Guibert was a historian and theologian. He served as the abbot of Nogent and was a participant of the First Crusade. He received his childhood education at the Benedictine Abbey of Flavigny studying first poetry then theology. His history of the First Crusades, the Gesta Dei per Francos, [The Deeds of God Through the Franks] is the most important of his surviving works for the information it provides about the beginning of the crusading period.
Guibert's work was recorded ten years after the crusade and, according to Jonathan Riley-Smith, he frames the events of the First Crusade in the context of providential history [The Crusades: A Short History, p.38] In doing so, Guibert compared the efforts of the crusaders with those of the armies of the Hebrew Scriptures who were often called to fight on God's behalf. Guibert would have likely been in attendence at the Council of Clermont in 1095 and would have been familiar with the enthusiasm roused in the faithful by Pope Urban II's speech. Yet clearly, for most of Guibert's account, he seems to rely on the anonymous account known as the Gesta Francorum, authored by someone who would have traveled with Bohemund I of Antioch.
Guibert of Nogent [Partial Text] Gesta Dei per Francos Internet History Sourcebooks
Guibert of Nogent [Full Text] Autobiography Internet History Sourcebooks
Guibert of Nogent [Partial Text] On the Saints and their Relics Trans. Thomas Head-Hunter College C.U.N.Y. First Crusade-Crusades-Encyclopedia
Primary Sources of the First Crusade- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Jonathan Riley-Smith- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Pope Urban II- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Crusades Chroniclers and Authors of Primary Source Texts- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Gesta Dei per Francos- Catholic Encyclopedia
(c) Andrew Holt- May 2005- Permission is granted for electronic copying and distribution in print for educational and personal use. No permission is granted for commercial use.