Date of Birth Probably second half of the 11th century Place of Birth Probably near Toulouse Date of Death Unknown; after 1101 Place of Death Unknown
Biography Raymond of Aguilers was chaplain to Count Raymond IV of Tou- louse (also known as Raymond of St Giles). He accompanied Count Raymond on the First Crusade (1095-99) and co-authored an account of the expedition with a Provençal knight, Pons of Balazun, until Pons was killed at the siege of Arqa (February-May 1099). Raymond addressed his work to the bishop of Viviers and stated that he aimed to correct false stories circulated by cowards and deserters from the army. Much of Raymond’s narrative is concerned with visionaries and the defense of the controversial relic of the Holy Lance said to have been found at Antioch, as well as the role of the poor on the crusade.
MAIN SOURCES OF INFORMATION Primary Most of what we know about Raymond of Aguilers comes from his own work: Raymond d’Aguilers, Historia Francorum qui ceperunt Iherusalem, trans. J. and L. Hill, Philadelphia, 1968 Raymond d’Aguilers, Le ‘Liber’ de Raymond d’Aguilers, ed. J. and L. Hill, Paris, 1969 Secondary J. Rubenstein, ‘Godfrey of Bouillon vs. Raymond of Saint-Gilles. How Caro- lingian kingship trumped millenarianism at the end of the First Cru- sade’, in M. Gabriele and J. Stuckey (eds), The legend of Charlemagne in the Middle Ages. Power, faith and crusade, New York, 2008, 59-75 C. Morris, ‘Policy and visions. The case of the Holy Lance at Antioch’, in J. Gillingham and J.C. Holt (eds), War and government in the Middle Ages, Cambridge, 1984, 33-45 298 raymond of aguilers
J. Richard, ‘Raymond d’Aguilers, historien de la première croisade’, Journal des Savants 3 (1971) 206-12
Works on Christian-Muslim Relations Historia Francorum qui ceperunt Iherusalem, ‘History of the Franks who captured Jerusalem’ Date Approx. 1101 Original Language Latin Description The Historia Francorum qui ceperunt Iherusalem, almost 100 pages of Latin text, was probably completed about 1101. Raymond of Aguilers does not mention the death of Count Raymond at Tripoli in 1105, suggesting he had completed his work before that date. Another cru- sade historian, Fulcher of Chartres (q.v.), who probably finished his account of the First Crusade by 1101, used Raymond’s work, again suggesting an early date for the completion of Raymond’s narrative. Raymond of Aguilers borrowed from the anonymous Gesta Fran- corum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum (q.v.), as did other chroniclers of the First Crusade. He and the writer of the Gesta Francorum shared the conviction that the crusade was directed by God and the crusad- ers themselves were chosen instruments of the Almighty. Raymond’s concerns differ significantly from those of the anonymous author, leading him to make only limited use of the Gesta Francorum and giving his account an entirely different focus. He was himself an eye witness and included his own experience and viewpoint in his narra- tive. He was also close to the leadership and seems to have been better informed regarding their policies and quarrels than the anonymous author. Moreover, Raymond did not use the Gesta uncritically; his narrative is much more than just a derivative of the Gesta Francorum, and has value in its own right. It may be significant that the majority of those who chose to use the Gesta Francorum did not simply make stylistic changes but altered and added considerably to the text. They evidently felt that something was missing and the work was in need of revision. The two narratives differ, moreover, in their presentation and per- ception of crusading ideology. The Gesta Francorum, for example, at times demonizes the Muslims, referring to their language as ‘devilish’,