Raymond of Aguilers

One of our sources for the events of the First Crusade was the participant Raymond of Aguilers of Provence. Raymond was a lay canon (a lay person who has a role in the administration of a church) of the cathedral of Le Puy, and he probably joined the Crusade in the entourage of the bishop of Le Puy, Adhemar, who was also the papal legate.

During the Siege of Antioch in 1098 (pictured here: Kerbogha outside the city) he was ordained and made chaplain to Count Raymond IV of Toulouse. From his extensive Historia Francorum qui ceperunt Iherusalem ("History of the Franks who captured Jerusalem"), we learn a lot of what went on among those leading the Crusade, since he was positioned to be close to their discussions.

He was also close to the lesser population of the Crusade: he says he spent seven months sharing the sleeping quarters of Peter Bartholomew, whose story of visions and finding the Holy Lance that was used to pierce Jesus' side during the Crucifixion is told in Parts One, Two, and Three. Raymond was a firm supporter of Peter's sincerity, but even Raymond noticed that there were discrepancies between Peter's visions and the actual finding of the Lance.

Since it does not mention the demise of Raymond's patron, Count Raymond of Toulouse (28 February 1105), it is likely the Historia was probably written during the Crusade and completed shortly after, and so can be counted on as an accurate memory of events. On that score, however, we must always apply critical thinking: what motives would the medieval historian have for writing? It would be unusual to find a medieval historian who recorded events objectively. There was always an agenda to follow, such as the goodness of a patron or the holiness of an individual who deserved sainthood. Raymond is always careful to record that his observations had witnesses other than himself; however, those witnesses are often anonymous. There is circumstantial evidence that it was completed in 1101, or that at least parts were in circulation, because it is certainly a source used by Fulcher of Chartres for his history.

Raymond's original "boss," Bishop Adhemar of Le Puy, died along the way, but there's an anecdote shared by Raymond about him being "mugged." It shows how both those marching on Crusade and those whose lands were being marched through were exposed to danger. Have a Happy Easter, and I'll see you here tomorrow.

Other Accounts of Clermont

How do we know what happened hundreds of years ago? Sometimes we have an archaeological finds that are subject to interpretation. Sometimes we have direct records, like coroner reports or exchequer accounts that we assume are straightforward. Sometimes we have histories written by contemporaries, or eyewitnesses, but even those we have to look at with a critical eye. Did the author have an agenda? Did the author have an accurate memory of the event? Did the author know how to interpret events?

For example: what did Urban actually say at Clermont on 27 November 1095 to announce the (First) Crusade? Six accounts have survived.

First, we have a letter Urban himself sent to Flanders. He says "a barbaric fury has deplorably afflicted and laid waste the churches of God in the regions of the Orient" (because he has had a request from the emperor in Constantinople for help with the Turks) and makes a passing reference to Jerusalem by saying the barbarism has "even grasped in intolerable servitude its churches and the Holy City of Christ, glorified by His passion and resurrection." Interestingly, there is no indication that this Crusade has as its main purpose taking over Jerusalem from non-Christians.

There is also the Gesta Francorum ("Deeds of the Franks"), an anonymous history written only a few years after 1095, that simply says Urban called upon people to "take up the way of the Lord" and be prepared to suffer in the undertaking. This account suggests that Urban was calling on the Franks specifically for this task, and caused the Franks to sew crosses onto the right shoulders of their garments to indicate their willingness.

Two eyewitness accounts exist. Fulcher of Chartres was a chaplain whose detailed account of the Council of Clermont (in the week preceding the announcement) gives an account in which he claims to record only things that he saw with his own eyes. He is the best (we think) account of what Urban actually said.

Robert the Monk is the other account. Robert says he was an eyewitness to Urban's speech, and he may have been: Robert has been identified as a former abbot of Saint-Remi who lived from c.1055 - 1122. Writing more than ten years after the speech, he embellishes it (compared to Fulcher's version) and makes it more dramatic. It is Robert who claims that the crowds as one shouted Deus vult ("God wills it!") at the conclusion of the announcement.

Two more accounts that do not claim to have been present exist. Guibert, the abbot of Nogent, adds his own emphasis on returning Jerusalem to Christian possession to fulfill prophecies about the Apocalypse. Baldric, the archbishop of Dol, seems to re-write the account from the Gesta Francorum and emphasize the Crusade as an appeal to chivalry. Part of Urban's focus during the Council was to reign in violence caused by Christian knights in the West.

We take what we can get from the historical record and hope we can assemble the jigsaw puzzle of historical events.

Tomorrow I'll tell you a little more about Guibert of Nogent and his very "modern" skepticism about something that scholarship definitely agrees with, no matter what people in the Middle Ages believed.