THE ROMANIAN SOLDIERS IN THE FIRST CRUSADE (1095-1099), ACCORDING TO A PRIMARY MEDIEVAL LITERARY SOURCE
THE ROMANIAN SOLDIERS IN THE FIRST CRUSADE (1095-1099), ACCORDING TO A PRIMARY MEDIEVAL LITERARY SOURCE

Summary/Abstract: The mention of the possible presence of the Romanians from the North of the Danube in the Knights' Crusade, the second and most important stage of the First Crusade, belongs to the chronicler Fulcher of Chartres, the eye witness of the events. The account of the French scholar attracted my attention when I was working on the full translation into Romanian of the oldest source of the First Crusade, The Anonymous Chronicle (Anonymi Gesta Francorum et Aliorum Hierosolymitanorum). The value of this translation, to be published this year, arises from its necessity in research in various scientific fields, from History and Theology to Political Sciences. Reaching the narrative - in the Normand (South-Italian) version of Gesta – of the desert of Pisidia difficult crossing, it was necessary to verify / study thoroughly the information by comparing it with another source. The mention of the ‘Dacians’ among the crusader troops by the chronicler of Chartres gave rise to an unavoidable interest. Of course, Fulcher's reference requires a careful and broader exegesis than a comparative footnote in a translation of a different historical source. Hence the need to extend, through an exclusive study, the perspective of the research I initially dealt with to verify the hypothesis of a significant Romanian military contingent that accompanied the crusader armies, at least to the siege of Antioch (21 October 1097 – 3 June 1098).

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