The
Liber recuperationis Terre Sancte—or
On the Recovery of the Holy Land—survives in a single parchment manuscript of the 14th century, now in Paris,
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Lat. 7242, at folios 85r–126r. It is written in
Latin. It begins with a dedication to Nicholas IV. A schematic map of the Mediterranean appears on folio 122v. The text has been edited by
Girolamo Golubovich. It is one of the earliest examples of the
De recuperatione genre. The military focus of Fidentius' plan contrasts with the missionary ideal more typical of the Franciscans. This may explain in part why his work appears to have had little influence. His lack of zeal for martyrdom also contrasts with that of many Franciscans working in the Holy Land in the late 13th century. Unlike more influential plans for the recovery of the Holy Land, such as those of
Ramon Llull and
Pierre Dubois, the
Liber recuperationis is the only one based on firsthand experience of the land and interactions with its inhabitants, both Christian and Muslim.
Marino Sanudo probably had Fidentius' text before him when he wrote his own
Liber secretorum fidelium crucis.
History and geography The
Liber is divided into 94 chapters in seven chronologically-arranged sections that clearly divide into two functional parts. The first six sections are the first part and cover the history of the Holy Land under the
Gentiles,
Jews,
Assyrians,
Romans,
Greeks and
Saracens. The last two are more fully developed than the first four. The Greek section is devoted largely to the question of how the Christians lost the Holy Land. The blame falls primarily on moral decline. There follows an explanation for why the Christians should rightly repossess them. The Saracen section is devoted to the life of
Muḥammad, for which he depends on the writings of
Peter the Venerable. His account is mostly legendary, and he is apparently unfamiliar with Islamic tradition. He draws on
John of Damascus,
Jacques de Vitry and possibly
Mark of Toledo and
Petrus Alphonsi. His history of Islam bears a resemblance to
William of Tripoli's
De statu sarracenorum, which was drawn up for the occasion of the Second Council of Lyon. He records that Muḥammad effectively created the Islamic religion out of what he learned from a
Nestorian Christian monk named Sergius and three Jews of
Mecca. He did know Arabic, and quotes from the
Qurʾān to describe the seven vices he attributes to Muslims: infidelity, lewdness, cruelty, greed, overconfidence, foolishness and volatility. He also backs up his account with personal experiences. The seventh section, on the rule of the
Crusaders, forms the second part of the
Liber and is devoted to the history of the Crusades and the recovery and permanent defence of Christian rule. His history is designed to provide
exempla (examples) to be imitated or avoided by future Crusaders. He describes seven routes from western Europe to the Holy Land, pointing out the location of enemy fortresses, the potential allies along the way and the logistical difficulties unique to each. His basic prescription is for a joint land and naval campaign. An army would move overland following the same route as the
First Crusaders, joining up with the Cilician Armenians,
Georgians and
Mongols, while a fleet would be operating out of some eastern Mediterranean port. Fidentius includes some chapters on the topography of the Holy Land, especially of its cities, which would be important for planning the defence and maintenance of the conquests. He stresses the importance of understanding the Muslim way of war and the climate of the Holy Land prior to any expedition.
Military strategy The maintenance of the conquests is of great concern to him. He suggests that each bishopric, abbey and city in the West should send one to three or more
knights to serve in the East. He also specifies the need for infantry (specifically,
spearmen and
archers) and
shield bearers to protect them from enemy archers. It was important that cavalry and infantry operate together. He lays great stress on the importance of archery, the weakness of Muslim infantry and the necessity of
combined arms. His tactical and strategic ideas are taken largely from
Vegetius'
De re militari, but he offers accounts of
Egyptian Mamlūk tactics so Crusaders could better counter them. In particular, he warns about the
feigned retreat. Control of the seas would be required for recovery of the Holy Land. For this Fidentius envisions a permanent fleet of ten
galleys and a wartime fleet of forty to fifty (at a bare minimum thirty). These were to be based in Acre,
Cyprus,
Ruad and
Rhodes. This fleet would enforce a blockade on trade between "evil" Christians and the Mamlūks. Fidentius sees this trade as helping the sultan of Egypt in two ways: from Europe he obtains war materiel (iron, tin, timber, oil) and from Asia he obtains dues on goods brought to Egypt via the
Red Sea for trade to Europe. If the
spice trade were deflected from the Red Sea to
Mongol Persia, Egypt would be deprived of customs duties and would also lose export markets because of the reduction in shipping. The Mamlūk sultan may be unable to afford more
mamlūks (slave soldiers) imported from the
Black Sea. Offensively, the fleet would launch attacks on Egypt to draw Egyptian forces away from the Holy Land. Fidentius was the first crusade theorist to advocate a
naval blockade; and his strategy was that which would come to be known as the
passagium particulare, a type of preparatory crusade. The
Liber ignores completely the question of financing the expedition. ==Notes==