Deeds of the Franks and Other Jerusalem-Bound Pilgrims

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, deeds of personal heroism, courtly intrigues, betrayal and cowardice, and a relentless faith that would see the attainment of the desired goal: the capture of Jerusalem by the crusaders in 1099. 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.

Nirmal Dass researches the Early and High Middle Ages. His previous books include Viking Attacks on Paris: The Bella parisiacae urbis of Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and The Crowning of Louis.