Gunther of Pairis otherwise Günther von Pairis, Gunther der Dichter, Guntherus Parisiensis, Guntherus Poeta, Guntherus Cisterciensis (c. 1150 – c. 1220) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Cistercian monk and author, writing in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. His best-known work is his ''Historia Constantinopolitana'' about the Fourth Crusade, in a mixture of prose and verse. It was based on the account of Martin of Pairis, abbot of Pairis Abbey, and includes the

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

and looting of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

. His is the only western account to state explicitly that the crusaders pillaged Greek churches, as the other accounts were written by the pillagers themselves, such as

Geoffrey of Villehardouin Geoffrey of Villehardouin (c. 1150 – c. 1213) was a French knight and historian who participated in and chronicled the Fourth Crusade. He is considered one of the most important historians of the time period,Smalley, p. 131 best known for w ...

, who wrote The Conquest of Constantinople. Gunther also wrote ''Solimarius'', about the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic r ...

, and ''Ligurinus'', an epic about Frederick Barbarossa.

References

* Andrea, Alfred (ed.), 1997: ''The Capture of Constantinople: The ‘Historia Constantinopolitana’ of Gunther of Pairis''

Notes

External links

Crusades Encyclopedia
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunther of Pairis 13th-century German poets German Cistercians German chroniclers 13th-century German historians 1150s births 1220s deaths Fourth Crusade German male poets Medieval writers about the Crusades 13th-century Latin writers 12th-century German historians