Fulcher of Chartres

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Fulcher of Chartres, Latin Fulcherus Carnotensis, French Foucher de Chartres (*  1059 in or near Chartres , France, † probably 1127 in Jerusalem ) was a participant and one of the most important chroniclers of the First Crusade (1096-1099).

Life

Fulcher's appointment as chaplain in 1097 suggests that he had received ecclesiastical training up to priesthood , most likely at the Chartres school. But he was probably not a member of the cathedral chapter , as he is not listed in the directory of the "Dignitaires de l'Eglise de Notre-Dame de Chartres". He was present at the Synod of Clermont in 1095 together with Bishop Ivo of Chartres , who shaped Fulcher's thinking about the Church with his zeal for reform and his nevertheless understanding attitude to the monarchy .

Following Count Stephan von Blois-Chartres , Fulcher set out in 1096 through southern France and northern Italy in the direction of Rome to get to Constantinople , where the crusader army gathered. Together with the crusader army, Fulcher travels through Asia Minor . In Marash , shortly before Antioch , he was in 1097 for Kaplan of Count Baldwin of Boulogne appointed. He follows his new master after the split from the main army to Edessa , whose count Baldwin becomes. After conquering Jerusalem in 1099, Fulcher followed Balduin into the city. After Baldwin became king of Jerusalem in 1100, Fulcher moved with his master to Jerusalem and probably remained Baldwin's chaplain until 1115.

He then resigned from office and became a canon of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, where he probably took care of the relic of the cross , possibly even as a "treasurer" (thesaurus sancti sepulchri). Fulcher most likely died in the fall of 1127.

The Chronicle Historia Hierosolymitana

Fulcher begins his chronicle Historia Hierosolymitana at the earliest in late autumn 1100, at the latest in autumn 1101 in a version that is no longer preserved, but which must have come to Europe during his lifetime.

He justifies his work with the insistence of some traveling companions (compares mei), to whom Baldwin I probably belonged, “so as not to allow what was worth remembering to be forgotten”. At least one library in Jerusalem was available to him to help him work out the chronicle. The Gesta Francorum Expugnantium Iherusalem of Raimund von Aguilers must have been present in this library, which serve as sources for him about the individual trains.

Fulcher divides his chronicle into three books:

  • The first book deals with the preparations for the first crusade in Clermont in 1095 up to the conquest of Jerusalem and the establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem by Godfrey of Bouillon .
  • The second book tells the deeds of Baldwin I , the successor of Gottfried and King of Jerusalem from 1100 to 1118.
  • The third and last book reports on the life of King Baldwin II and breaks off with the description of an epidemic in Jerusalem in 1127, which indicates the death of Fulcher.

Fulcher's work was used by many later chroniclers. William of Tire partially used the chronicle as a source. Also Guibert of Nogent , a contemporary Fulchers in Europe, knew his work. Like any other medieval or contemporary work of history, however, his work must not be regarded as one hundred percent true. According to recent research, some details have been refuted or contradict other chroniclers.

expenditure

Relevant historical-critical edition :

Older editions:

  • Foulcher de Chartres: Histoire des Croisades. In: Collection des mémoires relatifs à l'histoire de France. [24]. Briere, Paris 1825, pp. 1-275 .
  • Fulcherio Carnotensi: Historia Iherosolymitana. Gesta Francorum Iherusalem Peregrinatium. From Anno Domini MXCV usque ad Annum MCXXVII. In: Recueil des historiens des croisades . Historiens Occidentaux. Volume 3. Imprimerie Impériale, Paris 1866, pp. 311-485 .

Translations

  • Fulcher of Chartres: A History of the Expedition to Jerusalem. 1095-1127. Translated by Frances Rita Ryan. Edited with an introduction by Harold S. Fink. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville TN 1969.
  • Fulcher von Chartres, Historia Hierosolymitana, in: The First Crusade. The Chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres and Other Source Materials, ed. by Edward Peters, 2nd Ed. Philadelphia 1998, pp. 47-101. [only book I]
  • Foucher de Chartres: Histoire de la Croisade. Le récit d'un témoin de la Première Croisade. 1095-1106. Traduction par François Guizot (1825). Presentation de Jeanne Ménard. Cosmopole, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-84630-001-1 .

literature

  • Verena Epp : Fulcher from Chartres. Studies on the history of the first crusade (= Studia humaniora. Vol. 15). Droste, Düsseldorf 1990, ISBN 3-7700-0819-7 (also: Düsseldorf, University, dissertation, 1988).
  • Verena Epp: Fulcher from Chartres . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 4, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-7608-8904-2 , Sp. 1015 f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.manfredhiebl.de/Fulcher-von-Chartres/leserbriefe_fulcher-von-chartres.htm
personal data
SURNAME Fulcher of Chartres
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fulcherus Carnotensis (Latin); Foucher de Chartres (French)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chronicler of the first crusade
DATE OF BIRTH 1059
PLACE OF BIRTH Chartres
DATE OF DEATH around 1127
Place of death Jerusalem