Gesta Francorum

Gesta Francorum (Deeds of the Franks), or Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum (Deeds of the Franks and the other pilgrims to Jerusalem), is the name given to one of a family of Latin narrative accounts of the First Crusade. Its simplicity, relative brevity, and similarity to a number of other Latin accounts of the crusade have led scholars to advance a number of theories about the work's authorship, date, and relationship to the larger corpus of Latin crusade chronicles. Although it is still often cited as a stand-alone account of a single author, there is little agreement about the context or authorship of the work nor its exact place within the corpus. Its status as a very early account of the events, informed directly by the experiences of those that took part, is unquestioned. It remains one of the most important sources for the history of the First Crusade.