ABSTRACT
Fear of the sea and the physical risks associated with sea travel constituted a medieval norm evident in both Christian and Muslim societies.4 And, if Joinville’s account of Louis’s rst crusade is anything to go by, there was good reason to be wary of taking to the seas. Among the incidents he reported was the wrecking of a damaged ship on the outward voyage with the loss of nearly everyone on board, two instances of ships being set adri and eets broken up by storms or violent winds, the drowning of one of his knights during the disembarkation of the crusaders o the coast of Egypt, a storm in the harbor of Damietta in which 140 ships were broken up and all the crew on board drowned, and the grounding of the king’s ship o Cyprus during the return voyage to France, in the aermath of which the damaged ship was caught in winds so strong that it took ve anchors to prevent it being thrown onto land.5 e last of these episodes is the most
H. Pryor, “e Naval Architecture of Crusader Transport Ships: a Reconstruction of some Archetypes for Round-Hulled Sailing Ships,” Mariner’s Mirror 70 (1984), Part I, 171-219, Part II, 275-92, Part III, 363-86; John H. Pryor, “e Naval Architecture of Crusader Transport Ships and Horse Transports Revisited,” Mariner’s Mirror 76 (1990), 255-73. One potential spiritual danger faced by crusaders at sea has been raised by Alfred J. Andrea, “e Relationship of Sea Travelers and Excommunicated Captains under irteenth Century Canon Law,” Mariner’s Mirror 68 (1982), 203-9. And, in a study published soon aer the initial version of this paper was presented, the signicance of time spent at sea in John of Joinville’s depiction of Louis IX’s kingship and sanctity has been considered by Huguette Legros, “Nostre roy saint Looÿs au peril de la mer dans la Vie de saint Louis de Joinville,” in Mondes Marins du moyen-âge: actes du 30e colloque du CUER MA, 3, 4 et 5 mars 2005, ed. Chantal Connichie-Bourgne (Aix-en-Provence, 2006), pp. 285-95.
