum. 1200
Guglielmi Tyrensis Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum
William of Tyre
Vatican City, Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, Cod. Vat. lat. 2002.
BAV MSS MICROFILM 7174
Estoire de la guerre sainte
[Le livre d'Ambroise]
Vatican City, Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, Cod. Reg. lat. 1659.
BAV MSS MICROFILM 8669

Research Tip

If you are unsure about the authorized spelling of a name, see the two following sites in order to obtain the authority record:

Library of Congress Authorities

Virtual International Authority File

Morgan Library

Morgan Picture Bible
Often referred to as the "Crusader Bible."

Paris, France: Bibliotheque National

Illuminated manuscripts

MS 3139 fo. 176v
Peter the Hermit shows the crusaders the way to Jerusalem. about 1270
MS. fr. 22495, fol. 32 v
Baudoin, King of Jerusalem, crosses the Jordan river and denounces his wife. From the "Roman de Godefroi de Bouillon", 1337.

Lyon, France: Bibliotheque Municipal

Illuminated manuscript

MS 828, folio 33 recto
The Siege of Antioch. From the "Estoire d'Outremer," by William of Tyre. around 1280

Aschaffenburg, Germany: Castle Library.

Illuminated manuscript

MS 13, folio 18v
Siege of Jerusalem. Mid thirteenth century

Bayerische StaatsBibliothek

Willehelm Manuscript