Fulcher of Chartres
Fulcher of Chartres
Fulcher of Chartres was a priest who participated in the First Crusade. He served Baldwin I of Jerusalem for many years and wrote a Latin chronicle of the Crusade.
"Who ever heard of such a mixture of languages in one army, since there were French, Flemings, Frisians, Gauls, Allobroges, Lotharingians, Allemani, Bavarians, Normans, English, Scots, Aquitanians, Italians, Dacians, Apulians, Iberians, Bretons, Greeks, and Armenians? If any Breton or Teuton wished to question me, I could neither understand nor answer."
"The material is scanty; the historian must read between the lines; he must above all avoid rash generalizations. It is evident that Arnold was right, human nature has not varied much throughout the ages. While it is not possible to form a picture of an average Crusader, as elusive a character as the economic man, it is possible to form some concept of Fulchers character and limitations, and through him of the acts and points of view of other Crusaders in the time of the First Crusade and in the years when the Kingdom of Jerusalem was still a strong and prosperous colony."
"Many of the people, deserted by their leaders and fearing future want, sold their bows, took up their pilgrims’ staves, and returned to their homes as cowards."
