author
Sarnensis Petrus
d. 1218
A medieval monk and eyewitness chronicler, he left one of the most important accounts of the Albigensian Crusade. His writing brings readers close to the religious conflict and political violence of early thirteenth-century southern France.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Writing in the early 1200s, this Cistercian monk from the abbey of Les Vaux-de-Cernay became known for the Historia Albigensis, a major narrative source for the Albigensian Crusade. He is often identified in Latin as Petrus Sarnensis and in English as Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay.
His chronicle was written roughly between 1212 and 1218, close to the events it describes, which gives it unusual immediacy. Modern readers value it both for its detail and for what it reveals about the strongly partisan religious world in which it was produced.
Very little is known for certain about his life beyond his monastic setting and his connection to the crusade through the community of Les Vaux-de-Cernay. Even so, his work has remained central to the study of medieval heresy, crusading, and the history of southern France.