Gesta Francorum

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Gesta Francorum

The so-called Gesta Francorum ("The Deeds of the Franks") or in full De Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum ("The deeds of the Franks and the other pilgrims to Jerusalem") is a Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
chronicle

Chronicle

Generally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronology order. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the chronicler....
of the First Crusade

First Crusade

The First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II with the primary goal of responding to the appeal from Byzantine Emperor Alexius I. The Emperor requested that western volunteers come to their aid and repel the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia, Modern day Turkey....
written in circa

Circa

Circa means "in approximately", generally referring to a year. It is widely used in genealogy and historical writing, when the dates of events are approximately known....
1100-1101 by an anonymous author connected with Bohemund I of Antioch

Bohemund I of Antioch

Bohemond I, also spelled Bohemund or Boamund, , Principality of Taranto and Principality of Antioch, was one of the leaders of the First Crusade as he led the whole Crusader army until the conquest of Antioch....
.

It narrates the events of the First Crusade from the inception in November 1095 to the Battle of Ascalon

Battle of Ascalon

The Battle of Ascalon took place on August 12, 1099, and is often considered the last action of the First Crusade....
in August 1099.

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Encyclopedia

The so-called Gesta Francorum ("The Deeds of the Franks") or in full De Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum ("The deeds of the Franks and the other pilgrims to Jerusalem") is a Latin

Latin

Chronicle

First Crusade

Circa

Bohemund I of Antioch

Battle of Ascalon

The Battle of Ascalon took place on August 12, 1099, and is often considered the last action of the First Crusade....
in August 1099. The name of the author is unknown, but he was a member of the crusading party, either Norman

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock....
or Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, recruited by Bohemund of Taranto

Bohemund I of Antioch

Duchy

A duchy is a territory, fiefdom, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereignty in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era ....
of Apulia

Apulia

Apulia is a region in southeastern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Otranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south....
. His narrative of the trip to Jerusalem, initially under the leadership of Bohemond and then Raymond of Toulouse

Raymond of Toulouse

Raymond of Toulouse may refer to::Raymond I, Count of Toulouse , Count of Limoges, Rouergue, Quercy, Toulouse and Albi:Raymond II, Count of Toulouse , Count of Toulouse, N?mes, and Albi:Raymond III, Count of Toulouse , Count of Toulouse, N?mes, and Albi:Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, aka Raymond of St Gilles , Count of Toulouse, Duke of Na...
, was composed and written during the journey. He had the help of a scribe who made occasional edits of his own, and thus the chronicle provides invaluable viewpoints of a knight who was not a high level leader or cleric.

The most important historical contribution is the day to day events of the journey: tactical operations, provisionings, changing moods of the crusaders, the anti-Greek prejudice, progress of each day.

To his literary contemporaries, the anonymous author was a "rustic". Guibert of Nogent

Guibert of Nogent

Guibert of Nogent was a Benedictine historian, theology and author of autobiography memoirs. Guibert was relatively unknown in his own time, going virtually unmentioned by his contemporaries....
wrote his Dei gesta per Francos
Dei gesta per Francos

Dei gesta per Francos is a narrative of the First Crusade by Guibert of Nogent written between 1107 and 1108. Traditionally it has not been well received by scholars, but recent translators and editors have shown it to contain important original material....
(1108) based on it, saying the original "frequently left the reader stunned with its insipid vacuity". Robert the Monk

Robert the Monk

Robert was a chronicler of the First Crusade. He did not participate in the expedition, but rewrote the Gesta Francorum at the request of his abbot, who was appalled at the 'rustic' style of the Gesta....
of Rheims was later commissioned to re-write the entire work for literary and historical improvements while Baudri of Dol also later re-wrote a version of "this rustic little work". However the original has persisted and today it remains one of the most valuable contemporary sources of the First Crusade.

Gesta Francorum

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