The Experience of Acre, ca. 1266

This chapter describes some of Acre’s characteristics and the diversity of its populace at the time to offer some insights and hypotheses concerning how Eudes of Nevers and his men would have related to Acre and its residents. Eudes landed in Acre on October 20, 1265, at a time when the city and its environs would certainly have made few newcomers feel safe. In March of that year, Caesarea had fallen to the Mamluks. Eudes’s crusade brought him to a city of paradoxes: Acre in 1266 was almost completely engulfed by the forces of a threatening and determined enemy, which seemed to be unstoppable. And yet, it remained the destination for numerous pilgrims and retained much of its beauty and status as a trading hub. It was also the home of a varied population, including cultural groups; among these were representatives of various regions in Latin Christendom. This completely new cultural world is likely to have aroused, at least to some degree, Eudes’s curiosity and might have led him to communicate with local men of letters. Ultimately, the last months of Eudes’s life were probably full of new, powerful experiences, only some of which were directly related to the military tasks for which he had originally sailed to Acre.