Four Accounts on the First Crusade by Fulcher of Chartres

Four Accounts on the First Crusade by Fulcher of Chartres

Introduction

The Crusades are presented layman topic already well-studied and therefore, it may seem that this work may be unnecessary in the long list on the topic. However, this is not the case. Due to certain reasons, features of time and geography course of this process, it is impossible cover fully all that concerned this is definitely one of the most important events of the Middle Ages.

Discussion

About the Author and Book

Writer of this account, Fulcher of Chartres was a chaplain of one of the crusade leaders and that is why he wrote this account for posterity. Due to the fact that he witnessed the first crusade, his chronicles are quiet accurate and he is able to note down different perspectives from different people. He has also used public views, used the biblical quotations and imagery for describing the event.

His account includes excerpts from the medieval chronicles such as the chronicles of Fulk le Rechin, many accounts from Peter Tudebode, Jewish sources about the Jews' persecution in Germany and many excerpts for the Arab Chronicles of Ibn-al-Qalanisi and Ibn al-Athir. Many letters from Pope Urban II regarding crusade are also included in his account of first crusade. For the description of siege of Antioch, the poem “The Song of Antioch” is also included.

Source Analyses

Introducing the words in the subject title "Byzantine" and "Jewish" author does not set aims to analyze the perception of the influence and importance of the Crusades hikes in the tradition and culture of the peoples concerned (or if allowed to say so - a civilization) as of the period, and the subsequent . The author's task is different: by specifying a certain amount of information necessary for the perception of the time to make comparisons of products Jewish, Byzantine, Christian and Muslim authors. In order to learn how to have noted above, what influence the Crusades to those who was influenced by them, whether there are similarities or differences in the perception of ambiguous phenomenon contemporaries who belong to very differing cultures.

The First Crusade was conceived in November 1095 Claremont Congress, where Pope Urban II called the Christian world, the release of the Holy Land from Muslim rule. In December 1095 north-French Jewish community sent a letter to the Rhine brothers, perhaps as a response to an earlier attack of the crusaders in Rhine, warning them of the serious threat that may be new and rapidly growing movement. Due to the fact that they bribed Crusaders, the French Jewish community was saved for the most part from direct attacks that their co-religionists in Germany had testing. From France, a few consecutive groups Crusaders moved to the Rhine lands. The attack on the ... Speyer over murder Twelve Jews who refused to convert to Christianity, and the remaining were rescued by the local bishop. In mid-May, it was quite an attack on the Jewish community in ...