Ghillbert de Lannoy (1386-1462, esp. 1421-1423)

by Zhao Luyang 赵鲁阳 (See Chinese translation)

Born in 1386 into the noble de Lannoy family in Flanders, Ghillbert de Lannoy (alternative names) was a Flemish pilgrim and spy, who during his lifetime served as an ambassador, diplomat, Chamberlain of the Duke of Burgundy and knight of the Golden Fleece.

As a knight he was highly regarded, and served the sovereigns of England, France and Burgundy. Throughout his career, he fought in many wars. He gained his first foreign military experience during the French assault on the Isle of Wight in the English Channel in 1403. In 1407 and from 1410 to 1411, Lannoy fought against the Moors (referring to the Muslim inhabitants of European cities in the Middle Ages) in Spain and in 1412 he fought against the House of Armagnac in France.

Duke John the Fearless, who ruled the Burgundian State from 1404 to 1419, appointed Lannoy to govern the harbour town Ecluse in Northern France. The same duke also sent Lannoy to England as his representative on the marriage of Henry V to Catherine of France in 1420. Lannoy became the chamberlain to Philip the Good in 1415, who was the son of Duke John and ruled the Burgundian state from 1419 to 1467.

Lannoy was appointed captain at Rotterdam (the Netherlands) for the naval defence of Flanders. He also served as an envoy to Scotland and Ireland, and in 1433 he was the Burgundian envoy to the general council of Basel (a council of the Roman Catholic Church). In 1435, he took part in the European Peace Congress of Arras, which was launched in order to end the Hundred Years’ War between France and England.

He was a founding member of the knightly Order of the Golden Fleece, a Roman Catholic civalric order, in 1430.

Lannoy travelled three times to the Holy Land in his lifetime. His first journey to Jerusalem was from 1405 to 1406 for religious reasons. On his way back in 1407, he fought against the Moors in Spain. His second journey there was from 1421 to 1423, when he was commissioned by the kings of France and England to travel to the Middle East together with the Duke of Burgundy to study the landforms and the political conditions with the aim of mounting a European crusade to "liberate Jerusalem from the Muslims". His third journey to the Holy Land was in the mid-1440s. He was sent by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and King Alfonso V of Naples (Italy). His mission was to revive the spirit of the Crusades.

He authored three books: an autobiographical account entitled Les voyages que fist Messire Guillebert de Lannoy, en son temps Seigneur de Sanctes, de Willerval, de Tronchiennes et de Wahégnies (abbreviated below as Voyages et ambassades), in which he also wrote about his journeys to the Holy Land; a book for the education of Charles the Bold (1433-1477) entitled Instruction d’un jeune prince; and a book called Ensignements paternals containing advice to his son on how to live like a true gentle knight. It is not clear whether the third book was written by him or by his son Hugo de Lannoy. One of its themes is expressed by the words "Marry well, serve your prince, do your duty in battle". He also advised his son to consider, before embarking on any course of action, whether the action would accrue to or detract from the honour of his family, and to act always in such way to manifest his nobility.

The book that concerns us most here is his Voyages et ambassades, an autobiographical account of his life and journeys to the Holy Land during the years 1399-1450. He made his first journey to the Holy Land in 1405 to 1406 for religious reasons and for personal interest. He visited such sacred sites as St. Catherine’s Monastery.

Upon his return, he fought the Moors in Spain, took part in the Armagnac struggle in France and joined the crusade pour aller en Prusse contre les mescréans (against the Moors to Prussia). These travels took him to Prussia, Sweden and Danzig (today's Gdańsk in Poland).

During his second journey to the Holy Land (1421-1423), he was commissioned to go to the Middle East by the kings of France and England and the Duke of Burgundy to study the landforms and political conditions with an eye toward mounting a European crusade. He took the route from northern Germany to Prussia, further east to Poland, Russia, Moldavia, Wallachia (a region of Romania) and through "Tartary" (the region between the Caspian Sea/Ural Mountains area and the Pacific Ocean) and the Crimea to Constantinople. From there, he proceeded to Rhodes, where he left all but three of his men behind because he wanted to proceed on his visits to the Holy Land discreetly. Then he travelled to Crete and Alexandria, Rosetta and Cairo. In Egypt, he added to his Voyages et ambassades a list of the Christian indulgences, as a supplement to his description of the military and geographic conditions of the towns and cities he examined. He describes Alexandria as a large city in a flat country, surrounded by the sea and equipped with two major ports, which are well defended and enclosed within high walls. Lannoy elaborated further on the ports' importance, concluding that they could become landing points for new crusader armies in the future.

After Cairo, Lannoy visited the Sinai Peninsula and St. Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai. Besides composing an official report about the political conditions of the Orient, Lannoy wrote a handbook for pilgrims. He described the Holy places and various indulgences that could be obtained while visiting them. He understood everything he saw from the perspective of a military engineer as well as a pilgrim. For example, he noted that the church of Saint Catherine is built like a solid castle; it also has three chapels representing the three faiths of Jesus Christ, Moses and Mohammed. His route then took him to Damietta at the mouth of the river Nile and to Jerusalem, where he noted that there were:

handsome houses of fine white hewn stone, all with flat roofs, but there is very little water and it is in short supply. And there are poor, shallow moats … and it seems not all strong against a powerful army, for the greatest strength it hast is that it is quite strategically situated.

Lannoy also described the Arabs, who were in his opinion the most valiant people. They ate badly and dressed poorly. They had no towns or houses, so they had to sleep in the fields or in huts that they made to shield against the sun. Their only weapons were long, slender lances, similar to supple darts, and large shields. Lannoy compared the Arabs to the Saracens, both of whom believed in Mohammed. He claimed that the Arabs were more courageous than the Saracens, and also noted that they were often at war with each other.

On his way back to Burgundy, Lannoy passed Rhodes, Venice and Germany. He made a third journey in the mid-1440s to Jerusalem to revive the spirit of the Crusades. This time he followed the sea route. When he passed the Italian cities of Naples and Messina, he described Stromboli, the active volcano, as having a huge flame of about two lance lengths. He thentravelled to the Greek islands Crete and Rhodes, to Cyprus, Jaffa and Jerusalem. At each stop, he asked the local authorities about their willingness to take part in a crusade. Lannoy also provided a precise topographical description of Jaffa on the Syrian coast, the closest port to Jerusalem. Unfortunately, it was difficult for a galley to enter the port. On his way back, Lannoy passed by the Aegean Islands up to the west coast of Greece, visited the Greek islands of Paxos and Corfu, and travelled along the Dalmatian coast to Venice, from where he travelled over land through Austria and Germany.

It was after he returned that he wrote his second and third books. His second one, Instruction d’un jeune prince (also called L’Instruction de josne prince, or Advice for a Young Prince), was written around 1440, set in the fictional court of Norway. A miniature found online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillebert_de_Lannoy is Charles the Bold’s copy of 1468-1470. (Charles the Bold lived from 1433-1477.) The people are dressed in contemporary Burgundian costume, and the faces are those of the ducal family. The caption reads: "Foliant de Ionnal" presents his text of L’Instruction de josne prince to "King Rudolph of Norway". The artist was Jean Hennecart (fl. 1454-1475). It is now in The Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.

Lannoy’s third book, Ensignements paternals, is a book of advice for his son on how to live like a true gentle knight: Marry well, serve your prince, do your duty in battle. It is not clear whether Ghillbert is the author of this book or his son Hugo de Lannoy. The author also advised his son to consider, before embarking on any course of action, whether the action will accrue to or detract from the honour of his family and to act always in such way to manifest his nobility.