What factor does the Alexiad argue as being the most important for causing the first crusade to be successful?

Question

also if anyone knows that about the gesta francorum it would be nice to tell me

Answer 1

Hey Jack R,

from the first web Site:

"at the Council of Piacenza in 1095, Pope Urban II was impressed by Alexios's appeal for help, which spoke of the suffering of the Christians of the east, and hinted at a possible union of the eastern and western churches. Pope Urban wanted to find a way in which the martial energy of the western nobility could be channelled to benefit the church. Alexios's appeal offered a means not only to accomplish this goal, but also to consolidate the authority of the Pope over Christendom by uniting all Christian nations under one common cause.

First Crusade

Medieval manuscript depicting the Capture of Jerusalem during the First CrusadeOn 27 November 1095, Pope Urban II called together a council of bishops and clergy in Clermont in France. There, amid a crowd of thousands who had come to hear his words, he urged all those present to take up arms under the banner of the Cross and launch a holy war to recover Jerusalem and the east from the 'infidel' Muslims. Enticed by the offering of eternal salvation to all those who took part in the great enterprise, many promised to carry out the Pope's command, and word of the Crusade soon spread across Europe.

The help which Alexios had wanted from the West was simply mercenary forces and not the immense hosts which soon arrived, to his consternation and embarrassment. The first group, under Peter the Hermit, he sent to Asia Minor, ordering them to stay close to the coast and await reinforcements. However, the unruly crusaders refused to listen and began looting and pillaging the local inhabitants, who were all Christian. As they marched on Nicaea, in 1096, they were caught by the Turks and massacred almost to the last man."

Answer 2

Here is the article on the Gesta Francorum from Wikipedia:

"The so-called Gesta Francorum ("The Deeds of the Franks") or in full De Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum ("The deeds of the Franks and the other pilgrims to Jerusalem") is a Latin chronicle of the First Crusade written in circa 1100-1101 by an anonymous author connected with Bohemund I of Antioch.

"It narrates the events of the First Crusade from the inception in November 1095 to the Battle of Ascalon in August 1099. The name of the author is unknown, but he was a member of the crusading party, either Norman or Italian, recruited by Bohemund of Taranto in 1096 from the duchy of Apulia. His narrative of the trip to Jerusalem, initially under the leadership of Bohemond and then Raymond of Toulouse, was composed and written during the journey. He had the help of a scribe who made occasional edits of his own, and thus the chronicle provides invaluable viewpoints of a knight who was not a high level leader or cleric.

"The most important historical contribution is the day to day events of the journey: tactical operations, provisionings, changing moods of the crusaders, the anti-Greek prejudice, progress of each day.

"To his literary contemporaries, the anonymous author was a "rustic". Guibert of Nogent wrote his Dei gesta per Francos (1108) based on it, saying the original "frequently left the reader stunned with its insipid vacuity".

"Robert the Monk of Rheims was later commissioned to re-write the entire work for literary and historical improvements while Baudri of Dol also later re-wrote a version of "this rustic little work". However the original has persisted and today it remains one of the most valuable contemporary sources of the First Crusade."