MORE INFORMATION ON THE CITY OF ALSIS
AND THE DATING OF THE VIE DE SAINT ALEXIS

Maurizio Perugi

► To cite this version:

Maurizio Perugi. MORE INFORMATION ON THE CITY OF ALSIS AND THE DATING OF THE VIE DE SAINT ALEXIS. 2023. hal-04706988

HAL Id: hal-04706988

https://hal.science/hal-04706988v1

Submitted on 24 Sep 2024

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access
archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci-
entific research documents, whether they are pub-
lished or not. The documents may come from
teaching and research institutions in France or
abroad, or from public or private research centers.

L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est
destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents
scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non,
émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de
recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires
publics ou privés.

Public Domain
MORE INFORMATION ON THE CITY OF ALSIS
AND THE DATING OF THE VIE DE SAINT ALEXIS

by Maurizio Perugi, Université de Genève

ABSTRACT: Sīs was a fairly well-known locality on the line of fortresses built by the Byzantines to protect themselves against Arab invasions. But unexpectedly Sīs disappears from history during the 11th century only to return to prominence in the 1080s, when it became the capital of a newly reconstituted kingdom, Lesser Armenia, as well as the site where Barbarossa's heart was (supposedly) buried. And yet, the first mention of *Alsis* in a Latin Rhythm is dated to shortly after 1098; one can go down at most to 1012/1014, the date of an earthquake on which nevertheless we can hardly rely, for it may well have been another city with a similar name (*Msis*). In the present paper we want to return to this issue, which, as we have said many a time, cannot yet be deemed satisfactorily solved.

1. Towards the end of 1097, accompanied by one hundred knights and two hundred archers, Tancred arrived in Tarsus three days before Baldwin of Boulogne: «per valles *Buotentrot* [= *Podandos*]<fnref n="1" /> superatis rupibus, per portam quae vocatur *Judas* [= Κιλικίαι Πύλαι], ad civitatem quae dicitur *Tharsis*, vulgari nomine *Tursolt*, descendit»<fnref n="2" />. As a toponym, Tursolt appears several times in crusade chroniclers, including Matthew of Edessa with regard to a certain Bernardus Extraneus, who made law in the town of Longiniach (*Longiniada*) not far from Tursolt<fnref n="3" />. Raymond d'Aguilers also mentions the town of Tursolt<fnref n="4" />, which the Byzantine general *Τατίκιος* yielded to Bohemond along with Mamistra and Adana.

To appreciate the importance of *Tursolt*, i.e. Tarsus (Ar. *Tarsūs*), you just need have a glance at the RHC Index, vol. 15, s.v. *Sis*, *Sisia*<fnref n="5" />. The variant *Torsot* appears in William of Tyre's *Continuation*; *Torsolt* (var. *Tarsot* or *Tursot*) is found in the *Chanson d'Antioche*<fnref n="6" /> and in Orderic Vital<fnref n="7" />. Wilbrand of Oldenburg describes the splendor of Tarsus, the apostle Paul's birthplace<fnref n="8" />: «Abhinc [sc. a *Mamistere*]<fnref n="9" /> transeuntes *Cumbetefort*, ubi domus est et mansio bona

<footnote n="1">¹ The multiple variants of this toponym are listed by Beckmann (2023:16): «Here we can explain the *p*- > *b*- shift from the Gk., mainly from its sandhi forms».</footnote>

<footnote n="2">² Albertus Aquensis, RHC, *Hist. occ.*, t. 4, p. 342.</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³ Arbellot 1881:60.</footnote>

<footnote n="4">⁴ «On a pour cette même ville (à tort parfois identifiée à Turbessel) des leçons *Tursolt* et *Trousot*» (Richard 1971).</footnote>

<footnote n="5">⁵ «L'ancienne *Flavias*, capitale de la Cilicie, sous les rois roupéniens, siège épiscopal; *Tarse*, *Tarsus*, métropole de la première Cilicie; en arabe, *Tarsous* ou *Tersous*, qui est resté le nom moderne de cette ville; *Torsot*, *Trousot* ou *Tursolt*, au moyen âge. Érigée en archevêché par les croisés et en même temps évêché arménien; siège de l'administration centrale de la douane arménienne».</footnote>

<footnote n="6">⁶ See v. 2257-8: «Le val de Botentrot en sont outre passé, / desi que a Torsolt n'i a nul aresté».</footnote>

<footnote n="7">⁷ Beckmann 2023:10.</footnote>

<footnote n="8">⁸ Laurent 1873:176 (cap. I, § 19). Cf. Pringle 2012:125. Wilbrand was a canon of Hildesheim, where he became prior in 1218. In 1212, the Patriarch of Jerusalem granted him permission to visit the Holy City. His pilgrimage was coupled with a diplomatic mission (1211-1212) to King Levon I on behalf of Emperor Oton IV.</footnote>

<footnote n="9">⁹ «Dans le texte imprimé il y a *Manistere*, fausse leçon pour *Mamistere*; c'est *Mopsueste*» (Dulaurier 1862:87). In ancient documents, the town appears under the names *Μοψουεστία*, *Mamistra*, *Mopsuestria*, *Massisah*, *al-Maşşīşa*, *Maşīştā*, *Malmistra*; Armenian chroniclers call it *Misis* ou *Mis*; its Turkish name is *Yakapınar*.</footnote>
hospitalis Alemannorum<fnref n="10" />, venimus *Tursolt*». In the cathedral dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Sophia, he could admire «quandam statuam, cui imago domine nostre angelicis manibus est depicta»<fnref n="11" />.

Considering the equivalence *ou* = *u*, the occurrences of this toponym can be divided into two groups according to the final syllable, which is sometimes -olt (*Toursolt*, *Tursolt*) and sometimes -ot (*Tursot*, *Torsot*, *Tarsot*). Final -ot, as an alternative to -olt > -out, can be explained by analogy with the suffix that characterizes many Norman toponyms<fnref n="12" />. As for the first syllable, Vincent de Beauvais’s *Trousot* metathesis sheds more light on the *Troholt* form in v. 585 of the ms. S (VSA)<fnref n="13" />. *Troholt* is therefore no more than a variant of *Tursolt*, i.e. «*Tharsis*, vulgari nomine *Tursolt*» (Albert of Aix).

The reading of Ma and Mb is quite different: in these mss., the place to which Alexis wanted to go by sea is called *Corsant*. Like *Troholt*, this new name replaces *Tarson*, which appears in v. 193 of VSA. We recognize in *Corsant* the toponym *Corrozana*. Khurāsān was a province of medieval Persia inhabited by the Seljuk Turks, but this name is mostly used to designate «an imagined, idealized, and projected place». As Alan Murray (1995) has shown, it can also refer to Chorozaim, the birthplace of the Antichrist according to Pseudo-Methodius, as well as Chorazin mentioned by Matth. 11:21 and Luke 10:13¹⁴. «In the majority of Latin Crusade texts, the pagan homeland is known by the name of *Coroscane* [-sç-]. This is also the name given to the mythical origin of pagan races in the *chansons de geste*»<fnref n="15" />.

In the *Gesta Francorum*, this toponym is found ten times under the form *Corosanus / Corrozana*. The «semi-mythical Coroscane» is also mentioned by Étienne de Blois in one of his letters, as well as by Bertulphe de Nangis: they call it *Corothaniam* and *Corotamiam* respectively<fnref n="16" />. And when Bohemond was in captivity, Matthew of Edessa relates that the Lombards threatened to march on Corrozan to rescue him, even at the cost of ruining the entire city of *Baldach* (Baghdad)<fnref n="17" />.

It is worth remembering that Alexis, on his journey to the East, passed through two stops on his way to Tarsus: the port of Laodicea (v. 81: «Dreit a Lalice, ço fut citét mult bele») and the city of Alsis (v. 86: «D’iloc alat an Alsis la ciptét»). In v. 81, the etymology of the first

<footnote n="10">¹⁰ «Cumbetefort (in territorio Meloni, i.e. of Mlun, Ar.: al-Mallun) were, according to Wilbrand of Oldenburg, in ca. 1212 in the possession of the Teutonic Order» (Bosworth 1991:VI, 779).</footnote>

<footnote n="11">¹¹ «Sicut enim multi et omnes videre consueverunt, hec imago, dum aliquod grave periculum illi terre imminet, coram omnibus et magna quantitate solet lacrimari». *Lalice* is also home to an image *αχειροποίητη* of the Virgin Mary (Rythm, v. 111; VSA, st. 18; P § 2).</footnote>

<footnote n="12">¹² «The handling of -ó (...) is the same as in an example that was important in the First Crusade: Κιβωτόν (acc. in Anna Komnene) > *Civitot/Civetot/Chevetot* (Fulcher, Ordericus Vitalis, Chanson d'Antioche, William of Tyre and others), although the many Norman place names ending in -tot such as *Yvetot* and similar (< Old Norse *toft*, but always *-tot* in 11th century Norman, Nègre 1990–1998, no. 18295–18349) exerted some attraction» (Beckman, 2023:10).</footnote>

<footnote n="13">¹³ I checked the text on a reproduction of *Speculum historiale Vincentii*. Vincentius Bellovacensis Impensisq[ue] no[n] mediocrib[us] et cura solertissima Herma[n]ni Liechtenstein Coloniensis, Venetiae, 1494, c. 420b «de Trousot perrexit ad curiam romanam».</footnote>

<footnote n="14">¹⁴ «Ce qui expliquerait que ce soit le pays ‘païen’ par excellence» (Richard 1971).</footnote>

<footnote n="15">¹⁵ Parsons 2015:228-9.</footnote>

<footnote n="16">¹⁶ «Names and specifics are the same or clearly related, even down to the unusual *t* in the conventional *Coroscane*» (Parsons 2018:12).</footnote>

<footnote n="17">¹⁷ Raymond also uses the variant *Corrozana*, referring to those «qui ambulaverunt in Corrozanam ut deum Turcorum adorarent» (Parsons 2015:230).</footnote>
toponym is *Laodicia* > *La(u)lice* > *Lalice*<fnref n="18" />, with separation of *La-* interpreted as an article, that which explains the division *la lice* APMa : *le lice* SMb. In v. 71 of the Rhythm, the two mss respectively give *Liccam A* : *Liceam P*, the latter being closer to the original form, in which *lice* has been relatinized<fnref n="19" />, while *Licca* represents the phase prior to the identification with *Lucca*.

VSA is not the only poem to show such an evolution of the toponym. In v. 1427-9 of *Doon de la Roche*, reference is made to Lalice, of which the emperor of Constantinople has just been deprived. The city is explicitly linked to the Armenians: «Paien et Sarrazin, li cuvert orguillos, / li ont tolu Lalice, les palaiz et les tors, / s'en ont getés Hermins, les gardains pris trestoz»<fnref n="20" />.

In yet another poem<fnref n="21" />, the mention of *Lalische* refers to Laodicea in Asia Minor, and is linked to the first two crusades. The toponym is replaced by *as lices* in ms. A («Au tornoi que estoit as lices»). The city of *Terse* (A 7282), meaning Tarsus, taken by Tancredi and Baldwin, is cited in ms. S (v. 4379). If ms. C gives *Serse*, we find *Pisa* in ms. P, whereas A omits the whole passage. At first glance, it looks like an extract from a survey of the toponymy of VSA: we recognize *Lalice* and *Tarson*, two major stages in Alexis's itinerary; we see an allusion to the most recent version of the legend, where the protagonist, passing through *Licca*, arrives as far as *Pisa*<fnref n="22" />.

And yet this is not the case, for in this context, the capitals A and P do not designate any VSA mss.: rather, they indicate the two mss. representing the long version of the *Roman de Thèbes*, of which the ms. S provides the oldest state; C, on the other hand, is the best exponent of the short version. A further link with Alexian toponymy can be found in the enumeration of Adraste's troops, where the long version mentions *Et cil d'Arsonne et d'Arcemie* (A 3252) ~ *Cil de Carsone et d'Athenies* (P). As M. Petit notes: «Si *Arsonne* pourrait être le nom d'une rivière de Gaule appelée *Arsen* ou *Arsis* dans *Girart de Roussillon* (...), il est délicat de localiser l'*Arcemie*». It is rather *Arsen* that should be connected to *Arcemie*, while in (*C*)*arsonne* we can discern a variant of Corsant produced by dissimilation<fnref n="23" />.

While it is true that several proper nouns having disappeared from ms. A relate to 'recent' historical events in the middle of the 12th century, in particular the First Crusade, the memory of which is fading away<fnref n="24" />, nonetheless the scribe has preserved a fragment of the history of this crusade, spanning from *Rohais*, *Lalice* and *Tarson* to *Pisa*, as well as a geographical perspective that now opens up towards localities in a distant, imaginary East ; the

<footnote n="18">¹⁸ A clue to this toponym can be found in the *Chanson de Roland*, see Beckmann 2023 :149, note 303.</footnote>

<footnote n="19">¹⁹ The -e- corresponds to a yod, so it would not affect the syllable count. In vv. 93 and 103, both mss. agree on *Licca(m)*.</footnote>

<footnote n="20">²⁰ Éds Meyer/Huet 1921. The single ms. reads *lice*. This passage had been mentioned by Macler 1917 :12.</footnote>

<footnote n="21">²¹ I need not go into the much-debated issue of this toponym in the *Pèlerinage Charlemagne*.</footnote>

<footnote n="22">²² «En revanche, pour un passage absent de la version courte, A et P ont conservé *Rohés* [A 7960 : *Rohais*], c'est-à-dire Édesse, ville de la Mésopotamie orientale, qui fut pendant la première moitié du XIIe siècle la capitale d'une principauté chrétienne fondée par le frère de Godefroi de Bouillon. Le rédacteur de A reprend ce toponyme (v. 11912) pour désigner le royaume de Jonas lors du procès de Daire le Roux» (Petit 2013 :611-2).</footnote>

<footnote n="23">²³ «*Corsout d'Averse* Païen. Corsout 1323 (ms. *corsôt*), Corsout 1287 (ms. *corson*)» : Salberg, *Index*, p. 25. See ibid., *Texte*, v. 1287 and 1323.</footnote>

<footnote n="24">²⁴ Petit 2013.</footnote>
same East that we glimpse in the *chanson d'Aliscans* thanks to the mention of *Corsout d'Averse*<sup>25</sup>, inasmuch as *Avers* designates a pagan people in the *Chanson de Roland*, and we find in *Aliscans* a Saracen king named *Butor d'Averse*:<sup>26</sup> indeed, «the *Avers* are the *Avars*»<sup>27</sup>.

Thus, the *Roman de Thèbes*, which dates from around 1150, shows a panoply of toponyms quite comparable to those found in VSA. It is worth noting that the version marked by *Alsis* must, in our opinion, be later than the fall of Edessa (1144). It should also be pointed out that in the most recent version of the *Roman de Thèbes*, the name of this city is likewise subject to a sort of censorship. And the language of the *Roman de Thèbes* bears many points of contact with that of VSA<sup>28</sup>.

2. Before turning again to the problem of dating VSA, it is worth recalling a few historical facts. At the end of the 11th century, the territories occupied by the Armenians overlapped almost perfectly with the geographical framework of the Alexis legend<sup>29</sup>, centered on the cities of Laodicea, Edessa, Tarsus, and Sīs. It was in the land of the Armenians, with their active support, that the county of Edessa - the first Christian state overseas - was established. As for the capital of the Armenian kingdom, however, «Sis zur offiziellen Hauptstadt infolge eines langsamen und nicht kurzen Prozesses wurde, auf Grund der Tatsache, dass Sie mit der Zeit zur Hauptresidenz des Königs geworden war»<sup>30</sup>.

After 962, for around 150 years, «the history of Sis lies in obscurity»<sup>31</sup>. «The early history of Sis remains something of a mystery. This Byzantine fortress is known to have been captured by the Armenian Thoros I (1100-1129) at the beginning of the XIIth century»<sup>32</sup>. And yet, «more than any other Armenian leader T'oros I is associated with a prolonged residence at Anavarza. His successors temporarily lost the site»<sup>33</sup>.

In the 12th century, during the early days of Cilician Armenia, Sīs was still of little importance: Samuel of Ani and Matthew of Edessa, the two main historians of the time, ignore it completely. It is true that Sīs is mentioned in 1114, on the occasion of an earthquake in which “an innumerable multitude of inhabitants perished”, according to Matthew’s editio princeps and Dulaurier’s translation, but this is, it seems, a misreading of a manuscript, the 1898 edition having corrected to Misis [Mopsueste, Mamistra], on the Pyramos. Confusion between these two close-sounding cities is common<sup>34</sup>.

In any case, on the basis of the meagre information available, and despite the long silence of historical documents on the subject of Sīs, it was precisely in the years 1113-1114 that, thanks to T'oros I, the foundations were first laid for what was to become a solid Armenian state.

<footnote n="25"><sup>25</sup> Régnier 1990, t. 1 :103, v. 2063 ; t. 2 :168, v. 4383.</footnote>

<footnote n="26"><sup>26</sup> See Petit 2013.</footnote>

<footnote n="27"><sup>27</sup> Beckmann 2023 :89, which rightly assumes a crossbreed «with the adjective *avers* ‘hostile’, ‘repugnant’».</footnote>

<footnote n="28"><sup>28</sup> See my paper published in 2004.</footnote>

<footnote n="29"><sup>29</sup> «The principality he [sc. Philaretos, a former Byzantine general] established in Syria and Cilicia covered roughly the same area as the later Frankish territories of Antioch and Edessa» (McEvitt 2008 :41).</footnote>

<footnote n="30"><sup>30</sup> Zekiyan 2000 :233.</footnote>

<footnote n="31"><sup>31</sup> Edwards 1987 :234.</footnote>

<footnote n="32"><sup>32</sup> Boulanger 1960 :400.</footnote>

<footnote n="33"><sup>33</sup> Edwards 1987 :36.</footnote>

<footnote n="34"><sup>34</sup> Mutafian 2012 :609.</footnote>
In 1137, John Comnenus occupied Cilicia, taking Levon I prisoner with his wife and two sons, Rupen and Tʻoros. Consequently, in the spring of 1138, Cilician Armenia ceased to exist. Levon died in captivity, while Tʻoros, disguised as a beggar, managed to escape; he later rejoined his compatriots and reclaimed the land of his ancestors. Since then, the Rupenians have remained the definitive masters of the upper Cilician region, and Manuel Comnenus, son of John, left possession to Tʻoros (1143), not without granting him the title of sebast and, later, that of pansebast; Comnenus considered himself satisfied with remaining the official suzerain.

Later, «for military (and consequently political) reasons, the proximity of Sis to the mountains made it a more attractive administrative center<fnref n="35" />; it began to rival Anavarza by the late 1170s as the principal site of Rubenid Cilicia. There is probably no precise date for the official transfer of “the capital” to Sis from Anavarza, but it certainly occurred between 1180 and the 1190s»<fnref n="36" />. Thus, it was only after 1180 that Sīs began to be considered the capital of Lesser Armenia<fnref n="37" />, and in the following century it became the seat of the Catholicissate<fnref n="38" />. In general, it was in the 13th and 14th centuries that Sīs achieved its greatest splendor.

The major problem with Alsis's mention in the Rhythm, is that it is hardly compatible with the existing historical data. The reference to an earthquake in 1114 is completely isolated, and its reliability is called into question by a possible confusion with *Msis*. To justify a prominent mention in an ecclesiastical poem, we need to go down at least as far as 1144, the year of the fall of Edessa. Finally, it is only in the decade 1170-1180 that it is possible to speak of Sīs as the capital of Little Armenia, and later, as the legendary tomb of Barbarossa.

The problem of harmonizing the chronology of the Rhythm with the historical documentation available for Sīs is closely related to the other issue of determining, if possible, whether the Rhythm was written before or after the vernacular poem. An article by Bischoff, of which a two-page summary has survived<fnref n="39" />, tried to justify something that is in itself quite plausible: in the words of the Latin poet, the names *Alexis*, *Licca*, *Alsis* indicate a dependence on a vernacular source.

Whether this source is VSA remains to be proven. Rather, the author must have drawn on one of the Latin lives circulating at the time: more precisely, the one we have endeavoured to reconstruct, using the shorthand Sy, from the version available in two mss. Admittedly, this is a late version, but we know that the transmission of hagiographic texts is characterized by great conservatism, with updates mainly restricted to toponyms and personal names. In this

<footnote n="35">³⁵ «Because of the security they provided, the mountains and not the plain became the heart of the Armenian kingdom. This explains why the royal capital was moved from Anavarza to Sis at the foot of the Taurus Mountains and why the kingdom functioned for over a hundred years after its capital was sacked by the Mamluks. The king and his court simply moved into the mountain strongholds» (Edwards 1987:46).</footnote>

<footnote n="36">³⁶ Edwards 1987: 234; «Baron Levon II probably transferred the Rubenid capital from Anavarza to Sis by the mid-1190s.» (ibid. :36).</footnote>

<footnote n="37">³⁷ «T'oros frappait des monnaies en arménien – une nouveauté –, affirmant ainsi de manière spectaculaire les visées indépendantistes des Roubénides» (Mutafian 2012:65).</footnote>

<footnote n="38">³⁸ It was not until 1292 that the *kat'olikos* succeeded in establishing its seat at Sīs; this situation remained stable until 1441, when Ējmiacin once again became the seat of the Catholicissate, which it still is today.</footnote>

<footnote n="39">³⁹ See Rychner 1972, note 10 : «Bernard Bischoff remarquait d'ailleurs que les noms de lieux *Licca* et *Alsis* prouvaient que le *Pater Deus* avait été composé d'après la *Vie française*. Rychner refers to *Die lateinische Umwelt der ältesten französischen Dichtungen*, «Sitzungsberichte» der Bayrischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-Hist. Klasse 12 (1957), 12-13.</footnote>
case, given the number of correspondences and repetitions, often at face value, the solidarity between Sy and Rythm cannot be doubted<fnref n="40" />.

The city of Alsis appears in the documents in a variety of forms: Σίδιον, *Sisium*, *Sīs*, *Sīsiya*, *Sūsana*, *Assissium*, *Oussis*<fnref n="41" />. In Jean Dardel's *Chronicle*, which is included in t. II of the RHC devoted to Armenian Documents, the name of the city of Sīs is several times spelled *Oussis*, e.g. in chapt. XL, where the author records the death «en la ville d'Oussis» of the «tres noble baron messire Jehan de Lisegnan, prince et connestable d'Armenye» (August 17, 1344).

Mentioned by Rohlfs in his edition of the Life of Saint Alexis, the identification of Sīs goes back to the orientalist historian Franz Babinger. In fact, the simple name Alsis covers a much more complex reality. *Alsis* is no isolated variant. It is shared by a number of mss. that convey the text of VSA. The spellings, however, are discrepant: in particular, in the oldest exemplar the name is *Arsis*, with the unique exception of *Tarsis*. No editor, including myself, and - more intriguingly - no reviewer has so far discussed this variant, which evidently would not be serious to regard as an error. For the sake of clarity, let's recall the names of the three stages in VSA that punctuate Alexis's journey<fnref n="42" />:

<table><thead><tr><th>Rythm</th><th>licea / licca</th><th>alsis</th><th>tharsis</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>A</td><td>la lice</td><td>arsis / tarsis</td><td>ters &lt;un&gt;</td></tr><tr><td>L</td><td>lalice</td><td>alsis</td><td>tarson</td></tr><tr><td>P</td><td>la lice</td><td>axis / auxis</td><td>roume</td></tr><tr><td>S</td><td>le lice</td><td>ausis / aussis</td><td>troholt</td></tr><tr><td>Ma</td><td>la lice</td><td>alis</td><td> corsant</td></tr><tr><td>Mb</td><td>le lice</td><td>assix / ausis</td><td> corsant</td></tr></tbody></table>

In short, the mss. P and Mb agree in writing *axis* or *assix* six times, and *auxis* or *aussi(s)* four times: as *l* is a solar consonant (*šamsiyyah*), the former variant shows assimilation of the Arabic article *al-*, while the latter exhibits an etymological redundancy, that's to say, it recalls the presence of the original *-l-*, which in langue d'oïl is necessarily velarized (of course, this diphthong *au-* corresponds to *o-* / *ou-* in phonic spelling); *aus(s)i(s)* is also the form adopted by ms. S. Compared with all these more or less phonic forms, *alsis* in Rythm and ms. L is an etymological, and therefore learned, spelling<fnref n="43" />; moreover, it is the only non-opaque reading, insofar as the name Sīs is perfectly discernible.

The forms *Ausis* ~ *Alsis* undeniably refer to an Armenian city well known from historical and literary sources, which place it in Cilicia, i.e. in Lesser Armenia. The same applies to *Troholt*, which in the same region refers - as we have seen - to the city of Tarsus. These toponyms belong to a sort of *lingua franca* that is as easily understood by crusaders as by other ethnic groups, including Armenians: in fact, they are normally used by chroniclers.

<footnote n="40">⁴⁰ In particular, the toponym *Licca* has a predecessor: *Lalice*; and a substitute in Italian versions: *Lucca*. «Some other innovative details, such as Alexius’ sojourn in Pisa and Lucca, suggest an Italian provenance, but the text did circulate mainly in Austria and Southern Germany» (Engels 1999:375).</footnote>

<footnote n="41">⁴¹ Vandekerckhove 2014:311. «In Armenian and Syriac chronicles this site is simply called *Sis* (...). The Arabs refer to this settlement as *Sīs, Hîşn Sīsiya*, and *Sīsa*» (Edwards 1987:233, note 3).</footnote>

<footnote n="42">⁴² See the strophes 18, 19, 23, 32, 77.</footnote>

<footnote n="43">⁴³ We can assume that *Alis* also comes from *Lalis* by deduction of what has been misread as an article.</footnote>
As for the variant *arsis* (ms. A), the chronicles of Matthew of Edessa and Ghevont allude to Lake Van, a salty lake of volcanic origin<fnref n="44" />: the Armenians also call it the Sea of Vaspurakan, and the foreigners Lake Arsis, which corresponds to the Latin *palus Arsissa* in the geographer Tolomeus<fnref n="45" />. On the shores of the lake lies the town of *Arjîs* or *Darziz* (*Arziu* in Latin, *Arciri* or *Arziri* in Italian documents), mentioned by Marco Polo<fnref n="46" />.

The province of Vaspurakan was part of historic Armenia. In 908, it became an independent kingdom officially recognized by the Arabs<fnref n="47" />, which lasted almost 114 years, until the abdication of the last king, Senekʻerim Yovhannēs, in favor of the Byzantine emperor Basil II (1021/1022)<fnref n="48" />.

The city of Arčēš<fnref n="49" /> had already become renowned during the reign of the ‘Abbāsid caliph Manșūr: Hamazasp, Sahak, and Gagik Arçruni, the sons of Vahan Arçruni, fought there in 775 against caliphal troops, and the historian Łewond presents Gagik’s son, also named Hamazasp, as the military leader of the Armenian forces. The battle resulted in the defeat of the Armenian troops<fnref n="50" />. Throughout the 8th century, Armenian princes had tried to form a common front against Arab occupation; but after the disastrous battles of Arčēš and Bagrewand, the Armenian resistance force collapsed<fnref n="51" />.

However the principality, then kingdom, of Vaspurakan played a considerable role in Armenia from the 9th to the 11th century. The Arçruni dynasty had patiently extended its boundaries. It had to defend itself against Arab dynasts, always ready to plunder its lands in the name of the Caliphate, but also against Armenian Bagratid princes and other local competitors<fnref n="52" />. According to Constantine Porphyrogenetus<fnref n="53" />, this Arab emirate under the ruler of Armenia included the following towns on the northern shores of Lake Van:

Bargerī (Arm. Berkri; Gr. τὸ Περκρί);
Ḥlaṭ ~ Aḥlāṭ ~ Ḥilāṭ (Arm. Xlatʻ; Gr. τὸ Χλιάτ);
Arğiš (Arm. Arčēš; Gr. τὸ Ἀρζές).

<footnote n="44">⁴⁴ It is «le même que les géographes grecs appellent lac d'Arsène, d'Arsissa ou de Thopitis (Strabon, *Géogr*. liv. XI, ch. 14, p. 453. Ptolémée, liv. V. ch. 13)» (Catina 1867). This name also applied to Mușașir's country and the town by the lake.</footnote>

<footnote n="45">⁴⁵ The phonetic evolution is the same as in *Massisah* > *Masīs*.</footnote>

<footnote n="46">⁴⁶ The identification of Arčēš (Αρτζεσίου, Turk. Erçiş) «ne fait aucun doute. Cette ancienne cité, avec sa forteresse, ses églises et mosquées en ruines, est maintenant, en raison de la montée des eaux du lac de Van, située sur une petite île plate» (Thierry 1976 :164).</footnote>

<footnote n="47">⁴⁷ «Le roi arménien demeure tributaire du califat et devient un État tampon entre le califat et l'Empire byzantin, dont les rapports de force sont alors équilibrés, mais reste sous la dépendance effective du représentant du calife dans la région» (Augé, § 16).</footnote>

<footnote n="48">⁴⁸ See Zahtérian, s.d.</footnote>

<footnote n="49">⁴⁹ As for the name of the city, see Λεβενιώτης 2007 :90, note 421, relating to Arcn (ελλ. Ἀρτζε) : «Η πόλη δεν θα πρέπει να συγχέεται με την παλαιά στρατηγίδα του Ερκνή (Arkni/Argana/Argina/Ergani), που βρισκόταν ανάμεσα στην Ρωμανούπολη και την Ἀμιδα, στα ανατολικά του Ευφράτη, ούτε με το Arckē (ελλ. Αρτζικέ) και το Αρτζέσιον (Arčēš/Arğîš/Erceş) στην λίμνη Βαν».</footnote>

<footnote n="50">⁵⁰ La Porta/Vacca 2024 :xxix, 285, 297. Cf. Heidemann 2020.</footnote>

<footnote n="51">⁵¹ Pétrossian 2010 :19.</footnote>

<footnote n="52">⁵² Thierry 1976 :168.</footnote>

<footnote n="53">⁵³ Moravcsik 1967 :44,11.</footnote>
The city of Manzikert (Manazkert) with the region of Apahunikʻ (gr. Ἀπαχουνής) was also part of the Armenian kingdom, until Abū Sawāda, emir of Manzikert, declared himself a direct vassal of the Byzantine emperor<fnref n="54" />. This region was then part of the province of Armīniya within the ‘Abbāsid caliphate: to exercise his power there, the caliph relied on representatives drawn from the local aristocracy.

The toponym *Arğīš* (Arm. *Arčēš*; Gr. τὸ Ἀρζές) is mentioned nine times in the *Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit Online*<fnref n="55" />. The earliest accounts (last decades of the ninth century) concern Abū’l-Ward and his son ‘Abd al-Ḥamīd, emirs of Manzikert as vassals of the Armenian rulers Ašot I the Great († 890) and Smbat I. In the following century (914-929/930), the king of Armenia was Ἀσωτίκιος<fnref n="56" /> or Ἀσώτιος, i.e. the Armenian monophysite Ašot Erkatʻ of the Bagratid line (Ašot ‘Iron man’): son of King Smbat I and grandson of King Ašot I, he was ἄρχων τῶν ἀρχόντων to the Byzantines. Subsequently, the Qaysid dynasty regained possession of the emirate: Abū’l-Ward II appears as emir of Manzikert as late as 952.

Unable to halt Turkish incursions, in 1021 Senekʻerim Yovhannēs yielded his kingdom to the Byzantines in exchange for estates in the Sebaste region. This decision triggered a major wave of Armenian emigration. Vaspurakan was thus deprived of its national political cadres, that which weakened its defenses against Turkish invasion.

The most recent testimony of the toponym *Arčēš* concerns Nikephoros Komnenos, mentioned as early as 1022 with the title of Κατεπάνος of Vaspurakan<fnref n="57" />. Between 1022 and 1040, Byzantium continued to operate close to the Bagratid kingdom, but without interfering with it. Between 1023 and 1026, Komnenus conquered Arčēš, wresting it from the Muslim emir<fnref n="58" />. He did, however, collude with Giorgi I of Georgia to plot against Constantine VIII, and was captured and blinded for it; nevertheless, the duchy of Vaspurakan, and with it the Byzantine position in the region, were certainly strengthened by Nicephorus' actions<fnref n="59" />.

Indeed, the Byzantine annexation did not merely represent a loss of freedom for the Armenians of Vaspurakan: on the contrary, the inclusion of the former kingdom in the empire's orbit made it the springboard for the expansion of what was, at the time, an undisputed regional power. The newly settled Armenians were able to capitalize on this expansion, by recovering territories, as in the case of Arčēš, or by colonizing new regions where the Armenian presence was a minority: this was the case of Sebastia, where the royal family of Vaspurakan had settled with most of its court<fnref n="60" />.

When the Armenian kingdom of Vaspurakan was annexed by Byzantium in 1021, the imperial Church extended further eastwards, across the former Arçruni land. Six of the new

<footnote n="54">⁵⁴ Moravcsik 1967: 44,39-44.</footnote>

<footnote n="55">⁵⁵ Lilie, Ralph-Johannes (*et al.*), W. de Gruyter, 2013.</footnote>

<footnote n="56">⁵⁶ «Konst. Porph., DAI 43,112, sicherlich nach arm.: Ašotikʻ [der kleine Ašot bzw. Ašot der Jüngere]» (Moravcsik 1967).</footnote>

<footnote n="57">⁵⁷ Cheynet 2019:49.</footnote>

<footnote n="58">⁵⁸ The historian Aristakēs Lastivertcʻi attributes the reconquest of the city to him, which is confirmed by Yaḥyā, who dates it to the year 1024/1025 (Augé 2024 :§ 18; Λεβενιώτης 2007 :143).</footnote>

<footnote n="59">⁵⁹ «È significativo a questo riguardo che Aristakēs Lastivercʻi, il quale non risparmia la sua condanna ai bizantini per le loro azioni contro il regno di Ani e per il loro calcedonismo, consideri Niceforo “un uomo degno di un buon ricordo, poiché aveva portato Arčēš in mano romana”» (Alpi 2014:78).</footnote>

<footnote n="60">⁶⁰ Alpi 2014:78-79; Dédéyan 1975:64-68.</footnote>
sees established at that time bore the names of existing religious institutions: Hagios Nikolaos, Theotokos, Hagios Georgios, Hagios Elissaios and Theotokos Sedrak. The first of these, Hagios Nikolaos, is further identified as being in Artesion, the city of Arčēš, on the northern shore of lake Van<fnref n="61" />.

Grigor Magistros was appointed Duke of Mesopotamia by the Byzantine Emperor, who had annexed Ani in 1045, thus putting an end to Armenian independence<fnref n="62" />. This is how he is referred to in Armenian historiographical sources, mainly the chronicles of Aristakēs Lastivertcʻi and Vardan the Oriental. The most complete title is that provided in a letter he addresses to Gagik II, Bagratid king of Ani, in which he introduces himself as “Lord of Vaspurakan, Tarawn, Manazkert, Arčēš and Berkri and Mesopotamia, Magistros of Monomachus, Vestarch and Duke”. He was at the head of a territory, similar to a march, which, for the Byzantines, was intended to prevent Turkish invasion of the Empire’s southern gateways.

Once firmly established in Baghdad in 1055, the Seljuk Turks, under the command of Alp Arslān (r. 1063-1072), created a military sultanate ruling Iran, Iraq and northern Syria. They found themselves in conflict with the Fāṭimids to the south and the Roman Empire to the west, the latter presenting a particularly attractive target, as the rich prairies of Anatolia were very similar to the Turks' ancestral homeland in Central Asia. What is more, Armenia, once one of the empire's main recruiting regions and its eastern defensive buffer, was now defenseless following the Byzantine emperor's dismantling of the thematic army. This set of circumstances could only favor Seljuk adventurism on the empire's eastern frontier.

In the winter of 1070/71, Emperor Romanus IV Diogenes, taking advantage of the Turco-Fāṭimid war, launched a vast expedition to recapture the recently lost fortresses of Arğiš (= Arčēš) and Manzikert<fnref n="63" />. During the battle of Manzikert, Diogenes Romanus committed at least two fatal errors: that of dividing his forces several times, and the other of relying on the initiative of junior officers. The emperor, captured and blinded by his enemies, ended his days in Constantinople in 1073. Meanwhile, Asia Minor opened up to raids and invasions by Turkmen nomads, an erosion of imperial control that was only partially reversed under Emperor Alexis Comnenus (r. 1081-1118).

3. The identification of Tarsis (Tharsis or Tarshish, hebr. תָּרִשִׁיִּש Taršîš) is one of the great enigmas posed by the Bible: Carthage, Tartessus, Ethiopia, the East Indies, Tarsus of Cilicia, or Cilicia itself? In any case, it refers to a trading port in a land rich in gold, silver and other metals. Leaving aside the problems posed by the biblical text, Tarsus of Cilicia is obviously the hypothesis most suited to shed light on our problem. Tharsis, second son of Javan (Gen. 10:4), founded this city and spread the name of Tharsis throughout the province. In the Bible, Taršîš also designates (inter alia) the country to which Solomon sent his fleets.

<footnote n="61">⁶¹ Greenwood 2019:139; Id. 2014:384.</footnote>

<footnote n="62">⁶² The last king of Ani, Gagik II (1041-1045), was taken by treason to Constantinople, captured and forced to abdicate (Pétrossian 2010:31).</footnote>

<footnote n="63">⁶³ «The eleventh-century Armenian historian Aristakes de Lastivert speaks of a “countless host” (...), following Romanus to the eastern frontier. Islamic sources mention 200,000-600,000 men, while Matthew of Edessa speaks of an army more numerous than the sands of the sea (...). Exaggerations aside, it was undeniably a large army» (D’Amato/Cline 2013).</footnote>
The identification of *Taršîš* with the city of Tarsus in Cilicia, already proposed by Flavius Josephus and by Rhétice d'Autun, has recently been taken up by G. Garbini and G.W. Ahlström, as well as by A. van der Kooij<fnref n="64" />. In any case, «le mot est utilisé dans la Bible comme un synonyme de navigation lointaine, la Septante par exemple se refusant à l'interpréter»<fnref n="65" />.

As before stated, *Tharsis* (indeclinable, of course) is attested once in ms. A in substitution for *Arsis*. It is just the form that appears in Rhythm, v. 141 (corresponding to Sy § 45 *Tharsum*). Ideally, *Tharsis* in the Latin poem could also refer to an unspecified place, but this is made unlikely by the very precise definition in the Roman Lives: «volebat ire in Tharsum Ciliciae<fnref n="66" />, (...) in templo sancti Pauli» (A e C), «Vadam in Ciliciae fines ad egregium Paulum apostolum, qui est in finibus Tharsis» (Ct)<fnref n="67" />. This is one of many clues pointing to a change in the Latin source used in VSA.

For his part, ms. A distinguishes between (*t*)*arsis* and *tersun* ‘Tarsus’<fnref n="68" />. According to the most plausible hypothesis, it was the scribe who, for once, intended to clarify the form *arsis*, used four times already, with a word whose meaning was either Tarsus, or rather a locality on the far edge of the world.

Thus, in the manuscript tradition of VSA, where three toponyms mark the route of Alexis, the last one is ambiguous. Apart from the unique case of *Roume* (ms. P), the tradition has opted for a bipartite interpretation: on the one hand, Rythm and ms. L, united both by the mention of *Alsis* and by the location of Tarsus in Cilicia, regardless of whether the name of the city is spelled *Tharsis*, *Ters*<un<fnref n="69" />> or *Tarson*; on the other hand, the more recent and certainly unequivocal versions, which bear *Troholt* or *Corsant*.

Whatever the correct identification, *tarsis* as a substitute for *arsis* can only allude to a locality «in extremis locis»<fnref n="70" />. On the basis of several pointers, we can reasonably formulate the hypothesis that, in the ms. A, *Arsis* refers to a city whose historical past has now become something unknown to the Anglo-Norman copyist<fnref n="71" />, who, at a certain point, feels the need to specify<fnref n="72" /> that this mysterious name is, in a way, synonymous with *Tharsis*, that most famous biblical locality<fnref n="73" />. The trajectory, as we have seen, is quite comparable to that of the *Roman de Thèbes*.

This hypothesis, if a correct one, opens up a very important slot in the prehistory of Alexis, who in his original peregrination, from Lalice ‘Laodicea’ travels not to Edessa, but to

<footnote n="64">⁶⁴ We refer to Lemaires’ (2000) excellent summary.</footnote>

<footnote n="65">⁶⁵ Baslez 2010 :43, note 46, with reference to Briquel-Chatonnet 2008 :col. 1-8.</footnote>

<footnote n="66">⁶⁶ Cf. Rythm 141-2 «in Tharsis volens oppidum / currere per navigium».</footnote>

<footnote n="67">⁶⁷ Engels 1999 :422.</footnote>

<footnote n="68">⁶⁸ Arab. *Ṭarsūs* ou *Ṭersūs*, Arm. *Suṣuṇū* (*Tarson* ou *Darson*).</footnote>

<footnote n="69">⁶⁹ In fact, *ters* is what can be read in this ms., and *tersun* is not the only possible reconstruction: *terse*, the variant found in the *Roman de Thèbes*, would be equally acceptable.</footnote>

<footnote n="70">⁷⁰ With regard to *Herea*, we recall that ‘Spanish’ Life Md states (§ 6): «est civitas illa in extremis locis». This expression probably reflects an attempt to integrate into a Western cultural framework (with reference to Gog and Magog) a notion specific to Syriac monasticism (*madbrā gawāyā* ‘the inner desert’).</footnote>

<footnote n="71">⁷¹ This ms. was made up in England «peu après 1177»: voir Rachetta 2018 :269 et 293.</footnote>

<footnote n="72">⁷² Similarly, the scribe of ms. P uses the *axis* form four times, but the last time he writes *auxis*, where the assimilation of the Arabic article is (re)introduced through the velarized *l*.</footnote>

<footnote n="73">⁷³ As for the syllable *Ters*-, this could refer either to Tarsun in Cilicia, or to *Terse* ~ *Serge*, an equally mythical place of pilgrimage.</footnote>
Arsis, that is, to a well-known locality that had played a prominent role in the recent history of Greater Armenia. At a definite moment, say around 1144, when a place name such as Arsis is no longer understood in the West, historical events bring another city with a very similar name to the foreground.

4. In the Rhythm, v. 49-50, Euphemian is said to choose as a wife for his son a woman belonging to a noble family: «Natam cuiusdam satrapae / valde cluentem genere». In the life initialed Sy, which we consider as the source of the Rhythm, the woman's father is referred to (§ 17) as an illustrious patrician («Cuiusdam inclyti patricii filiam»); but, a little earlier (§ 8), Euphemian is said to have married the daughter of a satrap («Quam nomine Aglaen cuiusdam Iohannis summi quondam satrapae filiam»), that which corresponds perfectly with v. 49 of the Rhythm.

The title has not, so far, attracted the interest of any of the scholars. However, an important study of the *Constitutum Constantini*, the most famous forgery in the history of papacy, was published by J. Fried in 2007. The author «argues that the forger lacked any intimate knowledge of the Roman Church, but finds a number of references in the text which to him suggest a Frankish origin (...). Finally, he sees the origin of the *Constitutum* in the Pseudo-Isidorian forgers' workshop in the monasteries of St Denis and Corbie around 830/33, or soon thereafter»<fnref n="74" />.

We are concerned here with this book just because of its first appendix, which contains a contribution by Wolfram Brandes on the usage of the term ‘satraps’, supporting Fried’s localisation of the forgery. The issue refers to the application in the *Constitutum Constantini* of the title “satrap” to designate high-ranking officers in the service of the emperor. The term *satrapa* appears three times (lines 119, 158, 282). The first, «coram omnibus satrapibus meis», is glossed in the margin with the term *principibus* in a ms. dated to about the year 1000. The second says: «una cum omnibus nostris satrapibus et universo senatu, optimatibus etiam et cuncto populo Romano». And the third: «vel cunctos optimates, satrapes etiam, amplissimum senatum et universum populum».

In the 8th and 9th centuries the term is known in Persian history from the Achaemenids to the Sassanids; in texts related to Alexander's romance (Curtius Rufus, Aethicus Ister); in several works of Latin historiography: Cornelius Nepot, *De viribus illustribus*, Seneca, Pliny, Aegesippus, all authors known in the 8th and 9th centuries both in Italy and north of the Alps; finally in various commentators on the Old Testament (Ambrose, Origen translated by Rufinus, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory the Great).

«Lorenzo Valla has taken offence to the usage, emphasising the fact that this is unthinkable for the time of Constantine»<fnref n="75" />. It is a fact that until the end of the 10th century the Roman Empire does not know the title “satrap”<fnref n="76" />. The term is used in papal chancery documents. In 741 Pope Zacharias met in Terni with Liutprand: «rex misit duces satrapas suos

<footnote n="74">⁷⁴ Nowak 2008:316-7.</footnote>

<footnote n="75">⁷⁵ Brandes 2007:116, note 7.</footnote>

<footnote n="76">⁷⁶ The only exception concerns the “Armenian satrapies” from the 4th to the 6th century (see Amm. Marc. 25:7,9; Procopius; Cod. Iust.), which were abolished by Justinian in 536, and converted into the province named Armenia IV.</footnote>
pluremque exercitum». In 758, Pope Paul I wrote to King Pepin mentioning Alboinus duke of Spoleto «cum eius satrapibus». Both exemples possess a distinctly negative connotation.

The term appears also in Frankish writers during the 8th and 9th cent., being used with a positive, or even a neutral, connotation, e.g. in the *Vita Lebuini antiqua*, chapt. 4: «Regem antiqui Saxones non habebant, sed per pagos satrapas constitutos». This passage is based on Beda, *Historia eccl. gentis Anglorum*: «Non enim habent regem idem Antiqui Saxones, sed satrapas plurimos suae genti praepositos». Bede uses the same term in his biblical commentaries. The edition of the letters of St. Boniface includes a letter dated between 757 and 786, in which Cynewulf king of Wessex calls himself «rex occidentalium Saxonum una cum episcopis meis nec non cum caterva satrapum». More broadly, in saints' lives from Merovingian- and Carolingian-Age the term *satrapa* (*vel* sim.) was already used fairly frequently from the sixth century onwards, often of course following according passages of the Old Testament.

Brandes' research particularly focuses on documents from the Saxon kingdom (this includes the Anglo-Saxons of England) and the Agilolfingian dynasty of Bavaria at the time of Tassilo III. A charter issued for the Freising monastery, and dated the 29 June 763, is about a donation to the church at Scharnitz made by a certain Reginperht «per consensum inlustrissimi ducis Tassilonis et satrabum eius». Joseph, the bishop of Freising, was present together with «Arbeo, at this time arch-presbyter, though ascending to the bishopric of Freising in the following year (764-783) (...). Obviously, it was he who penned the document. His name appears in the document three times»<fnref n="77" />. Arbeo is referred to in my 2014-edition of VSA as having composed the *Vita* of S. Emmeram, «eines des Regensburger Bistumpatrone», where he mentions repeatedly the “satraps” in the service of the Duke of Bavaria<fnref n="78" />.

For my own part, I would add that the *Prosopographie* records for the year 997 the mention, in the *Vita Niconis*<fnref n="79" />, of *δύο σατράπαι* in the service of the emperor Basileios II: «der veraltete Titel soll sie allgemein als (hohe) kaiserliche Würdenträger kennzeichen». As for the West as a whole, in the 12th century the two opposite connotations coexist. For example, William of Tyre mentions «Cosroe, Persarum satrapa nequissimus [cil deables Cosdroez]»<fnref n="80" />. Orderic Vital, for his part, reports that «Balduinus enim gener Rodberti regis Francorum fortissimus Flandrensium satrapa fuit»<fnref n="81" />.

If we look back to the Alexian Rhythm, transcribed in the *codex Admontensis*, «alors que le dossier versifié d’Alexis n’est pas antérieur à 1146-1147, on rappelle que la date 1098 [est] marquée au f. 255r dans le cadre d’une chronologie universelle»<fnref n="82" />. As we hinted above, v. 4 of the Rhythm takes the formula «cuiusdam satrapae» from the Vita Alexii initialed Sy. The detail provides further strong confirmation of the link connecting Rhythm to Sy, or rather, to Sy’s original, which is probably not later than the 10th century. But as a reminder that this link is not straightforward, a comparison of the two passages where the term appears is enough: in

<footnote n="77">⁷⁷ Brandes 2007:123-4.</footnote>

<footnote n="78">⁷⁸ The sequence *Blasi, Emmerame, Lamperte*, «die als typische ‘Reformgruppe’ bezeichnet wurde», is found in a codex from Hirsau, written at the time of Abbot Otto from Rheinau (1104/5-1124). See my ed. of VSA, 2014:308, 318.</footnote>

<footnote n="79">⁷⁹ BHG 1366.1367, cap. 43, p. 148-50.</footnote>

<footnote n="80">⁸⁰ See Palágy 2015:118.</footnote>

<footnote n="81">⁸¹ Chibnall 1980:IV, 2.</footnote>

<footnote n="82">⁸² My ed. of VSA, 2014:338.</footnote>
Sy it is Aglaes, Euphemian's bride, who is called «summi quondam satrape filia», while in the Rhythm the title («Natam cuiusdam satrapae») is assigned to Alexis' bride.

The precedents brought to light by Brandes imply that Sy's composition is to be located, with highest probability, in Bavaria or at any rate in the Austro-Bavarian region. Thus the framework that emerges shows a manuscript tradition very similar to the well-known one of the *Chanson de Roland*: the core of diffusion is at the center, i.e. in Bavaria, whereas the most archaic manuscript witness is located in the periphery, i.e., in England, and is the bearer of a text in which features of archaism (e.g., Arsis) coexist with typical metrical and lexical innovations. At the same time, at the center, the text has carried on in its process of evolution, adjusting to changes in historical events (e.g. Alsis).

Arsis precedes Alsis, and not the reverse. Linguistically, the shift is perfectly explained as a change, within a learned register, of an ‘opaque’ term to another liable to immediate analysis (and thereby ‘facilior’). In the opposite shift, the change -ls- > -rs- would be inexplicable. Moreover, the historical and political context clearly shows that the prestige acquired by Alsis is subsequent to that which can be credited to Arsis.

In my edition, I have pointed out a number of passages in which the ms. A version appears to be in direct contact with its Latin source, or rather, with what remains of this source in the reworking initialed Sy. In light of the relevance now acquired by the term *satrapa*, other passages suggest Sy’s proximity to the Rhythm. There is no doubt that the new positioning of ms. A as a sort of intermediate link makes it easier to explain the originality of Arsis as opposed to its substitution with Alsis, which occurred much later in tune with changing historical events. It should be added that comparison of the text of ms. A and ms. L reveals on several occasions a change in the use of Latin sources: unlike A, the more recent ms. L draws directly from the so-called Roman Lives.

The available witnesses, most of which are quite recent, do not allow the tableau to be outlined with the desirable neatness. For example, we know that the *Versus de Ioseph*, i.e. the source of the prologue, joins mss. A and L in a common dependence on the Rhythm<fnref n="83" />. Now the appropriateness of situating both the Rhythm, and the ms. L version, after the fall of Edessa, is at odds with the variant *Alsis* which is attested in the Rhythm. However, it should not be forgotten that Sy’s prologue appears drastically renewed, so much so as to be quite unhelpful for comparative purposes, and this implies the need to assume an intermediate link involving the presence of the missing datum (*Arsis*).

In keeping with the available historical data, the presence of Arsis in the VSA tradition most likely pre-dates that of Alsis; the internal sibilant betrays a Greek-Byzantine filter (Αρχές). The toponym opens up a chronological space that is arduous to specify, but in any case all the more appreciable if compared with the previous research perspective, which imposed an overestimation of the scarce historical data at hand in an attempt to fix the Alsis attestation at a reasonably early date. The possibility of a broader chronology, likely to widen the distance between the redaction of ms. A and that of ms. L, is therefore welcome. The main novelty is that it opens up, moreover appeasingly, a space ready to accommodate both the ardent supporters of the year 1098 as an initial date and the group of Christina de Markyate fans -

<footnote n="83">⁸³ While the equivalence between *Bons fut li secles* and *Pulchra fuerunt saecula* could theoretically be read in both directions, only the latter enables us to go back to *saeculum pulchresceret*.</footnote>
provided, of course, that they will be found in possession of more conclusive evidence than that produced so far.

With regard to the version in ms. L, the city of Sīs, as Wright (1854) points out, was rebuilt by Levon I on top of the ruins of the former capital (perhaps Sebastoz ?): this may well shed light on the circumstance that this toponym resurfaces at a time no later than the second decade of the 12th century.

The fact that Sīs is almost never mentioned before the reign of Levon II may be explained by the fact that the name of the ancient city continued to be used<fnref n="84" />. This is a very fine observation, even from a linguistic point of view: modern historians have perhaps failed to give it the prominence it deserves. Be that as it may, first the Rhythm, then the L and P mss. guarantee a new mention of Sīs, previously unknown to historians: it intervenes to bridge, if only in part, a chronological gap that extends from the beginning to the end of the 12th century.

Alsis, a quite learned reading, did not spread beyond the ms. L. The ms. P, which from a hagiographic point of view transmits an earlier version closer to the Rythme, on the one hand accepts the toponym in the form used by the chroniclers, and on the other rejects *Tarson*, a French-Armenian lexical hircocerf, in favor of *Roume*. As for the track beaten by the following versions, the toponym that replaces Tarsus is - as we have seen - *Troholt* in S, and *Corsant* in Ma and Mb.

In a daring and insightful shortcut, Takvorian poses the issue of the role played by Armenians in Europe during the 12th century. This can easily be summed up in two episodes, one at the beginning, the other at the end of the century. Here is the first: Roupen's death was succeeded by his son Constantine (1095-1099). The Franks gave him the title of Baron, as well as to his brother T'oros, who succeeded him. Thoros twice repelled Turkish attacks (1107-1108). The Greeks, in their turn, came to fight the Armenian principality in 1137. They succeeded in capturing Prince Levon I, who was ruling at the time, and took him prisoner to Constantinople.

And here is the second: The Third Crusade (1189-1192), led by German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, once again called on the Armenians to fight the Egyptians, who had regained Jerusalem. Baron Levon II was ruling Cilicia at the time. As a reward for his services, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa promised the Armenian baron the royal crown, but he died shortly afterwards, being drowned in a river<fnref n="85" />. In Tarsus Cathedral, Catholicos George VI consecrated the new sovereign, Levon, King of Armenia (1199), in the presence of Pope Celestine III's legate and before a crowd of Latin knights and princes from all over the world.

<footnote n="84">⁸⁴ «Leon I (from whom the country is called by the Arabians, *Belad Leon*, as well as *Belad Sīs*) may have built the modern city, and the Greek name may have been still prevalent. We are told, however, that the city which preceded Sis, as the capital of Armenia Minor, was named Messis, Massis, or Massissa, the ancient Mopsuestia». The author assumes that «the modern name was only an abbreviation of Mes-sis» (Wright 1854:26, note 1, which is hardly tenable from a linguistic point of view).</footnote>

<footnote n="85">⁸⁵ With the support of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and his son Henry VI, Levon II was able to turn his principality into a kingdom. His coronation took place on January 6, 1198, Christmas Day for Armenians. He was crowned by Conrad I of Wittelsbach, Bishop of Mainz. The ceremony was attended by the Jacobite Syrian patriarch, the Orthodox metropolitan of Tarsus, and several religious and military dignitaries.</footnote>
Under the reign of Levon II, Armenia enjoyed great prosperity. The king made its capital, Sīs, a flourishing city<fnref n="86" />.

Levon the Magnificent opened up his country economically to Italian merchants, who first established themselves in Tarsus, Sīs and Mamistra<fnref n="87" />. There is a strong political and symbolic connection between Barbarossa's death and the blossoming of the Armenian kingdom: "Passing over the various versions of Barbarossa's death (June 10, 1190), we retain that, according to Vardan, his body was transported to Sis - i.e., the Armenians would have kept his entrails, while the corpse was transported to Antioch -, which would attest to the strength of the ties that had been forged between the Armenians and the Germanic emperor, since the first cooperation in the Balkans" (Dédéyan 2004).

Ms. L's version was therefore written between 1144 and the 1180s<fnref n="88" />. It is by no means impossible that the biography of Christine de Markyate might have played a role in the creation of this quire, but for so many years now, no real proof, let alone unanimity, has been achieved.

Finally, it should be remembered that the earliest versions of VSA, i.e. the Rhythm and the mss A, P and L, form a tightly-knit block, notably by virtue of their prologue, punctually marked by the quotation of the *Versus de Ioseph*<fnref n="89" />.

## APPENDIX
concerning the Turkish general Būzān

Following the identification of Alsis, some people set out desperately to find out a chronological slot around 1090 in which to situate the make-up of the Rhythm with the mention of Alsis. In an attempt to broaden the information at hand, someone managed to unearth the name of a certain Buzan (*rectius*: Būzān), no doubt taken from Wikipedia or some other similar source.

Indeed, Wikipedia s.v. *Buzan of Edessa* tells us that the city of Edessa was taken by Seljuk troops in 1086. Sultan Malik shāh I entrusted it to a general named Būzān, as he was wary of the ambition of his brother Tutuş. Following Malik shāh's troubled succession, Tutuş fought at Rūyān, near Aleppo, against a coalition formed by Aq Sunqur al-Hajib, Būzān and Kürboğa (1094). Victorious, he had al-Hajib and Būzān beheaded. Later on, T'oros, a former officer of the Armenian Philaretos Brakhamios, easily eliminated the Turkish garrison of Edessa and seized the city in 1095. Thus he laid the foundations for the county of Edessa<fnref n="90" />.

However, a slightly later article gives a more nuanced picture of the situation. T'oros was able to win the sympathy of the new master [Būzān], and thanks to his reputation, it was he who administered most of the principality. No doubt, the Seljuqs continued to exercise a kind of suzerainty over this territory which, in the early days, was more apparent than real. In addition to this, Edessa was surrounded by Seljuk possessions, and T'oros was beginning to succumb to the weight of age. So it is easy to see why he turned to Baldwin, who did indeed answer the call in September 1097⁹¹.

<footnote n="86">⁸⁶ Takvorian 2002:146-7.</footnote>

<footnote n="87">⁸⁷ Otten-Froux 1996.</footnote>

<footnote n="88">⁸⁸ In 1189, Pope Clement III sent letters to Levon and the Catholicos Gregory IV asking the Armenians for military and financial support. This shows the importance of Cilicia in the region.</footnote>

<footnote n="89">⁸⁹ The Herman de Valenciennes Bible, and in particular the story of Abraham and Sarah, from *laisse 75*, can be added to this list (Smeets 1963): *Au tens as ancestors...dont estoit bons li tens*.</footnote>

<footnote n="90">⁹⁰ The article is based on the work of R. Grousset (1934).</footnote>

<footnote n="91">⁹¹ Glaesener 1943:42. Cf. Bolinger 2016:10-11 «T'oros vigorously took Edessa from the Turkish garrison left by Tutuş and his allies, while fighting Turkish reinforcements just outside the walls of the</footnote>
It must be taken into account that the population of Edessa was complicated to rule because of
the multiplicity of its components :

Το αρμενικό στοιχείο, που είχε ενισχυθεί ιδιαίτερα αριθμητικά κατά την διάρκεια του 11ου αι.,
κυριάρχησε στην διοίκηση της Έδεσσας. Ο τοπικός πληθυσμός δεν ήταν ιδιαίτερα αροσιωμένος στην
αυτοκρατορία. Οι Σύροι ιακωβίτες ήταν πλέον ουδέτεροι ή και εχθρικοί, ενώ οι Αρμένιοι εχθρεύονταν τους
φιλοβυζαντινούς μελκίτες και τους Έλληνες της περιοχής και πολλές φορές έρχονταν σε συνεννόηση με τους
ισχυρότερους Τούρκους<fnref n="92" />.

The Sultan εξασφάλισε την υποταγή της Έδεσσας μέσω του στρατηγού του Būzān, εξέλιξη που αντιμετωπίστηκε μάλλον με ανακούφιση από τμήμα των κατοίκων της πόλης<fnref n="93" />».

A much more recent paper<fnref n="94" /> specifies that in 1094, Tutuş split authority in the city between a Turkish garrison and Tʻoros, a Greek who within a short time established himself as ruler. Tʻoros remained in charge until he invited Baldwin of Boulogne to enter the city during the First Crusade. So the Seljuqs controlled Edessa for a mere seven years<fnref n="95" />. Furthermore, Matthew of Edessa mentioned 13 separate attacks on Edessa by Turks between 1065 and 1099, an average of one attack every two and a half years.

But the most thorough study on the issue we are concerned with is that of Gr. Kessel (2009), a scholar expert in Syriac literature. He begins stating that «we know little about Emir Būzān's period of activity<fnref n="96" />. Michael the Great reports briefly that Būzān was the governor of Edessa and that he was killed in 1094 A.D. by Emir Tutuş, who was a member of the opposing clan»<fnref n="97" />. Then, he explores the other two available sources, i.e. the *Chronicle* of the Armenian historian Matthew of Edessa<fnref n="98" /> and the *Alexiad* of Anna Komnena<fnref n="99" />. The former «gives a fairly detailed description of how following Seljuk Sultan Malik shāh's order Emir Buzan was besieging Edessa during the three months until the year 1087 A.D. when the city surrendered»<fnref n="100" />.

The *Alexiad* testifies that Būzān's activity was not limited to the siege and the control of Edessa (which dominates the narrative of Michael the Great); rather we see that he played a significant part in the struggle of the opposing Seljuk groups. «The period of Buzan's rule over Edessa was supposed to be known to any reader of Michael's *Chronicle*, so the author let it unspecified.

More information is to be found in Tonghini's recent work (2021). After the city surrendered in March 1087, Būzān appointed a Seljuk commander to head the citadel. At some point, an Armenian named Tʻoros was given the task of administering the city: according to the Syriac Chronicle of 1234, this happened in 1087, while Matthew of Edessa wrote that it happened after Būzān's death in 1094. In 1094, Malik shāh's brother Tutuş demanded the city's surrender, but both Tʻoros and the Seljuk citadel commander refused. Tutuş's forces seized the citadel and made their encampment on the west side of the city. Fearing an attack from them, Toros apparently tried to cut the citadel off by building a wall

<footnote>city. However, after he seized control, Tʻoros governed lethargically, failing to initiate a single offensive campaign during his five years as ruler».</footnote>

<footnote n="92">⁹² Λεβενιώτης 2007 :285.</footnote>

<footnote n="93">⁹³ Λεβενιώτης 2007 :357-8 ; «Οι γενικότερες συνθήκες είχαν διχάσει, από ό,τι φαίνεται, τον πληθυσμό της Έδεσσας σε δύο ζεχωριστές ομάδες, τους εύπορους και τους φτωχότερους κατοίκους» (ibid. :285).</footnote>

<footnote n="94">⁹⁴ Bolinger 2016 :8.</footnote>

<footnote n="95">⁹⁵ «After the battle of Manzikert, a rebellious Byzantine general, Philaretos, controlled Edessa until 1087. After a very brief rule under a Seljuq emir named Buzan, Prince Tutush took the city» (ibid.).</footnote>

<footnote n="96">⁹⁶ Segal 1970 :222-223; Laurent 1924 :89-94.</footnote>

<footnote n="97">⁹⁷ Chabot 1905 :280 [French tr.]; Chabot 1910 :640 [Syriac]. On Tutuş see also Bosworth 2002 :755-757.</footnote>

<footnote n="98">⁹⁸ 12th c.; on Matthew and his *Chronicle* see Dostourian 1972 :iv-xx; Dulaurier 1858 :viii-xxii.</footnote>

<footnote n="99">⁹⁹ 1083-1153/4 A.D.; on her and her opus see Līūbarskiī 1962 :4-49.</footnote>

<footnote n="100">¹⁰⁰ Dostourian 1972, pp. 273-275.</footnote>
between it and the city<fnref n="101" />. After Tutuş died in 1095, however, his forces abandoned the citadel and Tʻoros now took control of the whole city as a de facto independent ruler.

Edessa was therefore not precisely in Muslim hands: on the contrary, it was “besieged from without”, while T’oros encouraged the city dwellers and distributed countless treasures for the city’s needs<fnref n="102" />. One historian is even more skeptical: «Byzantine sources concerning this region are poor for the period after the capture of Antioch in December 1084. We can therefore hardly rely on Matthew of Edessa and Michael the Syrian»<fnref n="103" />.

In conclusion, as a more careful research than simply resorting to a Wikipedia article reveals, the widespread silence and frequent contradictions in historical sources make accurate knowledge of the situation in Edessa in the period 1086-1094 extremely difficult. However, from the meager amount of information we actually possess, we get the picture of a city ruled by an uncertain and divided authority<fnref n="104" />, and above all, constantly engaged in a fierce defense of its independence.

As for Turkish general Būzān, the bulk of its activity took place outside Edessa. Thus, far more
would be required to erase the prestigious name of a city, and replace it with a toponym (Alsis) having
an identity that was quite evanescent at the time.

<footnote n="101">101 Dédéyan confirms that «T'oros le Curopalate isola la citadelle d'Édesse, tenue par une garnison
turque, en construisant un rempart qui barrait à celle-ci l'accès à la ville-même et en élevant vingt-cinq
tours, comme le rapporte Matt'ēos Uśhayēc'i».</footnote>

<footnote n="102">¹⁰² Dédéyan 1998 :§ 16.</footnote>

<footnote n="103">¹⁰³ Cheynet 1990.</footnote>

<footnote n="104">¹⁰⁴ «Μετά το 1071 ο έλεγχος της Κωνσταντινούπολης στην περιοχή της Έδεσσας εξασθένησε προοδευτικά, αν και οι διοικητές της πόλης συνέχισαν να αναγνωρίζουν την αυτοκρατορική επικυριαρχία, έστω και τυπικά» (Λεβενιώτης 2007 :285).</footnote>
BIBLIOGRAPHIE

Ahlström, G.W., *The Nora Inscription and Tarshish*, «Maarav», 7 (1991), 41-49.

Alpi, Federico, *Messaggi attraverso il confine: l’Armenia e il confine orientale di Bisanzio nelle Lettere di Grigor Pahlawowni Magistros (ca. 990-1058)*. Tesi, Università di Pisa, a.a. 2014.

Arbellot, François, *Les chevaliers limousins à la première croisade* (1096-1102), Paris, R. Haton, 1881.

Augé, Isabelle, *Les dénonciations des T'ondrakiens. Des affaires d'hérésie au cœur d'un territoire convoité*, in Alessia Trivellone (éd.), *Hérésies chrétiennes dans l'Orient médiéval (IVe-XVe siècle)*, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2024.

Baslez, Marie-Françoise, *Paul et l'histoire. Nouvelles approches. État des questions*, «Traversalalités», 114 (2010/2), 31-48.

Beckmann, Gustav A., *Onomastics of the “Chanson de Roland”. Or : Why Gaston Paris and Joseph Bédier were both right*, transl. by Linda Archibald, Berlin - Boston, W. de Gruyter, 2023.

Bolinger, Andrew, *Bound by Hate: Exploring Early Armenian Relations with the County of Edessa and Their Seljuk Neighbors*. The Welebaethan, 2016.

Boulanger, Robert, *Turkey*, Paris, Hachette, 1960.

Bosworth, C.E. (et al.), *The Encyclopaedia of Islam*, Leiden, E.J. Brill, Vol. 6, 1991 ; Vol. 10, 2002.

Brandes, Wolfram, v. Fried, Johannes.

Briquel-Chatonnet, Françoise, s.v. *Tarsis*, dans *Supplément au Dictionnaire de la Bible*, fasc. 77-78, t. 14, Paris, 2008.

Catina, Mar Apas, *Histoire ancienne de l'Arménie*, tr. Victor Langlois, Paris, Firmin Didot, 1867.

Chabot, J.B., *Chronique de Michel le Syrien, patriarche jacobite d'Antioche (1166-1199)*, Paris, Leroux, t. 3, 1905 ; t. 4, 1910.

Cheynet, Jean-Claude, *Thathoul, archonte des archontes*, «Revue des études byzantines», 48 (1990), 233-42.

Cheynet, J.-Cl., *Byzance et le Vaspurakan au Xe siècle*, in Zaroui Pogossian/Edda Vardanyan (ed.), *The Church of the Holy Cross of Alt'amar. Politics, Art, Spirituality in the Kingdom of Vaspurakan*, Leiden/Boston, Brill, 2019, 49-66.

Chibnall, Marjorie, ed. & trans., *The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis*, 6 vols., Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1969-1980.
D'Amato, Raffaele / Cline, Kenneth, *The Battle of Manzikert, in Medieval Warfare, Vol. 3: The Turkish Conquest of Byzantine Anatolia*, Karwansary Publ., 2013, 28-34.

Dédéyan, Gérard, *L'immigration arménienne en Cappadoce au XIᵉ siècle, «Byzantion», 45 (1975), 41-116.

Dédéyan, G., *L'argent et le pouvoir chez les chefs arméniens de l'Euphratèse à l'époque de la première croisade*, in *EΥΨΥΧΙΑ. Mélanges offerts à Hélène Ahrweiler*, Paris, Publ. de la Sorbonne, 1998, p. 195-208.

Dédéyan, G., *De la prise de Thessalonique par les Normands (1185) à la croisade de Frédéric Barberousse (1189-1190): le revirement politico-religieux des pouvoirs arméniens*, in Damien Coulon (et al.), *Chemins d'Outremer. Études d'histoire sur la Méditerranée médiévale offertes à Michel Balard*, Paris, Éd. de la Sorbonne, 2004, 183-96.

Dostourian, A.E., *The Chronicle of Mathew of Edessa: Translated from the Original Armenian, with a Commentary and Introduction* (Rutgers University, 1972) [PhD. published: *Armenia and the Crusades: tenth to twelfth centuries. The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa*, Lanham, University Press of America, 1993].

Dulaurier, Édouard, *Chronique de Matthieu d'Édesse (962-1136) avec la continuation de Grégoire le prêtre jusqu'en 1162*, Paris, A. Durand, 1858.

Dulaurier, Édouard, *Étude sur l'organisation religieuse et administrative du royaume de la Petite-Arménie à l'époque des Croisades*, Paris, Impr. Impériale, 1862.

Edwards, Robert W., *The Fortifications of Armenian Cilicia*, Washington D.C., Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1987.

Engels, Louk J., *Alexiana Latina Medii Aevi, III: The Relationship between the the Prose 'Vitae' BHL 286, 287 and 290, «Sacris erudiri», 38 (1998/99), 373-441.*

Fried, Johannes, *Donation of Constantine and Constitutum Constantini. The misinterpretation of a fiction and its original meaning*. With a contribution by Wolfram Brandes, *The satraps of Constantine*, W. de Gruyter, 2007.

Garbini, Giovanni, *Tarsis e Gen. 10,4*, «Bibbia e Oriente», 7 (1965), 13-19.

Glaesener, Henri, *D'Antioche à Tortose (histoire et légende)*, «Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire», 22 (1943), 35-58.

Greenwood, Tim, *Negotiating the Roman Past in Later Tenth-century Armenia, «Medieval Words», 10* (2019), 130-50.

Greenwood, Tim, *"Imagined Past, Revealed Present": A Reassessment of History of Taron*, in Aram Mardirossian (et al.), *Mélanges Jean-Pierre Mahé*, Paris 2014, 377-92.

Grousset, René, *Histoire des Croisade et du Royaume franc de Jérusalem*, Paris, Perrin, 1934 (réimprimé plusieurs fois).
Heidemann, Stefan, *Transregional and Regional Elites – Connecting the Early Islamic Empire*, W. de Gruyter, 2020.

Hugh, John / Hill, Laurita L., *Le «Liber» de Raymond d'Aguilers*, intr. et notes traduites par Philippe Wolff. Paris, Geuthner, 1969.

Kessel, Grigory, *The ‘letter’ of Thomas the Monk: An edition and study of the Syriac text and his author*, «The Journal of Eastern Christian Studies», 61(2009), 43-100.

La Porta, Sergio/Vacca, Alison M., *An Armenian Futūh Narrative. Lewond's Eighth-Century History of the Caliphate*, The University of Chicago, 2024.

Laurent, Johann Christian Moritz, *Peregrinatores Medii Aevi quatuor: Burchardus de Monte Sion, Ricoldus de Monte Crucis, Odoricus de Foro Julii, Wilbrandus de Oldenburg*. Editio secunda. Lipsiae, J.C. Hinrichs, 1873.

Λεβενιώτης, Γεώργιος Α., *Η πολιτική κατάρρευση του Βυζαντίου στην Ανατολή. Το ανατολικό σύνορο και η κεντρική μικρά Ασία κατά το Β΄ ήμισυ του 11οου* αι. Τόμος Α΄. Θεσσαλονίκη, Κέντρο Βυζαντινών Ερευνών, 2007.

Lemaire, André, *Tarshish-Tarsisi: Problème de topographie historique biblique et assyrienne*, in *Studies in Historical Geography and Biblical Historiography Presented to Zecharia Kallai*, G. Galil and M. Weinfeld (ed.), Leiden-Boston-Cologne, W. de Gruyter, 2000, 44-62.

Līūbarskiņš, *Aleksiada* / Anna Komnina; perevod s grecheskogo IA.N. Līūbarskogo (Sankt-Peterburg, Izdatelstvo Aleteia, 19962).

McEvitt, Christopher, *The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance*, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008.

Macler, Frédéric, *La France et l'Arménie à Travers l'Art et l'Histoire*, Paris, Impr. H. Turabian, 1917.

Meyer, Paul / Huet, Gédéon (éds), Anonyme, *Doon de la Roche*, Paris, Champion, 1921.

Moravcsik, G. (ed.), Κωνσταντίνου ἐν Χριστῷ βασιλεῖ αἰωνίῳ βασιλέως Ῥωμαίων πρὸς τὸν ἴδιον viòν Ῥωμανὸν τὸν θεοστεφὴ καὶ πορφυρογέννητον βασιλέα, in *Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De administrando Imperio*, Greek text, Engl. transl. by R. J. H. Jenkins, new, revised edition, Washington D.C., 1967.

Murray, Alan V., *Coroscane: Homeland of the Saracens in the Chansons de geste and the Historiography of the Crusades*, in Hans Van Dijk - Willem Noomen (ed.), *Aspects de l'épopée romane: mentalités, idéologies, intertextualités*, Groningen, Egbert Forsten Publ., 1995, 177-184.

Mutafian, Claude, *L'Arménie du Levant (XIᵉ-XIVᵉ siècles)*, 2 vol., Paris, Les Belles-Lettres, 2012.

Nowak, Przemysław, c.r., «The Journal of Ecclesiastical History», 59 (April 2008), 316-7.
Otten-Froux, Catherine, *Les relations économiques entre Chypre et le royaume arménien de Cilicie d'après les actes notariés (1270-1320)*, in *L'Arménie et Byzance*, Paris, 1996, p. 157-79 [*Byzantina Sorbonensia*, 12].

Palágy, Tivadar, *Héraclius et Eracle: l'image des Byzantins dans la Chronique de Guillaume de Tyr*, in Zoltán Farkas (et al.), *Byzance et l'Occident II. Tradition, transmission, traduction*, Collège Eötvös József ELTE, Budapest 2015, 117-26.

Parsons, Simon Th., *The Use of Chanson de geste Motifs in the Latin Texts of the First Crusade*, c. 1095-1145. Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2015.

Perugi, M., *Stratification linguistique dans la Vie de saint Alexis*, «Vox Romanica», 63 (2004), 131-52.

Petit, Aimé, *Remarques sur certaines singularités du manuscrit A (BnF 375) du Roman de Thèbes*, «Le Moyen Âge», 119 (2013), 597-620.

Pétrossian, Lévon, intr. à Grégoire de Narek, *Commentaire sur le Cantique des Cantiques*, Roma, Pontificio Istituto Orientale, 2010.

Pringle, Denys, *Wilbrand of Oldenburg's Journey to Syria, Lesser Armenia, Cyprus, and the Holy Land (1211-1212): A New Edition*, in B.Z. Kedar (et al.), *Crusades*, Ashgate Publishing, Vol. 11 (2012), 109-137.

Rachetta, Maria Teresa, *Transmettre et reconstruire: la tradition manuscrite de la Bible d'Herman de Valenciennes*, «Romania», 136 (2018), 261-99.

Régnier, Claude, *Aliscans*, 2 vol., Paris, Champion, 1990.

Reichl, Karl, *An Anglo-Normand Legend of Saint Margaret (MS. BM. Add. 38664)*, «Romania», 96 (1975), 53-66.

Richard, Jean, c.r. de Hugh / Hill 1069, «Journal des savants», 3 (1971), 206-12.

Rychner, Jean, *La Vie de saint Alexis et le poème latin «Pater Deus ingenite», «Vox Romanica», 36 (1977), 67-83; ensuite dans Id., *Du Saint-Alexis à François Villon: Études de littérature médiévale*, Genève, Droz, 1985.

Salberg, Trond Kruke (éd.), *L'Istoire d'Ogier le redouté*, Universitet i Oslo (en ligne, s.d.).

Segal, J.B., *Edessa: "The Blessed City"*, Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1970.

Smeets, Jean-Robert, *Alexis et la Bible de Herman de Valenciennes: le problème de l'origine de la laisse*, «Cahiers de civilisaiton médiévale», 23 (1963), 315-25.

Takvorian, Takvor, *Histoire d'Arménie: des origines jusqu'à la perte de l'indépendance*, Paris, Ed. Ophrys, 2002.

Thierry Michel, *Notes de géographie historique sur le Vaspurakan*, «Revue des études byzantines», 34 (1976), 159-73.
Tonghini, Cristina, *From Edessa to Urfa: The Fortification of the Citadel*, Oxford, Archaeopress Publishing, 2021.

Vandekerckhove, Dweezil, *The origins, development, and spatial distribution of medieval fortifications and rural settlements in Cilicia 1075-1375*, Thesis, Cardiff University, August 2014.

Van der Kooij, Arie, *The Oracle of Tyre: The Septuagint of Isaiah XXIII as Version and Vision*, Leiden, Brill, 1998.

Wright, Thomas, *The travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian*, London, H.G. Bohn, 1854.

Zahtérian, Rév. P. Mashdots, *Le mysticisme de Grégoire de Narek dans le «Livre des Lamentations»*, Érévan, s.d.

Zekiyan, Boghos Levon, c.r., «Byzantinische Zeitung», 93 (2000), 231-4.