The Zaran company in the Holy Land: An unknown Fourth Crusade charter from Acre

Abstract

This article publishes and examines a newly discovered charter drafted in the Holy Land during the time of the fourth crusade, bringing the number of such original documents to four. In addition to shedding light on the nature of donations made by minor crusaders to the Templars while in Outremer, the witness list also reveals for the first time documentary evidence of the progress of a group of crusaders who departed from the main host of the fourth crusade after the attack on Zara and their connections with wider events such as the Grandmontine crisis and the conquest of Normandy.