Fulcher of Chartres Open this page in a new tab

Fulcher of Chartres, born in 1058 or 1059 CE, came from the area of Chartres in the department of Eure-et-Loire in France and appears to have been a priest or had some type of clerical status. In 1097 CE, during the First Crusade, he became a chaplain to Baldwin I, a French nobleman who served as the Lord of Edessa from 1098 to 1100 CE and then as the first Crusader King of Jerusalem from 1100-1118 CE. Fulcher served as Baldwin I's chaplain until at least 1111 CE and was a resident of Jerusalem from the end of 1100 until at least 1127 CE. He was the author of a three part Latin Chronicle variously titled Historia Hierosolymitana ("History of Jerusalem") or Gesta Francorum Iherusalem peregrinantium ("A history of the expedition to Jerusalem"). This text covered events of the First Crusade and its aftermath continuing until 1127 CE when it abruptly ends. Fulcher appears to have written his Chronicle in Jerusalem between ~1100 and 1127 CE.