(Seven French Chroniclers, 1974, 25-39), but I would be less harsh toward Villehardouin today. Like many scholars, I have tended to read history retrospectively and upbraid Villehardouin for an outcome for which he cannot be held responsible, that is, the ultimate fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453. Eyewitnesses to an event cannot be read in this way. Though their own prejudices are inevitable, one cannot forget that they were living these events in their incremental progression, not in retrospection. What I would retract most willingly in my harsh criticism of Villehardouin in 1974 is my too-easy dismissal of the second half of his chronicle as “tedious.” I now believe that Villehardouin's account of the wars in Romania is the finest part of his chronicle and one of the finest pieces of military reporting in all medieval literature.
Work by Villehardouin
Selective Studies of Villehardouin
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