Jacques de Vitry (''Jacobus de Vitriaco'', 1160/70 – 1 May 1240) was a French

canon regular The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule ( and κανών, ''kanon'', in Greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religiou ...

who was a noted

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

and chronicler of his era. He was elected bishop of Acre in 1214 and made

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

in 1229. His ''Historia Orientalis'' (also known as ''Historia Hierosolymitana'') is an important source for the historiography of the Crusades.

Biography

Jacques was born in central France (perhaps

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

). He was born in 1170 at the latest. He studied at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

, becoming a

in 1210 at the Priory of Saint-Nicolas d'Oignies in the Diocese of Liège, a post he maintained until his

consecration Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

as bishop in 1216. From 1211 to 1213 he preached the

Albigensian Crusade The Albigensian Crusade (), also known as the Cathar Crusade (1209–1229), was a military and ideological campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, what is now southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted pri ...

, touring France and Germany with William, the archdeacon of Paris, and recruiting many

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

. In 1214 Jacques was elected Bishop of Acre. He received episcopal consecration and arrived at his see in 1216. He was subsequently heavily involved in the

Fifth Crusade The Fifth Crusade (September 1217 - August 29, 1221) was a campaign in a series of Crusades by Western Europeans to reacquire Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering Egypt, ruled by the powerful Ayyubid sultanate, led by al- ...

, participating in the siege of

Damietta Damietta ( ' ) is a harbor, port city and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt. It is located at the Damietta branch, an eastern distributary of the Nile Delta, from the Mediterranean Sea, and about north of Cairo. It was a Cath ...

from 1218 to 1220. In 1219 he began to write the ''Historia Hierosolymitana'', a history of the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

from the advent of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

until the crusades of his own day, but only two parts were completed. He returned to Europe in 1225. Between 16 April and 29 July 1229,

Pope Gregory IX Pope Gregory IX (; born Ugolino di Conti; 1145 – 22 August 1241) was head of the Catholic Church and the ruler of the Papal States from 19 March 1227 until his death in 1241. He is known for issuing the '' Decretales'' and instituting the Pa ...

elevated Jacques to the

College of Cardinals The College of Cardinals (), also called the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. there are cardinals, of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Appointed by the pope, ...

and transferred him to the suburbicarian see of Frascati. With the exception of a short legation to

Emperor Frederick II Frederick II (, , , ; 26 December 1194 – 13 December 1250) was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 and King of Jerusalem from 1225. He was the son of Emperor Henry VI of the Ho ...

in 1232, he spent his last years working in the papal court. He subscribed the papal bulls between 29 July 1229 and 23 June 1239. He died at Rome as

Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals The dean of the College of Cardinals () presides over the College of Cardinals in the Catholic Church, serving as ('first among equals'). The position was established in the 12th century. He always holds the rank of a cardinal bishop and is as ...

. His remains were transferred to Oignies and buried there in 1241. After the death of the

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem () is the Latin Catholic ecclesiastical patriarchate in Jerusalem, officially seated in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is the archbishop of Latin Church Catholics of th ...

Gerold of Lausanne in 1238 or 1239, the canons of the church in Jerusalem asked Gregory IX to send Jacques back to the east as the new patriarch. According to Gregory's response, dated 14 May 1240, Jacques had already died, and instead the pope appointed Robert of Nantes as the new patriarch. Aside from the ''Historia'', his works include hundreds of sermons, and letters to

Pope Honorius III Pope Honorius III (c. 1150 – 18 March 1227), born Cencio Savelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 18 July 1216 to his death. A canon at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, he came to hold a number of importa ...

. He also wrote about the immoral life of the students at the University of Paris and the holy life of the

Beguines The Beguines () and the Beghards () were Christian lay religious orders that were active in Western Europe, particularly in the Low Countries, in the 13th–16th centuries. Their members lived in semi-monastic communities but did not take for ...

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

, in particular his ''Life of

Marie d'Oignies Marie of Oignies (''Maria Ogniacensis'', born Nivelles, now Belgium, 1177, died 1213) was a Beguine saint, known from the ''Life'' written by James of Vitry for Bishop Fulk of Toulouse. Marie "did not live a cloistered life following an approve ...

'', whose advice inspired him to become a canon regular. Jacques de Vitry was fascinated by the powers held by the beguines, such that they were paralleled with the priests of the time, yet functioned outside the church proper. Although this movement was unrecognized in the church, Jacques made appeal to Pope Honorius III to legitimize the work of their community, as well as the Liège diocese, all France and throughout the Holy Roman Empire.

Reliquary at Oignies

In 2015, the CROMIOSS project, led by the Archaeological Society of Namur (SAN) in partnership with several Belgian universities and research institutes, undertook an interdisciplinary scientific study around the reliquary of Jacques de Vitry, located in the church of Saint Marie d’Oigines in Belgium. Anthropological, isotopic and genetic analyses indicated a high likelihood that the remains were in fact those of Jacques de Vitry. His unique parchment

mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) or miter (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences; both pronounced ; ) is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of ...

was also analysed. Forensic work on the skull, supplemented with DNA evidence, also allowed for the creation of a visual reconstruction of what the bishop might have looked like. The remains were reinterred at Oignies in 2019.

Editions

;Historiography * ''Orientalis et occidentalis Historia.'' ed. F. Moschi, ex officina typographica Balthazaris Belleri, Douai, 1596,
archive.orgonline facsimile
. * ''Historia Hierosolimitana.'' ed. Jacques Bongars, in: ''Gesta Dei Per Francos, Sive Orientalium Expeditionum, Et Regni Francorum Hierosolimitani Historia.'' 1611,
online facsimile
. * John Frederick Hinnebusch (ed.): ''The Historia occidentalis of Jacques de Vitry. A Critical Edition'' (= ''Spicilegium Friburgense. Texte zur Geschichte des kirchlichen Lebens.'' vol. 17, ). The University Press, Fribourg 1972. *''Jacques de Vitry. Historia Orientalis'', ed. Jean Donnadieu, 2008. Translations: * Abridged and incomplete translation to English
''The History of Jerusalem, A.D. 1180 by Jacques de Vitry''
(= '' Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society'' vol. 11, no. 2, ), translated by Aubrey Stewart, year 1896. * French translation
''Histoire des croisades, par Jacques de Vitry''
translated by François Guizot year 1825 ;Sermons * ''Sermones de tempore.'' Kreuzherrenkonvent, Düsseldorf 1486, () * ''Sermones de Tempore.'' In aedibus viduae & haeredum Ioannis Steelsij, Antwerpen 1575. *''Iacobus de Vitriaco. Sermones vulgares vel ad status'' I, éd. J. Longère (''Corpus Christianorum. Continuatio Mediaevalis'' 255), Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2013 () * ''Sermones vulgares.'' In: ''Analecta Novissima Spicilegii solesmensis.'' Disseruit Joannes Baptista Pitra. Band 2. Typis Tusculanis, Paris 1888, (excerpts). * ''The Exempla or Illustrative Stories from the Sermones Vulgares of Jacques de Vitry'' (= ''Publications of the Folk-Lore Society.'' 26, ). Edited with introduction, analysis, and notes by Thomas Frederick Crane. Nutt, London 1890,
archive.org
. * Joseph Greven (ed.): ''Die Exempla aus den Sermones feriales et communes des Jakob von Vitry'' (= ''Sammlungen mittellateinischer Texte.'' 9, ). Winter, Heidelberg 1914,
archive.org
. * Goswin Frenken, ''Die Exempla des Jacob von Vitry. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Erzählungsliteratur des Mittelalters'' (= ''Quellen und Untersuchungen zur lateinischen Philologie des Mittelalters.'' vol. 5.1, ). Beck, München 1914. ;Letters * Reinhold Röhricht (ed.): ''Briefe.'' In: ''Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte.'' vol. 14, 1894, 97–118; vol. 15, 1895, vol. 568–587; vol. 16, 1896, 72–114. *''Lettres de Jacques de Vitry'' ed. R. B. C. Huygens. Leiden, 1960. ;Other * ''Vita b. Mariae Oignies.'' In: ''

Acta Sanctorum ''Acta Sanctorum'' (''Acts of the Saints'') is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, organised by the saints' feast days. The project was conceived and ...

. Junii.'' vol. 4. Petrus Jacobs, Antwerp 1707
636–666

References

in Salvador Miranda, ''The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church'' * Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, ''Cardinali di curia e "familiae" cardinalizie dal 1227 al 1254'', Padova 1972, pt. I, p. 99-112

External links

Lewis E 138 Historia hierosolymitana (History of Jerusalem) at OPenn

Translations of two of Jacques de Vitry's ''ad status'' sermons (to those in a military order), at De Rei Militari

Jacques de Vitry's parchment mitre, the only one of its kind that has survived
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacques de Vitry 1160s births 1240 deaths 13th-century writers in Latin 13th-century French historians People of the Albigensian Crusade Christians of the Fifth Crusade 13th-century people from the Kingdom of Jerusalem 13th-century French cardinals Cardinal-bishops of Frascati Canonical Augustinian bishops Canonical Augustinian cardinals Canonical Augustinian theologians Deans of the College of Cardinals Bishops of Acre