ABSTRACT
This is part of the introduction of an extended poem, written in Proven<;:al, the first third of which is by William of Tudela, who describes himself as a 'clerk in holy orders'. He was originally from Tudela in Navarre, and the poem covers the period just before and during the Albigensian Crusade,
between 1204 and 1218. He is a generally reliable source, pro-crusader in approach, but with an awareness of the suffering of the victims of the crusade as well.
