: Walter the Chancellor (also known as Galterius cancellarius, the Latinized form of his French name, Gautier) was a French or Norman

crusade 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 t ...

r and author of the twelfth century. He served as Chancellor of the Principality of Antioch and wrote ''Bella Antiochena'' ("Wars of Antioch" or "The Antiochene Wars") about the history of the principality from 1114–1122, mostly during the reign of

Roger of Salerno Roger of Salerno (or Roger of the Principate) ( 1080 – June 28, 1119) was regent of the Principality of Antioch from 1112 to 1119. He was the son of Richard of the Principate and the 2nd cousin of Tancred, Prince of Galilee, both participants o ...

. He was certainly present at the

Battle of Ager Sanguinis In the Battle of ''Ager Sanguinis'', also known as the Battle of the Field of Blood, the Battle of Sarmada, or the Battle of Balat, Roger of Salerno's Crusader army of the Principality of Antioch was annihilated by the army of Ilghazi of Mard ...

in 1119, in which Roger was defeated and killed by

Ilghazi Najm al-Din Ilghazi ibn Artuq (; died November 8, 1122) was the Turkoman Artukid ruler of Mardin from 1107 to 1122. He was born into the Oghuz tribe of Döğer. Biography His father Artuk Bey was the founder of the Artukid dynasty, and had ...

, and Walter was probably taken into captivity for a brief time in

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

. Nothing more is known about him. Even his place of origin is uncertain, as the editorial introduction of ''Recueil des Historiens des Croisades'' points out. Some authors claim on the basis of "gallicisms" in his Latin that he is of French origin, while others cite the fact that he is in the party, and writing a history, of the Norman Roger of Salerno. The text itself gives no indication. The ''Bella Antiochena'' was written in two parts, the first sometime before Ager Sanguinis in 1119, and the second probably around 1122, or in stages from 1119 to 1122. The work was published in

Jacques Paul Migne Jacques Paul Migne (; 25 October 1800 – 24 October 1875) was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias, and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a u ...

Patrologia Latina The ''Patrologia Latina'' (Latin for ''The Latin Patrology'') is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques Paul Migne between 1841 and 1855, with indices published betwe ...

in 1853, the Recueil des Historiens des Croisades in 1895, and by H. Hagenmeyer in 1896. Walter was used as a source by the later 12th-century chronicler

William of Tyre William of Tyre (; 29 September 1186) was a Middle Ages, medieval prelate and chronicler. As Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tyre, archbishop of Tyre, he is sometimes known as William II to distinguish him from his predecessor, William I of Tyr ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walter The Chancellor Medieval writers about the Crusades 12th-century French historians 12th-century Normans Norman warriors 12th-century writers in Latin

Further reading

References