ceased in spring 1213; he is a relatively impartial though dry reporter of events.
Approving of the crusade, condemning the heretics, he defends, however, southerners
whose orthodoxy was unquestionable. In 1228, an anonymous author continued
Guilhem’s story. Sympathetic to the southern cause, he recounts in detail those events to
which he was an eyewitness; the style is more animated and much more dialogue is
reported. His story stops in the midst of a description of the 1218 siege of Toulouse.
Using as model the Chanson d’Antioche, the work is composed of 9,582 Alexandrine
lines, divided into 214 assonanced laisses; the last line of each laisse (of only six
syllables) links to the next, capcaudada in Guilhem de Tudela’s portion, capfinida in the
second part of the work. Only one manuscript is extant (B.N. fr. 25425), with pen-and-
ink illustrations, dated ca. 1275. Two prose chroniclers of the Albigensian Crusade
appear to have had access to this text for their redactions.
Wendy E.Pfeffer
[See also: FOLQUET DE MARSELHA]
Guilhem de Tudela and Anonymous. La chanson de la croisade albigeoise, ed. Eugène Martin-
Chabot. 3 vols. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1957–1961.
——. La chanson de la croisade albigeoise, trans. Henri Gougaud. Paris: Berg, 1984.
D’Heur, Jean-Marie. “Sur la date, la composition et la destination de la Chanson de la croisade
albigeoise de Guillaume de Tudèle.” In Mélanges d’histoire littéraire, de linguistique et de
philologie romanes offerts à Charles Rostaing, ed. Jacques De Caluwé et al. Liège: Association
des Romanistes de l’Université de Liège, 1974, pp. 231–66.
Ghil, Eliza Miruna. L’âge de parage: essai sur la poétique en Occitanie au XIIIe siècle. New York:
Lang, 1989.
CROSSBOW
. The arbalète, or crossbow, was a mechanical bow that became the standard archery
weapon in France during the Middle Ages. The basic construction of the weapon was a
small bow attached to a stock that provided a groove for the bolt and handle, with a
bowstring that was held in place ready for release by a trigger mechanism.
Descended from the ancient Greek gastraphetes (or “belly bow”), the arbalète became
popular in western Europe during the late 11th century. Because of its brutality in war,
both Pope Urban II (r. 1088–99) and the Second Lateran Council (1139) condemned its
use among Christians. However, this condemnation was rarely heeded as the arbalète
became increasingly popular in Europe. This was especially the case in France, where
most kings and nobles used crossbowmen in their armies between the 12th and 15th
centuries, frequently employing mercenary crossbowmen, principally Italians, when they
failed to recruit sufficient numbers of these troops from among their own subjects. These
troops were used tactically at the beginning of a battle and on the flanks as harassers of
opposing forces.
By the late Middle Ages, the arbalète had increased in use and efficiency. The
composite crossbow, made of horn, sinew, and glue, was considerably more powerful
than earlier bows. Stirrups, windlasses, and cranequins were added to the stock to enable
the bow to be strung with greater tension, increasing immensely the power of the pull.
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