ABSTRACT
While Odo of Deuil’s account of the Second Crusade is an invaluable source for many aspects of the expedition, it does not actually describe the itinerary of the crusaders through northern France in 1147, with two brief exceptions. First, he wrote that after King Louis had departed with his troops from Saint-Denis, he made “the archbishop of Reims” – that is, Samson – Abbot Suger’s “associate in the administration of the realm” during the king’s absence (in regni cura vobis dedit socium Remensem archiepiscopum). Secondly, that once arrived at Metz, “he found [there] all subject to him voluntarily, as had already been true at Verdun (omnes tamen invenit ex gratia, sicut Vereduno iam fecerat).”1 These statements, occurring within only a few lines of each other, are sufficient to serve as an indication that, after leaving Saint-Denis, the initial march of Louis’s army first led to Reims.2 For the period 8-15 June Luchaire, in his Études sur les actes de Louis VII, described two acts written in Reims.3 (However, the actual dates given may be inaccurate.4)
With regard to the early phases of the crusade, such as the mustering of various forces in diverse towns and cities, the gradual assemblage of those troops in major centers, and their movement eastward until joining up with Louis’s men at Metz or later at Worms, relatively little has been said by historians except for mention of certain magnates from among the lengthy list of leading northern French and English crusade personalities recorded by an anonymous chronicler and published by Auguste Molinier.5
