ALBERT OF AACHEN. - A not very well-known chronicler of the 12th century: his Latin name Aquensis probably means "of Aachen" (Aix-la-Chapelle), and not "of Aix-en-Provence," as has been interpreted. A. was a canon; he wrote a history of the First Crusade and of the events that followed it in Syria down to 1121. It is a lively and very popular history, but not always accurate in its chronological and topographical data. A. reports what he heard from eyewitnesses and particularly exalts the figure of Godfrey of Bouillon. On the basis of a manuscript in the Vatican Library (fondo Regina Cristina, 509) bearing the date 1158, it is held that his chronicle was composed between 1121 and that latter date.

The editio princeps saw the light in Helmstedt in the year 1584: Chronicon Hierosolymitanum or Historia Hierosolymitanae expeditionis. The best edition is that of P. Meyer, in Recueil des historiens des Croisades. Historiens occidentaux, IV, Paris 1879, pp. 265-713.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: H. von Sybel, Geschichte des ersten Kreuzzuges, 2nd ed., Leipzig 1881, pp. 62-107; F. Vercryse, Essai critique sur la chronique d'Albert d'Aix (offprint from the Annales de la Faculté de philosophie et lettres de l'Université de Bruxelles, 1), Liège 1889; Potthast, I, 2nd ed., Berlin 1896, p. 30.

Cesario van Hulst

@incollection{ec1_alberto_di_aquisgrana, author = {van, Hulst Cesario}, title = {Alberto di Aquisgrana}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {687}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/alberto-di-aquisgrana} }

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Albert of Aachen

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