Estoire d'Eracles
The Estoire d'Eracles is an anonymous Old French work that translates and continues William of Tyre’s Latin History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea. It starts with the Roman emperor Heraclius recapturing Jerusalem in 630 AD, which gives the work its name, and it tells events up to 1184. The continuation then covers the Crusader states from Saladin’s capture of Jerusalem in 1187 down to 1277.
The translation was made between about 1205 and 1234, likely in Western Europe. The text was revised several times, and surviving manuscripts preserve different versions of William’s original history. The continuations were added between 1220 and 1277. There are two different versions of the first continuation, which cover the years 1185–1225; both reflect the political views of the Crusader aristocracy.
There are 49 surviving manuscripts of the Estoire d'Eracles. Of these, 44 contain the first continuation drawn from the Ernoul chronicle, while five (the Colbert–Fontainebleau manuscripts) contain a different version. Twelve manuscripts include a unique continuation for 1229–1261 drawn from the Rothelin Continuation.
The continuations have varying historical value. The translation itself, where it differs from William’s original, is not a reliable independent historical source. The Ernoul continuation, however, is an especially important source for 1187–1204, covering the fall of Jerusalem, the reign of Conrad of Montferrat, the establishment of the Kingdom of Cyprus, the Third Crusade, and the Byzantine Empire up to the Fourth Crusade.
Although the Estoire d'Eracles has been published in two manuscript traditions, there is no single critical edition that combines all the manuscripts.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 17:33 (CET).