Summary
The Via ad terram sanctam, a short proposal offering suggestions and plans for the retaking of the Holy Land, was written sometime before April of 1289 by an anonymous western author living in the East. The author addresses three questions pertaining to the undertaking of a crusade from the West, including a consideration of the best time to begin a crusade, an assessment of which eastern port the western armies should choose for their arrival and which direction they should take to Jerusalem, and finally, the author’s opinion on the path the crusaders ought to follow towards Egypt once they conquered Palestine. The work closes with an itinerary for the potential crusaders, with information on the quantity and quality of supplies they could secure as well as the political inclinations of the inhabitants in towns along the way. The work survives in only one manuscript, although it was translated into Latin and circulated under a different title, the Memoria, as early as the fourteenth century.
MSS
Oxford, Bodlian, Ashmole 342, ff, 1-6v (unique).
Edition
Kohler, Charles, "Deux Projets de Croisade en Terre-Sainte." In Revue de l'Orient Latin 10 (1903-4), 406-457.
Paviot, Jacques (editor). Projets de croisade (v. 1290-v. 1330). Paris, France: L'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 2008. 293-387.