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Fulcher of Chartres (c. 1059–c. 1127) took part in the First Crusade and served as chaplain to Baldwin of Boulogne, later the first king of Jerusalem. His history is in three books: the first covers the Council of Clermont, the crusade and the capture of Jerusalem in 1099; the second, the reign of Baldwin I; the third, the reign of Baldwin II, breaking off around 1127. In his preface he explains that he wrote at the urging of companions, in a rustic but truthful style, recording what he saw with his own eyes on the journey. A genealogy of Charlemagne’s descendants is appended. The middle of the work recounts the taking of Acre and Bohemond’s voyage to Apulia.
Fulcher’s chronicle is one of the principal eyewitness narratives of the First Crusade and the main source for the early history of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. It is notable for his reflections on how Westerners settled in the East became “Orientals”. The work was used by many later historians of the crusades, and it remains essential reading for the period. Fulcher revised the work over many years.
About this edition. The Latin text comes from Corpus Corporum, the Latin text repository of the University of Zurich (edition: Jacques-Paul Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 155, Parisiis 1854), reused with attribution for non-commercial purposes (CC BY-NC-SA). Every word has been analyzed with LatinCy, a neural language model for Latin — click or tap any word for its dictionary form, part of speech, and complete morphology, together with the full entry from Lewis & Short’s A Latin Dictionary.