Robert the Monk

Who was Robert the Monk?

Robert the Monk or Robert of Rheims was a chronicler of the First Crusade. He did not participate in the expedition, but rewrote the Gesta Francorum at the request of his abbot, who was appalled at the 'rustic' style of the Gesta.

His chronicle contains an account of Pope Urban II's speech at the Council of Clermont, which has had a great influence on how the Crusades have been portrayed over the centuries. Robert writes as though he were present at Clermont, but he wrote his account perhaps in 1116, twenty-one years after the Council, or later. Runciman dates Robert's popular and somewhat romantic version, known as the Historia Hierosolymitana, to about 1122.

Hindsight about what actually happened on the First Crusade, as well as Robert's own theological and political perspectives, may have coloured Robert's account.