The Deeds of the Franks and Other Jerusalem-Bound Pilgrims The Deeds of the Franks and Other Jerusalem-Bound Pilgrims The Earliest Chronicle of the First Crusades Edited and Translated by Nirmal Dass ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2011 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolymitanorum. English. The deeds of the Franks and other Jerusalem-bound pilgrims : the earliest chronicle of the first crusades / edited and translated by Nirmal Dass. p. cm. Summary: “This new translation offers a faithful yet accessible English- language rendering of the twelfth-century Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolomitanorum, the earliest known Latin account of the First Crusade. The exemplar for all later histories and retellings of the First Crusade, it is filled with vivid descriptions of the hardships suffered by the crusaders, with deeds of personal heroism, with courtly intrigues, with betrayal and cowardice, and with a relentless faith that would see the attainment of the desired goal: the capture of Jerusalem by the crusaders in 1095. It is also a sweeping tale that swiftly moves from the first preaching of the crusade by Pope Urban II, to the ragtag and ultimately doomed effort of the popular People’s Crusade, and then to the more disciplined and concerted campaign by the French and Norman nobility that led to the conquest of the Holy Land by the crusaders. Based on the latest scholarly research, including a substantive introduction that explores the questions surrounding the Gesta and that sets it in its historical context, this definitive translation will bring the First Crusade and its era to life for all readers” —Provided by publisher. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4422-0497-3 (hardback) — ISBN 978-1-4422-0498-0 (paperback) — ISBN 978-1-4422-0499-7 (electronic) 1. Crusades—First, 1096–1099. I. Dass, Nirmal, 1962– II. Title. D161.1.G413 2011 956’.014—dc23 2011022885  ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America Contents Introduction 1 The Deeds of the Franks and Other Jerusalemites The First Narrative: Year-End 1095 to February 1097 25 The Second Narrative: February 20 to June 19, 1097 33 The Third Narrative: The Crusaders in Asia Minor— July 1097 41 The Fourth Narrative: The Crusaders March to Antioch— July to October 1097 45 The Fifth Narrative: October to December 1097 51 The Sixth Narrative: The Siege of Antioch Continues— December 1097 to February 1098 55 The Seventh Narrative: The Siege of Antioch Continues— March 1098 61 The Eighth Narrative: March to June 1098 65 The Ninth Narrative: June 1098 71 The Tenth Narrative: July 1098 to August 1099 89 Description of the Holy Places of Jerusalem 109 Mass in Veneration of the Holy Sepulcher 113 Verse in Praise of Bohemond 115 v vi Contents Four Names 117 Notes 119 Selected Bibliography 149 Index 151 Introduction AUTHORSHIP T he Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum (the Gesta), or “the deeds of the Franks and other Jerusalemites,” is the primal source for the First Crusade.1 The various other extant chronicles of this crusade chiefly depend upon it for episodic and narrative structure, although the Gesta’s primacy has often been questioned.2 The title of the work has been given to it from the earliest manuscript tradition, and the Latin term Hierosolimitanorum, or “of the Jerusalemites,” in the title of the work points to a medieval practice of associating pilgrims with the holy place they were going to visit. Thus, the crusaders were Jerusale- mites because they were pilgrims on their way to the Holy Sepulcher (the tomb in which Jesus was buried) in Jerusalem. The Gesta is an anonymous work; nor can it be clearly ascertained where it might have been written. Paleographic evidence firmly suggests a European origin; handwriting practiced in the Latin Near East was markedly different.3 The manuscripts also suggest a date around the first half of the twelfth century—well within living memory of the various events described in the Gesta. If an original version of the Gesta existed in Jerusalem, it has not survived; we only have European copies of it. The fact that some sort of a book about the First Crusade might have existed in Jerusalem is certain, since a visitor there states that he saw such a little book, a libellus, in 1101. The visitor’s name was Ekkehard of Aura, the famous 1