Fulcher of Chartres Sources

• from Ryan (1969:42-44)

The sources of information used by Fulcher were first, the knowledge that he gained as an eyewitness and participant, second, what he learned from others, sometimes from purposeful inquiry, and third, written sources. He says by way of introduction that he intended to write as exactly as possible what he had seen and remembered.¹ Because Fulcher several times expressed a concern for truth² and sometimes a skepticism of certain of his informants,³ and because his statements where they can be checked usually correspond with those of others, we have gained increased confidence in his work. We are particularly pleased to find that his dates are usually reliable.⁴

Much that Fulcher recorded, particularly in Books I and II, came from his own observations. When he was not a witness, he often learned from those who were, or from documents.

... Because Fulcher seems not to have been the chaplain of Baldwin II and probably stayed near Jerusalem during the reign of this king, he must have obtained from others the details, to be found in Book III, of Baldwin's activities away from Jerusalem.

... Of written sources the two that were most important to Fulcher were the anonymous Gesta and the Historia Francorum of Raymond of Aguilers, which he drew upon for information in Book I.

... He may have found these and other written sources at a library or libraries in Jerusalem, for he refers once to his use of such a facility — "ut in bibliotheca legimus."¹⁸