(begun ca. 1101), and Peter Tudebod’s Historia de Hierosolymitano itinere (before
1111), were read and then reworked, particularly the anonymous Gesta; Baudri of
Bourgueil’s Historia Hierosolymitana (ca. 1107), Robert le Moine’s Hierosolymitana
expeditio (before 1107), and Guibert de Nogent’s Gesta Dei per Francos (ca. 1108) were
all based on the anonymous Gesta. The Pseudo-Turpin chronicle, a 12th-century,
pseudohistorical, Latin Chanson de Roland, was also probably inspired by the First
Crusade. Nor did interest in the crusade cease as it receded in time. Raoul de Caen, a
Norman-trained cleric, wrote the Gesta Tancredi (after 1112) about Norman exploits in
the Middle East. Book 9 of Orderic Vitalis’s Historia Ecclesiastica is devoted to the
crusade. Albert d’Aix wrote the postcrusade history of the Middle East (after 1120), as
did Gilo and Fulco in their verse history (mid-12th c.).
Regional histories continued to flourish alongside these broader works. Norman
writers were still active. Orderic’s Historia Ecclesiastica is a universal history from
Creation to 1141, but Anglo-Norman affairs predominate after Book 2. Orderic also
interpolated Guillaume de Jumièges’s work. New histories appeared at Bec; Robert de
Torigny wrote a Gesta of the abbots, added an eighth book to Guillaume de Jumièges,
and began a major chronicle based on the universal chronicle of Sigebert de Gembloux
(d. 1112). When Robert became abbot of Mont-Saint-Michel in 1154, he reactivated the
local annals and commissioned Guillaume de Saint-Pair to write his French Histoire de
Mont-Saint-Michel (before 1186). This activity was for the most part not directly inspired
by the dukes. Instead, it seems that the Norman historiographic tradition was sufficiently
vital to generate new works on its own, though Étienne de Rouen’s Draco Normannicus,
a polemical Latin verse history of Normandy, was written specifically to influence the
policy of Henry II of England.
Ducal patronage was clearly behind historical writing in Anjou, however, where the
first history is a fragment written by Count Foulques le Rechin (d. 1109). Odo of
Marmoutier began the Gesta consulum Andegavensium, an unofficial work, at roughly
the same time. The Gesta was reworked under official auspices; the last versions were
done by Jean de Marmoutier (ca. 1170), who dedicated the works to Henry II of England.
Where dukes led, kings followed. As part of their efforts to establish their house, the
Capetians, too, sponsored history. Abbot Suger (1081–1151), author of the Latin Vita
Ludovici grossi regis and the unfinished Vita gloriosissimi Ludovici, had no formal title,
but Rigord, writing at Saint-Denis toward the end of the century, was proclaimed royal
chronicler for his Gesta Philippi Augusti (ca. 1196). His successor, Guillaume le Breton,
author of his own account of Philip II, was also an official historian. From the 13th
century on, the Capetians made steady use of Saint-Denis, having learned the old lesson
about the value of historical publicity.
While it might seem more suitable to keep royal historians at court, monasteries were
still better fit to produce history than anyplace else because of their records and libraries;
Saint-Denis was a favorite spot for historical research. Consequently, monasteries
continued to produce major historical works: the chronicle of Sigebert de Gembloux (a
continuation of Jerome’s translation of Eusebius); Robert d’Auxerre’s chronicle (1181–
1211), which came to supplant Sigebert’s; Aubri de Trois-Fontaines’s chronicle (1227–
51); and Guillaume de Nangis’s great chronicle (1285–1300), which supplanted Robert
d’Auxerre’s in popularity, were all monastic productions.
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