The Composition Date of the Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi (IP2) Reconsidered

Since Hans Eberhard Mayer’s ground-breaking study of 1962, scholars have almost invariably dated one of the longest western narratives of the Third Crusade, the compilation known as the Itinerarium peregrinorum et gesta regis Ricardi, or IP2, to 1216–22. Challenging this deep-rooted view, this article proposes an earlier composition date and, in turn, casts new light on the work’s purpose and the circumstances of its creation. An analysis of both the text itself and crucial evidence for its early reception at Coggeshall Abbey indicates that IP2 was written at some point between 1194 and circa 1201, and most probably in the period 1197–1201. Reflecting on the wider ramifications of this re-dating, it is argued that two fundamental assumptions surrounding the text’s composition require revision: that IP2 was the work of Richard de Templo, prior of Holy Trinity, Aldgate; and that it was composed with a recruitment or political agenda in mind. The article contends that Richard de Templo’s predecessor at Holy Trinity, Prior Peter of Cornwall, played a prominent role in the composition process, almost certainly commissioning the work and probably overseeing its creation, while the compiler’s source selection, the text’s format and the intellectual climate in which it was produced instead point to the guiding principle of preservation: that IP2 was compiled to preserve the story of the Third Crusade, and King Richard I of England’s crusading exploits, for posterity.