FULCHER OF CHARTRES. – Historian, born c. 1059 at Chartres, died in 1127 or 1128. Under Bishop Ivo, he entered the cathedral clergy of Chartres. He took part in the First Crusade in the retinue of Stephen of Blois, Robert of Flanders, and Robert of Normandy. In 1097 he was present at the Battle of Dorylaeum and later became chaplain to Baldwin of Edessa, whom he followed to Jerusalem when Baldwin succeeded Godfrey of Bouillon in 1100. He remained at Baldwin’s side throughout all his campaigns until Baldwin’s death in 1118.
Of his works, there survives a Historia Hierosolymitana in three books, covering events up to 1127. It is one of the best sources for the First Crusade and for the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1095 to 1127.
BIBL.: A good edition by H. Hagemeyer, Heidelberg 1913, with an exhaustive introduction. For more recent bibliography V. W. Wattenbach–W. Holtzmann, Geschichtsquellen der deutschen Kaiserzeit. I. IV. 1943, pp. 780–81.