byTranslated from the Arabic by Dr. Philip D. Monroe,
Faculty of Classics, Cambridge University, 1977.
Translated from the Arabic by Dr. Philip D. Monroe,
Faculty of Classics, Cambridge University, 1977.
My name is Roger of York, and I am a murderer and a leper. As I lie here at St. Lazarus—to the north, outside Jerusalem—I can see the city in my mind. It sparkles.
My life comes to a close. In this Christian Year 1199, I wish to record it, but I cannot write, and in any case have stumps for hands. Jabir, my learned friend, takes down my words without censure. I tell my tale not to confess—for I regret nothing—but to show how a man lost to the world may reclaim it.
To begin, I was a miserable child. My father, a large, forbidding man, favored me with either the back of his hand or a s
