Guillaume de Machaut, a man famous for both his poetry and his musical compositions, wrote his Prise d'Alexandrie (or Capture of Alexandria) just a few years after the death of his hero, King Peter I of Cyprus (1359-69). It is a verse history of Peter's reign, and was Machaut's last major literary work. Peter's ancestors had ruled the island of Cyp

Contents: Introduction; The Capture of Alexandria: Prologue; Peter's calling to be a crusader; Peter's first visit to the west (1362-65); The Alexandria campaign (1365); Raids and negotiations (1366-67); The relief of Gorhigos (1367); The failure of negotiations (1367); The attack on Tripoli and Ayas (1367); The second visit to the west and the quarrel with Lesparre (1367-68); The murder of the king (1369); Illustrative Texts: Attacks on the Syrian coast in 1367; The aftermath of the murder; Bibliography; Index.