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Internet Medieval Sourcebook
Selected Sources: The Crusades
The First Crusade
Urban II's Speech, 1095
Attacks on the Jews
The Journeys and Battles of the Crusade
The Historians of the First Crusade
The Kingdom of Jerusalem
Christian Muslim Interaction
The Crusader Orders
Hospitallers
Teutonic Knights
The Second Crusade and Aftermath
Calling the Crusade
Criticism of the Crusade
The Third Crusade
Latin Problems
The Loss of Jerusalem
The Failure of Europe's Monarchs
The German Crusade of 1197
The Fourth Crusade
The Fifth and Later Crusades
St Louis' Crusades
The Fall of the Latin East
The Effects of the Crusade Ideal in the West
WEB Crusader Sources in Translation
WEB The Crusades: Bibliography by Paul Halsall [PDF - updated 2019]
WEB The Crusades, online course material by Paul Halsall [At Internet Archive, from UNF]
Evolution of Crusader Privileges, 1095-1270.
Leo IV (r.847-855): Forgiveness of Sins for Those Who Dies in Battle, c.850.
John VIII (r. 872-882): Indulgence for Fighting the Heathen, 878.
Letaldus of Micy: Journey of the Relics of St. Junianus, including a description of the Peace Council of Charroux in 989. Trans. by Thomas Head [At ORB]
Andrew of Fleury: Miracles of St. Benedict. Trans. by Thomas Head [At ORB]
A description of the Peace League of Bourges and its campaign in 1038.
For pilgrimage to Jerusalem, see Ralph Glaber (d.c.1044): The Year 1000 AD from the Miracles de Saint-Benoit.
Gregory VII: Call for a "Crusade", 1074.
Annalist of Nieder-Altaich: The Great German Pilgrimage of 1064-65.
There are many translations of texts about the First Crusade. Dana C. Munro ["Urban and the Crusaders", Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History, Vol 1:2, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1895)] and August. C. Krey, [The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses and Participants, (Princeton: 1921)] both translated selections of crusader sources organized around events. There have been more recent translation of many of these texts [see WEB Crusader Sources in Translation], but they are still copyrighted. Here the texts by Krey and Munro are presented in two ways: first as printed - with collected texts from various historians on a specific issue; and then with all the available texts from each historian collected together.
Urban II: Speech at Clermont: Five Versions.
Accounts by Fulcher of Chartres, Robert the Monk, The Gesta, Balderic of Dol, and Guibert of Nogent. Plus Urban's Letter of December 1095.
See also Catholic Encyclopedia: Pope Bl. Urban II and Catholic Encyclopedia: Crusades.
Fulcher of Chartres: Chronicle of the First Crusade - Urban II's Speech at Clermont.
Robert the Monk: Urban II's Speech at Clermont.
Ekkehard of Aurach: On the Opening of the First Crusade .
Albert of Aix and Ekkehard of Aura: Emico and the Slaughter of the Rhineland Jews.
Solomon Bar Simson: Account of First Crusade, copyrighted
Soloman bar Samson: The Crusaders in Mainz, 1096, written in mid 12th century.
The horrific attacks on Rhineland Jewry.
Peter the Hermit and the Popular Crusade: Collected Accounts.
Accounts of Guibert de Nogent, William of Tyre, Albert of Aix, Ekkhard of Aura, Anna Comnena, and the Gesta.
The Crusaders Journey to Constantinople: Collected Accounts.
Accounts of the Gesta, Albert of Aix, and Raymond d'Aguiliers.
The Crusaders at Constantinople: Collected Accounts.
Accounts of Anna Comnena, the Gesta, Albert of Aix, and Raymond d'Aguiliers.
[Geary 28.4] Anna Comnena: On A Rude Crusader . (Geary includes more (copyrighted) material than this extract.)
The Siege and Capture of Nicea: Collected Accounts.
Accounts of The Gesta, Raymond d'Aguiliers, Anna Comnena, and Alexius I' Letter to Abbot of Monte Cassino.
The Siege and Capture of Antioch: Collected Accounts.
Accounts of The Gesta and Raymond d'Aguiliers.
The Siege and Capture of Jerusalem: Collected Accounts.
Accounts of The Gesta, Raymond d'Aguiliers, Letters of Manasses II, Pope Paschal II, and account of Fulcher of Chartres.
[Tierney 40, Geary 28.1] Fulcher (Fulk) of Chartres: The Capture of Jerusalem, 1099. [Longer extracts in Geary]
Crusader Letters.
Fulcher (Fulk) of Chartres: Chronicle.
Guibert of Nogent (1053-1124): Historia quae dicitur Gesta Dei per Francos.
Albert of Aix: Chronicle.
Ekkehard of Aura: Hierosolymita and World Chronicle.
Anna Comnena (1083-after 1148): The Alexiad. [Full text]
The account of her father, the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I, by Princess Anna Comnena is perhaps the most important historical work by a woman writer written before the modern period.
Anna Comnena (1083-after 1148): The Alexiad [Books 10 and 11].
See also Catholic Encyclopedia: Anna Comnena.
Gesta Francorum.
Raymund d'Aguiliers: Historia Francorum qui ceperunt Iherusalem.
William of Tyre (c.1130- 1190): History of Deeds done Beyond the Sea, excerpts..
William of Tyre's account extends here to the the 1180s.
Guillame de Tyr (William of Tyre) (c.1130- 1190): Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum [History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea], full text of Old French version (13th century)
Books 1-9 the Old French translation from the edition of Paulin.
Books 10-16 ditto
Books 23-34, the continuation, from the Recueil des historiens des croisades
Chronique du Templier de Tyr, from Les gestes des Chiprois as edited by Gaston Raynaud.
William of Tyre: Godfrey Of Bouillon Becomes "Defender Of The Holy Sepulcher.
The Latin Kings of Jerusalem (chronology).
Documents relating to the Military Orders: The Siege of Ascalon, 1153: According to Contemporary or Near-contemporary Western European Sources (trans. Helen Nicholson)
The Taxes of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Fulcher (Fulk) of Chartres: The Latins in the East (Chronicle, Bk III).
[Geary 28.3] Ibn Al-Athir: Account of First Crusade, copyrighted
[Tierney 41] Usamah (1095-1188): Autobiography - on the Crusades, copyrighted: see next items
Usmah Ibn Munqidh (1095-1188): Autobiography: Excerpts on the Franks, c.1175 CE.
Usmah Ibn Munqidh (1095-1188): On European Piracy, c.1175 CE. [At Internet Archive, from CCNY]
Usmah Ibn Munqidh (1095-1188): On Muslim and Christian Piety, c.1175 CE. [At CCNY]
The Tale of Two Hashish-Easters (Traditional), and another Hashish Tale, from Arabian Nights [At Drug Library]
Philip K. Hitti : The Assasins [At Drug Library]
A Christian-Muslim Debate [12th Century].
Bills of Sale for Saracen Slave Girls, 1248
Catholic Encyclopedia: The Military Orders
Documents relating to the Military Orders: How William became a monk
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153): In Praise of the New Knighthood, early 12th Century, on the Templars.
See also Catholic Encyclopedia: Bernard of Clairvaux, The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: Bernard of Clairvaux, Catholic Encyclopedia: The Knights Templars, and Catholic Encyclopedia: Hospitallers of St. John Of Jerusalems (Knights of Malta).
William of Tyre: The Foundation of the Order of Knights Templar.
Primitive Rule of the Templars, 1129. [At ORB]
The Rule and Statutes of the Teutonic Knights, 1264. [At ORB]
See the ORB Military Orders Page on this.
Documents relating to the Baltic Crusade 1199-1266
the Baltic Crusade 1199-1266
William of Tyre: The Fall of Edessa.
Otto of Freising: The Legend of Prester John.
Eugenius III: Call for Second Crusade, Dec. 1, 1146. See also Catholic Encyclopedia: Pope Blessed Eugene III.
Osbernus: De expugnatione Lyxbonensi [The Capture of Lisbon], 1147.
The first, and most lasting, military encounter of the Second Crusade was the Capture of Lisbon.
Conrad II: Letters to the Abbot of Corvey, 1148.
On the failures of the Germans' Crusade.
Odo of Deuil: The Crusade of Louis VII.
Odo, Louis VII's chaplain, recounts the preaching of St. Bernard, and the journey of the army.
William of Tyre: The Fiasco at Damascus, 1148.
Annales Herbipolenses, s.a. 1147: A Hostile View of the Crusade.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153): Apologia for the Second Crusade.
William of Tyre: Latin Disarray, 1150-1185.
Aymeric, patriarch of Antioch: The Decline of Christian Power in the Holy Land, 1164, Letter to Louis VII of France. See also Catholic Encyclopedia: Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Ansbert: Letter from the East to the Master of the Hospitallers, 1187.
Ernoul, a Frank: The Battle of Hattin, 1187. [At Hillsdale]
Ernoul: The Battle of Hattin, 1187.
De Expugatione Terrae Sanctae: The Battle of Hattin, 1187.
De Expugatione Terrae Sanctae: The Capture of Jerusalem by Saladin, 1187.
Roger of Hoveden: The Fall Of Jerusalem, 1187.
Henry II, King of England: The Saladin Tithe, 1188
The Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa: Letters, 1189.
Letters by Frederick I and Ex-Queen Sibylla blaming the Byzantine Emperor for problems.
Historia de Expeditione Frederici Imperatoris: Death of Frederick Barbarossa, 1190.
Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi: Richard the Lion-Hearted Conquers Cyprus, 1191.
Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi: The Siege and Capture of Acre, 1191.
Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi: Philip Augustus Returns to France, 1191.
Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi: Muslim Hostages Slain at Acre, 1191.
Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi: Richard the Lionheart Makes Peace with Saladin, 1192.
The German Crusade, 1197.
Letter of the Duke of Lorrain to the Archbishop of Cologne, 1197 - before the crusade was checked by the death of Henry VI.
The Fourth Crusade 1204: Collected Sources.
Texts from Villehardoun, Robert de Clari, Choniates, etc.
Geoffry de Villehardouin: Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and The Conquest of Constantinople, full text
Robert de Clari: The Capture of Constantinople, selections.
Nicetas Choniates: Capture of Constantinople, 1204.
Innocent III: Letter 136: Reprimand of Papal Legate, 1204.
After the Fourth Crusade, the nature of the movement changed. Never again was there a general multinational crusade directed at the Holy Land. The experiences of 1187-92 had shown that Egypt was the base of Muslim power, and so expeditions were directed there. It would be a mistake to see the end of crusading fervour however. During the thirteenth century there were eight large expeditions, as well as other manifestations of crusading ideas. None of these expeditions could avoid the effects of the rise of the Mongols and Mamelukes in the Middle East - where armies increased in size and made the small Western units meaningless. The eight thirteenth-century expeditions were:
1218, Andrew of Hungary's Crusade
1218-21, The Fifth Crusade
1228-29, Frederick II's Crusade
1239, Thibaut of Navarre's Crusade
1240-41, Richard of Cornwall's Crusade
1248-54, The Sixth Crusade - St. Louis's Crusade
1270-72, Edward of England's (Later Edward II) Crusade
1270 St. Louis's second Crusade [To Tunis]
Cologne Chronicle: The Children's Crusade, 1212.
Innocent III: Summons to a Crusade, 1215.
Philip de Novare: The Crusade of Frederick II, 1228-29.
Frederick II's Crusade: Letters, 1229.
Letters by Frederick II: To Henry III of England, and by Gerold, Patriarch of Jerusalem, To All the Faithful, 1229.
The Capture of Jerusalem, 1244.
Letter from the Master of the Hospitalers at Jerusalem, to Lord De Lamaye.
St. Louis's Crusades
Jean de Joinville: Memoirs , full text. [At Virginia]
Al-Makrisi: Arab Account of the Crusade of St. Louis.
Guy, A Knight: Letter from the Sixth Crusade, 1249.
Ludolph of Suchem: The Fall of Acre, 1291 Philip de Novare: The Crusade of Frederick II, 1228-29.
Battle of Lepanto
Allenby in Jerusalem
NOTES: copyrighted means the text is not available for free distribution. In some cases alternate versions are available, and are working through the pipeline. Dates of accession of material can be seen in the New Accessions Page. The date of inception was 1/20/1996. Links to files at other site are indicated by [At some indication of the site name or location]. No indication means that the text file is local. WEB indicates a link to one of small number of high quality web sites which provide either more texts or an especially valuable overview.
The Internet Medieval Sourcebook is part of the Internet History Sourcebooks Project. The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York. The Internet Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at the Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University. Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.
© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 27 January 2023