The Emperor Heraclius as seen by twelfth-century Western chronicles

The aim of this article is to examine the various representations of the emperor Heraclius in the chronicle of Guibert de Nogent, and in the narratives of other twelfth-century chronicles. On the one hand, the Byzantine emperor is represented as a sinner and an apostate; on the other, he is considered as an ideal sovereign who recovered the true cross for Christendom. These two aspects of his image are important for the representation of Heraclius as an exemplary Crusader.