ALBERTO di AQUISGRANA. - A chronicler of the twelfth century, not very well known: his Latin name Aquensis probably means “of Aquisgrana” (Aix-la-Chapelle), and not “of Aix-en-Provence,” as it has been interpreted. A. was a canon; he wrote a history of the First Crusade and of the subsequent events that took place in Syria down to 1121. It is a lively and highly popular history, though not always accurate in its chronological and topographical data. A. recounts what he heard from eyewitnesses and particularly exalts the figure of Goffredo di Buglione. On the basis of a manuscript in the Vatican Library (Queen Christina collection, 509), bearing the date 1158, it is believed that his chronicle was composed between 1121 and the latter date.
The editio princeps appeared at Helmstadt in 1584: Chronicon Hierosolymitanum or Historia Hierosolymitianae expeditionis. The best edition is that of P. Meyer, in Recueil des historiens des Croisades. Historiens occidentaux, IV, Paris 1879, pp. 265-713.