Fulcher of Chartres

Fulcher of Chartres (born around 1059 in or near Chartres) was a chronicler of the First Crusade.

His appointment as chaplain of Baldwin of Boulogne in 1097 suggests that he had been trained as a prist, most likely at the school in Chartres. However, he was probably not a member of the cathedral chapter, since he is not named in the listing of the Dignitaries of the Church of Our Lady of Chartres.

With the bishop Ivo of Chartres, who impressed on Fulcher his thoughts about the Church (the need for reform, and for an understanding with the Holy Roman Empire), Fulcher possibly attended the Council of Clermont in 1095.

Fulcher was part of the entourage of Count Stephen of Blois which made its way through southern France and upper Italy towards Constantinople in 1096, where the armies of the First Crusade met. Along with the crusader armies Fulcher travelled through Asia Minor. In Marasch, shortly before the army's arrival at Antioch in 1097, Fulcher was appointed chaplain to Baldwin of Boulogne. He followed his new lord after Baldwin split off from the main army, to Edessa where Baldwin founded a new county. After the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 Fulcher followed Baldwin there as well. After Baldwin had become king of Jerusalem in 1100, Fulcher probably remained Baldwin's chaplain until 1115. After 1115 he was the canon of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and was probably responsible for the relics and treasures in the church. Fulcher died most likely in the spring of 1127.

At the earliest, Fulcher began his chroncile in the late autumn of 1100, at the latest in the spring of 1101, in a version that has not survived but which was transmitted to Europe during his lifetime. He began his work at the urging of his travelling companions, who probably included Baldwin I. He had at least one library in Jerusalem at his disposal, which helped him to write his chronicle. In this library the Gesta Francorum of Raymond of Aguilers must have been available, which served as a source for much of the specific information in Fulcher's work.

Fulcher divided his chronicle into three books. Book I described 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 described the deeds of Baldwin I, who succeeded Godfrey and was king of Jerusalem from 1100 to 1118. The third and final book reported on the life of king Baldwin II, until 1127 when there was a plague in Jerusalem, during which Fulcher died.

Fulcher's work was used by many other chroniclers who lived after him. William of Tyre used part of the chronicle as a source, and Guibert of Nogent, a contemporary of Fulcher in Europe, knew the work. His chronicle, however, may not be completely true. Some details have been disproved by more recent research and comparisons with other chronicles of the time.