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Understanding this work and its many variations and continuations requires a brief introduction. During the 1170's and early 1180's, Archbishop William of Tyre wrote a history in Latin of the kingdom of Jerusalem known as the Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum. The Historia is an account of the First Crusade and the subsequent political history of the Latin East until 1184, when the work abruptly ends, left unfinished perhaps because of William's death.
At some point in the early 13th century, his work was translated into French, and many of the French translations include continuations that were added to his original text. The Old French translation in its various iterations is also called the "Eracles," because the opening lines of the text mention the Emperor Heracles.
Some of these translations were produced and copied in the East, while others were produced in the West in areas like Picardy, Flanders, or Paris. Over the years, scholars have appended names to specific versions of the work which refer to the way in which William's origianal text was emended, lengthened, or truncated. Among these are the Acre Continuation, the Lyon Eracles, and the Rothelin Continuation.
Please note that this work is cross referenced in the section on Historical Narrative in Cyprus, because additions were made to this work once the Latin settlers that had resided in the mainland Crusader States were forced to relocate to Cyprus following the fall of Acre in 1291.
The first French translation and the specific versions of William of Tyre's Histoire d'Outremer can be found on the following pages:
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