Burchardus de Monte Sion°

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BURCHARDUS DE MONTE SION°

BURCHARDUS DE MONTE SION ° (13th century), German Dominican. Born at Strasbourg or Magdeburg, Burchardus traveled to the East in 1232, visiting Egypt, Syria, and Cilicia. From 1275 to 1285 he resided in Jerusalem where sometime before 1283 he wrote his Descriptio Terrae Sanctae (Latin edition by W.A. Neumann, 1880; Eng. by A. Steward, 1896). Burchardus arranged his book by "divisions" radiating from Acre, with special focus on Jerusalem. For a pious medieval author he was tolerant, and an accurate observer. His work was handed down in two different versions; in 14th- and 15th-century Europe it was widely read and translated into German and French.

add. bibliography:

J. Prelog, in: Lexikon des Mittelalters, 1 (1980), 953.

[Michael Avi-Yonah /

Marcus Pyka (2nd ed.)]

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