Bohémond d'Antioche: Chevalier d'Aventure (review)

Bohémond of Antioch (c. 1058–1111) enjoyed enormous attention from his contemporaries, as well as from modern scholars, for his role in the First Crusade as well as his two efforts to conquer the Byzantine empire (1080–85, 1107–08). Nevertheless, there had not been a scholarly biography of this man since R. B.Yewdale's study in 1924. Jean Flori, director of research at the Centre d'études supérieures de civilisation médiévale in Poitiers, has essayed to redress this lacuna with a biography that has at its central focus Bohémond's career as a "knightly adventurer" (chevalier d'aventure).

Flori, who is perhaps best known for his voluminous studies on medieval chivalry and knighthood, identifies four major reasons for writing this biography. As a scholar, who sees himself in the annaliste tradition, Flori insists that it is crucial to demonstrate that biography can be consistent with an annaliste focus on the long durée through an emphasis on individuals, such as Bohémond,who were catalysts for change. Flori contends that to do otherwise is to leave biography in the hands of amateurs, who have neither the skills nor the desire to provide a clear and realistic picture of the past. Flori's second stimulus is to demonstrate that Bohémond is a paradigmatic figure of the late-eleventh century incorporating the values, desires, and behaviors of the knightly aristocracy who ruled Europe. Third, Flori sees Bohemond's life and career as a valuable prism through which to evaluate the parti pris of the numerous narrative sources that provide information about the First Crusade. It is Flori's contention that scholars have failed to pay adequate attention to the biases of and audiences for these works. Finally, Flori insists that Bohémond is simply a fascinating figure whose story should be told.

The work is divided into twenty-four chapters with a prologue and epilogue. The biography has three major sections. Chapters 1–4 provide a brief introduction to Norman settlement in southern Italy; the career of Bohémond's father, Robert Guiscard; and Bohémond's early career in southern Italy, including the first invasion of the Byzantine empire under his father's overall command. Chapters 5–15 treat the First Crusade from Bohémond's perspective. Chapters 16–24 deal with Bohémond's effort to establish, maintain, and expand the principality of Antioch. The bibliography is extensive with regard to both French and English language scholarship, but includes only a very small number of German works. Flori provides an extensive scholarly apparatus with citations to both sources and scholarly works.

There is much to praise in this study. Flori's detailed discussion of Bohémond's career, which is based on a close reading of documentary as well as narrative sources, provides valuable insights into the Norman's decision making as well as his personality. Flori's analysis of the biases of contemporary authors and the audiences for their works is also fruitful. For example, it has long puzzled scholars how the crusader army could continue to hold Peter the Hermit in high esteem if he had attempted to desert during the siege of Antioch, as claimed by the anonymous author of the Gesta Francorum and the authors of seven other contemporary works. Flori demonstrates that the Gesta is the only source for this claim, as the other works depend on this text for the story about Peter. Flori then shows that the text of the Gesta was changed while the anonymous author and Bohémond were at the court of King Philip I of France, because the story of desertion originally had been about Guy the Red. When Bohémond arrived at the French court to seek aid for his planned invasion of the Byzantine empire, Guy held the post of royal seneschal, and thus it was ill-advised to remind such a man of...