Bologna und der Fünfte Kreuzzug

Abstract

On 23 December 1219, the Bolognese crusader Barzella Merxadrus made a will before a notary public in his tent in the army camp before Damietta in Egypt. It was edited with slight mistakes in 1789 by Savioli. An English translation containing serious misunderstandings was published in 1952 by Morris. A better translation, which, however, still contains some mistakes, came out in 2013. The Latin text is re-edited here with the necessary emendations of Savioli’s text. Barzella elected funeral in a graveyard of the Teutonic Knights to whom he also left his armour but, contrary to Morris’s translation, he had no horse and was therefore most likely a foot-soldier. He had taken along his wife Giulietta and some relatives and other Bolognese who lived with him in his tent (not a wooden block house, as in Morris’s translation), which must have been spacious. Giulietta inherited his possessions in the East including his hoped-for share in the yet undivided booty, while his mother and brother were appointed his heirs in Italy. Noteworthy among the legacies is a small one to the common war chest. The article also examines the story of the contingents from Bologna and Lucca before and during the Fifth Crusade, their organizational structure and their relations with each other. Dividing the spoils at Damietta was a difficult business which gave rise to much discontent among the Italians who felt at a disadvantage compared to the French. It even came to street fighting in the conquered city. In the end Bologna and Lucca jointly received a part of the city as their share in the booty and now had to divide it among themselves and make arrangements for dealing with the real estate after their departure.