Feelings of betrayal and echoes of the First Crusade in Odo of Deuil's De profectione Ludovici VII in Orientem

Abstract

This article seeks to shed light on the literary agenda of Odo of Deuil, author of the most detailed Latin account of the Levantine branch of the Second Crusade. It calls for scholars to reinstate Odo's vilification of the Byzantines as a primary, rather than secondary, objective and proposes a new explanation for his stringent anti-Greek tone. It first extends our knowledge of Odo's engagement with the historiographical tradition of the First Crusade, before drawing attention to a hitherto unappreciated layer in his vilification of the Byzantines: his use of emotional language.