The ''Gesta Francorum'' (Deeds of the Franks), or ''Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum'' (Deeds of the Franks and the other pilgrims to Jerusalem), is a Latin chronicle of the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic r ...

by an anonymous author connected with

Bohemond of Taranto Bohemond I of Antioch (5 or 7 March 1111), also known as Bohemond of Taranto, was the prince of Taranto from 1089 to 1111 and the prince of Antioch from 1098 to 1111. He was a leader of the First Crusade, leading a contingent of Normans on the qu ...

. It narrates the events of the First Crusade from the

Council of Clermont The Council of Clermont was a mixed synod of ecclesiastics and laymen of the Catholic Church, called by Pope Urban II and held from 17 to 27 November 1095 at Clermont, Auvergne, at the time part of the Duchy of Aquitaine. Pope Urban's speech ...

in 1095 to the

Battle of Ascalon The Battle of Ascalon took place on 12 August 1099 shortly after the capture of Jerusalem, and is often considered the last action of the First Crusade. The crusader army led by Godfrey of Bouillon defeated and drove off a Fatimid army, sec ...

in August 1099. The name of the author is unknown, but he was a member of the crusading party, either

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, recruited by Bohemond in 1096 from the

duchy of Apulia The County of Apulia and Calabria (), later the Duchy of Apulia and Calabria (), was a Norman state founded by William of Hauteville in 1042 in the territories of Gargano, Capitanata, Apulia, Vulture, and most of Campania. It became a duchy whe ...

. His narrative of the trip to Jerusalem, initially under the leadership of Bohemond and then Raymond of Toulouse, 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, provisioning, changing moods of the crusaders, the anti-Greek prejudice, and progress of each day. To his literary contemporaries, the anonymous author was a "rustic".

Guibert of Nogent Guibert de Nogent (c. 1055 – 1124) was a Benedictine historian, theologian and author of autobiographical memoirs. Guibert was relatively unknown in his own time, going virtually unmentioned by his contemporaries. He has only recently caught the ...

wrote his ''

Dei gesta per Francos ''Dei gesta per Francos'' ("Deeds of God through the Franks") 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 (such ...

'' (1108) based on it, saying the original "frequently left the reader stunned with its insipid vacuity".

Robert the Monk The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

was later commissioned to re-write the entire work as ''Historia Hierosolymitana'' for literary and historical improvements. It was later rewritten by Baudri of Dol and in the '' Historia Belli Sacri''. However the original has persisted and today it remains one of the most valuable contemporary sources of the First Crusade. Steven Runciman writes of the ''Gesta'': : The author was a simple soldier, honest according to his lights but credulous and prejudiced and a strong admirer of Bohemond .... who hawked it round Northern France during his visit there in 1106. .... it was republished by Tudebod .... and about 1130 in the ''Historia Belli Sacri'', a clumsy

Relationship with Peter Tudebode's Account of the First Crusade

The ''Gesta Francorum'' closely parallels the account of the First Crusade by the priest and crusader Peter Tudebode, ''Historia de Hierosolymitano itinere''. Both chronicles have highly similar details and phrasing, but each account also contains minor details not found in the other. Historians and paleographers dispute the relationship between the chronicles and the order in which they appeared. Historian Jay Rubenstein has suggested that the texts share a fuller, common source which has since been lost.Rubenstein, Jay (2005).
What is the Gesta Francorum, and who was Peter Tudebode?
. ''Revue Mabillon''. 16: 179–204. doi:10.1484/J.RM.2.303576. This is disputed by Marcus Bull who claims that the ''Gesta'' is indeed “the earliest surviving narrative telling the course of the First Crusade.”Bull, Marcus (2012). The Relationship Between the Gesta Francorum and Peter Tudebode’s Historia de Hierosolymitano Itinere. I
Crusades, Volume 11
(2012). By Benjamin Z. Kedar, Jonathan Phillips, Jonathan Riley-Smith.

Readings of ''Gesta Francorum''

Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum - Liber I (The First Crusade).webm, Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum - Liber I, in Latin, English subtitles File:Gesta Francorum - Liber II (Siege of Nicaea).webm, Gesta Francorum - Liber II, Siege of Nicaea, in Latin, with English subtitles File:Gesta Francorum - Liber VI (Battle outside Antioch).webm, Gesta Francorum - Liber VI (Battle outside Antioch) in Latin with English subtitles File:Gesta Francorum - Liber X (Capture of Jerusalem and Battle of Ascalon).webm, Gesta Francorum - Liber X (Capture of Jerusalem and Battle of Ascalon) in Latin with English subtitles

References

*Louis Bréhier (ed. and trans.), ''Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum'', 1964. French translation. *''Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum'', edited and translated by Rosalind Hill, Oxford, 1967. Latin text with facing-page English translation. * {{cite book, last=Lapina, first=Elizabeth, title=Warfare and the Miraculous in the Chronicles of the First Crusade, year=2015, publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press, url=https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-06670-7.html, isbn=9780271066707

External links

1890 critical edition
by Heinrich Hagenmeyer (at the

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) Crusade literature First Crusade 12th-century Latin books Crusade chronicles