ALBERT OF AACHEN. - Twelfth-century chronicler, not very well known: 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, and wrote a history of the First Crusade and of subsequent events in Syria up 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 extols the figure of Godfrey of Bouillon. On the basis of a manuscript in the Vatican (Queen Christina collection, 509), dated 1158, it is believed that his chronicle was composed between 1121 and that latter date.
The princeps edition appeared in Helmstadt in 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.