ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the range of sources to be considered in this study, and describes the problems and possibilities associated with their use. The Vie de Saint Louis aside, the range of sources used can be divided into two broad groups. The first consists of those sources that in general do not describe or relate to contemporary events but refer rather to crusades of the fictionalized or imagined past (chansons de geste) or to crusade projects in the future in which potential crusaders might participate (sermons, songs and exhortatory poems). The second broad category of sources is those that do describe the events of crusades of the thirteenth century. These are narrative accounts, including those of letter-writing participants and chroniclers who recorded the course of crusades from a distance, and sources that relate to the conduct of these campaigns and the careers of those who took part in them.
