TheGesta Francorum (Deeds of the Franks), orGesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum (Deeds of the Franks and the other pilgrims to Jerusalem), is a Latin chronicle of theFirst Crusade by an anonymous author connected withBohemond of Taranto.[1]
It narrates the events of the First Crusade from theCouncil of Clermont in 1095 to theBattle of Ascalon in August 1099. The name of the author is unknown, but he was a member of the crusading party, eitherNorman orItalian, recruited by Bohemond in 1096 from Apulia in theDuchy of Naples. His narrative of the trip toJerusalem, initially under the leadership of Bohemond and thenRaymond 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 wrote hisDei gesta per Francos (1108) based on it, saying the original "frequently left the reader stunned with its insipid vacuity".Robert the Monk was later commissioned to re-write the entire work asHistoria Hierosolymitana for literary and historical improvements. It was later rewritten byBaudri of Dol and in theHistoria Belli Sacri. However the original has persisted and today it remains one of the most valuable contemporary sources of the First Crusade.[2]
Steven Runciman[3] writes of theGesta:
TheGesta Francorum closely parallels the account of the First Crusade by the priest and crusaderPeter 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. HistorianJay Rubenstein has suggested that the texts share a fuller, common source which has since been lost.[4] This is disputed by Marcus Bull who claims that theGesta is indeed “the earliest surviving narrative telling the course of the First Crusade.”[5]