The Franks and the first crusade in the Dei gesta per Francos (1108-1109)

• Grant number: 20/05496-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2020
• End date: August 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Cândido da Silva
• Grantee: Eric Cyon Rodrigues
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The First Crusade has attracted the interest of many historians throughout the centuries. Authors from many regions and different periods wrote texts attempting to understand the causes and the nature of such an event. It did not take much time for the firsts medieval chronicles to appear and try to interpret the expedition, using it to defend ideas and to construct historical discourses. Guibert of Nogent was one the first to do it when he wrote his Dei Gesta per Francos between the years of 1108 and 1109.Raised and educated in a Benedictine monastery, the abbot decided to rewrite a narrative about the expedition from a previous chronicle, the Gesta Francorum, which its author supposedly participated in the crusade and decided to tell what he had seen there. However, in rewriting it, Guibert provided his own interpretation on the subject, describing and explaining through sources an event that he had not witnessed. In this sense, he is an intermediary between the past and his readers. Our goal is to investigate his interpretation. We aimed to analyze the methodological choices employed by Guibert when he wrote his narrative defining what will be posteriorly called "First Crusade". We will focus on how the abbot took the past to praise the Franks and to grant them the main role on the expedition. Thus, we will contribute to comprehend historical narratives production in the chronicle of Guibert of Nogent.