RT Article
T1 Constantinople and the Echo Chamber: The Vlachs in the French Crusade Chronicles
JF Medieval encounters
VO 22
IS 4
SP 427
OP 462
A1 Curta, Florin
LA English
PB Brill
YR 2016
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/156191195X
AB The chroniclers of the Fourth Crusade (Geoffroi de Villehardouin, Henri de Valenciennes, and Robert de Clari) have much to say about the Vlachs. Much of that information results from direct contact with the Vlachs, particularly in the case of Villehardouin and Henri de Valenciennes. However, several issues characterizing the Vlachs, especially in Robert de Clari’s chronicle, are remarkably similar to stories that may be found in Niketas Choniates. The paper analyzes the role attributed to the Vlachs in the French chronicles, and attempts to explain the similarity to the coverage of things Vlach in Niketas Choniates. As such, the paper offers an examination of all Byzantine sources mentioning the Vlachs before Choniates and of non-Byzantine sources such as Benjamin of Tudela. The conclusion is that the image of the Vlachs in the French chronicles derives from stories about them circulating in twelfth-century Constantinople.
K1 Benjamin of Tudela : Bulgaria : Geoffroi de Villehardouin : Henri de Valenciennes : Johannitsa Kaloyannes : Niketas Choniates : Robert de Clari : Trojan legend : Vlachs
DO 10.1163/15700674-12342232