The Gesta Tancredi of Ralph of Caen: a history of the Normans on the First Crusade - 12

This is the first translation into English of Ralph of Caen's Gesta Tancredi.

This text provides an exceptionally important narrative of the First Crusade and its immediate aftermath, covering the period 1096?1105, but is often neglected, due in no small part to the difficulties of its Latin.

A native of the Norman city of Caen where he was a student of Arnulf, the future patriarch of Jerusalem, in 1107 Ralph joined Bohemond of Taranto's army as a military chaplain.

After arriving in the East, Ralph took service with Bohemond's nephew Tancred, who ruled the principality of Antioch from 1108 to 1112.