Gesta Francorum

The Gesta Francorum et aliorum hierosolimitanorum (Latin for " The deeds of the Franks and others who went to Jerusalem " ), short Gesta Francorum, are an account of the First Crusade ( 1095-1099 ) from the pen of an anonymous eyewitness. Already in 1099 the text was completed shortly after the capture of Jerusalem, with the exception of the last book, which was probably written by the beginning of 1101 at the latest. The Gesta Francorum are one of the most important and fascinating sources on the First Crusade.

The anonymous author was probably a follower of the southern Italian Norman prince Bohemund, one of the leaders of the crusade. Can be concluded from this and due to critical textual analysis that the author was a southern Italian Norman himself. In addition, the author, a monk or a cleric might have been low-ranking, since it is apparent from the text that he did not participate in hostilities. The author has probably leave his master Bohemund during the Crusade during the year 1099 and the quota of Raymond IV of Toulouse connected, as the former remained in the conquered Antioch order to set up his own power, area, and instead not on another train to involved. Bohemond took the Gesta Francorum probably 1106 to Italy to obtain from Pope Paschal II support for a new crusade and thereby consolidate its position in Antioch.

Recent research has shown that it is not in the Gesta Francorum to an eyewitness account, but rather a kind of epic in the style of Song of Roland. In order to explain several style elements of the work and the earlier research may be invalidated, some assumed that the text was originally written by a layman and supplemented by a cleric for spiritual content. The importance of the Gesta Francorum arises not least from their secondary use: With a few exceptions based each additional report from the First Crusade on them and uses them as a template or corrective. In particular, the three Benedictine monks Robert of Reims, Balderich of Bourgueil and Guibert of Nogent have written their own well-known crusade chronicles the Gesta Francorum - by his own account, that it had been written in a simple, easily for the importance of the crusade to insignificant Latin. A related presentation was later Jordan of Osnabrück.

The Gesta are divided into 10 chapters and 49 paragraphs. The most interesting places are the reports on the speech of Pope Urban II at Clermont, the train of the Crusaders until after Constantine Opel, the negotiations between the Crusaders and the Byzantine emperor Alexios Komnenos, the capture of Nicaea, Battle of the Eskisehir Mountain, the siege Antioch and the conquest of Jerusalem. Numerous anecdotes provide insight into the everyday life of ordinary Crusader as well as in the balance of power the leader of the crusade to each other, but in each case from the perspective of Norman- southern Italian author, who had no access to the management of the train.

Editions

• Rosalind Hill ( ed. and translator's ): Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum - The deeds of the Franks and the other pilgrims to Jerusalem. ( Medieval Texts ). Nelson, London 1962.
• Louis Bréhier (ed. and translator's ): Histoire de la première Anonymous Croisade. ( Classiques de l' Histoire de France 4 ), Paris 1924.
• Heinrichshagen Meyer (Ed. ): anonymity Gesta Francorum. Heidelberg 1890.
• Philippe Le Bas (ed.) in Recueil des Historiens of Croisades. Historiens occidentaux. ( RHC Occ. ) III, Paris 1866, pp. 121-163.

Translations

• Rosalind Hill ( ed. and translator's ): Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum - The deeds of the Franks and the other pilgrims to Jerusalem. ( Medieval Texts ), Nelson, London 1962.
• Aude Matignon ( translator's ): La gesture of francs: anonymous Chronique de la Première Croisade. Paris 1992.
• Louis Bréhier (ed. and translator's ): Histoire de la première Anonymous Croisade. ( Classiques de l' Histoire de France 4 ), Paris 1924.