Baldric's account is apparently based on the Gesta Francorum, as the similiarities seem to indicate. He wrote in the early twelfth-century and was not an eyewitness to Urban's speech. Yet his account is one of the earliest as scholar H.E.J. Cowdrey cited Baldric's authorship around fifteen years after the Pope's speech (c.1108-1110). If Cowdrey's dating of Baldric's work is correct, this would make it the third oldest account, after those of Fulcher of Chartres (1101) and Robert the Monk (1107). A significant portion of Baldric's version of Urban's speech is available online, provided by Dr. Halsall's Internet History Sourcebooks project [See below]
Baldric does not claim to give a word for word account of the speech, but does claim to offer the essence of the speech and themes mentioned by the Pope to stir his listeners. Such themes included, the abuse of Christians by Muslims, the desecration of holy places by Muslims, and the need for holy Christians to head East and rectify the situation.
Baldric of Dol- Speech of Pope Urban II at Clermont Internet History Sourcebooks
Dr. H.E.J. Cowdrey Pope Urban II's Preaching of the First Crusade [PDF] [Sample Chapter] In What Were the Crusades Blackwell Publishers
Pope Urban II- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Speech at Clermont- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Robert of Rheims- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Fulcher of Chartres- Crusades-Encyclopedia
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