Letter of the Crusade Leaders to the Pope
The official report of the First Crusade sent from Laodicea in September 1099 in the names of Archbishop Daimbert of Pisa, Godfrey of Bouillon, Raymond of Saint-Gilles and the whole army, addressed to the pope and all Christians.
The letter was written at Laodicea on the Syrian coast two months after the capture of Jerusalem, as the army broke up. It runs through the campaign from Nicaea to the battle of Ascalon and asks the faithful in the West to pray, give thanks and help the returning crusaders.
It is the leaders’ own account, meant to be read out in the churches of the West, and it presents the army’s successes as God’s doing. It names Godfrey of Bouillon as “defender” of the Holy Sepulchre, and it states in one sentence what was done with the people found in Jerusalem.
Cited in
- 1095 to 1099, firm date