Robert de Clari
Clari, Robert de (fl. c.1204-1220). Picard knight who accompanied his lord Pierre d'Amiens on the Fourth Crusade, participated in the famous siege and sack of Constantinople in 1204, returned home in 1205 bearing relics for his local church, and subsequently (apparently after 1216) dictated his memoirs to a scribe. His account of the crusade (which is now known as La Conquête de Constantinople) is valuable both in historical and in literary terms. Excluded from the debates of the commanders, he expressed the opinions of the less privileged, their discontent with the inadequate share of booty granted them, and their pride in the achievements of simple knights. He provided a vivid picture of the crusaders' dilemmas before their arrival at Constantinople, in which can be detected an absence of enthusiasm for the leader, Boniface of Montferrat, and for the Venetians. He also related the negotiations between the victorious Latins and their new neighbours after the fall of the city. His descriptive powers were considerable, as was his natural curiosity, which led him investigate some aspects of Byzantine history. As one of the first writers of French prose, he employed a strictly limited vocabulary, yet harnessed it to an effective narrative form in which traces of epic conventions are evident.
[Jean Dunbabin]
