[H] First leaf of a late-thirteenth century copy of William of Tyre’s Histoire d’Outre Mer (c.1270)

William was archbishop of Tyre in the Levant and a prominent historian of the crusader states. In the late twelfth century he wrote a long history of the crusader states, known to historians as the Historia rerum inpartibus transmarinis gestarum (History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea). As this manuscript bears witness, this text was popularised in the thirteenth century once it had been translated into French, and is known as both the Estoired’Eracles and the Histoire d’Outre-Mer. William’s position in the crusader states gave him a privileged perspective on the rulers of Jerusalem, including Melisende.