In the 1130s, the Norman monk Orderic Vitalis inserted a detailed account of the First Crusade into his Ecclesiastical History. His treatment reveals how crusading narratives were shaped for monastic and regional audiences in medieval Europe.
By Charlie Rozier
While the chronicler Orderic Vitalis (1075–c.1142) may not be a household name, his works provide us with some of the most detailed contemporary commentary on the tumultuous history of the Normans and their world. During the 1130s, Orderic incorporated a narrative of the First Crusade and the subsequent history of the Latin East into his epic thirteen-book Ecclesiastical History (completed c.1142), bringing events from distant lands to local audiences by highlighting the deeds of Norman figures in what he described as a most “glorious subject” for his pen. Orderic’s account provides key insights into the impact of the crusading movement on Norman society at home, but it also tells us about the early dissemination of early Latin narratives and oral histories of the Crusade. In brief, his work helps us to understand why the crusade mattered to European audiences.
The life story of Orderic Vitalis is known from his own autobiographical reflections. Orderic tells us that he was born at Shrewsbury in 1075, and that his father was a French priest named Odelerius from Orléans, who was at that time working in the service of the local Norman earl, Roger Montgomery. While Orderic noted that his mother was English, he said nothing else of her, not even her name. Wracked by the guilt of being a priest whose relationship had produced three children (first Orderic, Benedict, then and lastly Everard), Odelerius gave his eldest son to monastic orders, sending the ten-year-old Orderic to the community of Saint-Évroult in southern Normandy in 1085.
Early Works
A folio from Orderic Vitalis’ Ecclesiastical History – Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Latin 5506 fol. 1v
In Normandy, Orderic received comprehensive training in the study of Scripture, literature, poetry, and music. More importantly, he also acquired a lifelong enthusiasm for writing about the past. By his late teens, Orderic was making additions to the abbey’s annals, and by 1113, he had produced a handsome new copy of the Deeds of the Norman Dukes by William of Jumièges, which he also expanded to include topics of relevance to the Saint-Évroult monks. After this, Orderic began his Ecclesiastical History. This was originally conceived as an official account of the community at Saint-Évroult for an audience of its monks and secular patrons, but Orderic could not resist recounting the histories of the various noble families who had sponsored the church, nor the actions of those brave monks who ventured to establish new church foundations wherever the Normans went.
In its final form, the Ecclesiastical History functions as a historical encyclopaedia of the Norman people, their churches, and the various European regions to which Normans emigrated, all seen through the viewpoint of the Saint-Évroult community (although Orderic’s tendency to change subject as and when new sources became available during his writing makes this a decidedly non-linear narrative in many places).
Writing the First Crusade
Modern plaque commemorating Orderic Vitalis at the Abbey of Saint-Evroul, Normandy – photo by Giogo / Wikimedia Commons
In the middle of the 1130s, when about half of the work was complete, Orderic made the decision to devote an entire new book to the narration of the First Crusade (this would eventually become Book IX). Exactly why he did so at that particular point is unknown. Certainly, Orderic’s status as a conscientious historian of contemporary events and a devout Christian monk compelled him to make a record of the crusade. In a preface to this new part of his work, Orderic acknowledged a growing tradition of Crusade-writing, citing works by Fulcher of Chartres, Baldric of Bourgeuil, and “many other Latin and Greek writers.” Orderic wrote in an awestruck tone about the “tremendous movement” to capture Jerusalem, concluding, “I do not know how to pass over such a noble theme.”
Orderic may also have made the decision due to having access to new sources by the middle of the 1130s, and especially contact with Baldric’s History. Elsewhere, Orderic wrote of having transcribed extracts from other histories and the lives of saints as he had been shown them on his travels to other monasteries, or through their arrival at Saint-Évroult among belongings of visiting scholars. Orderic described Baldric as a man “whom I knew well,” and we also know that the Jerusalem History was available to read at the nearby Norman monasteries of Bec, Lyre, and Jumièges. So, while Orderic’s precise motivations to write on the crusades are unclear, they seem to derive from his overall enthusiasm for the subject matter over a sustained period of time and his capacity to read and contribute to the growing body of early crusade historiography.
The crusade narrative of Orderic’s Book IX is largely an abridgement of Baldric’s text. Following the tradition of other early Frankish accounts such as the Gesta Francorum and the works of Fulcher of Chartres and Robert the Monk, Orderic placed heavy emphasis on papal authority, the importance of divine providence in the crusading endeavour, and the cohesion of French-speaking participants during the course of the Crusade.
All of these were aspects inherited from his use of Baldric, but Orderic’s revisions and additions to Baldric’s text remind us that while the subject matter of his Ecclesiastical History ranged far and wide, its enduring focus lay on the history of Saint-Évroult. For example, Orderic softened Baldric’s heavy criticism of those who had deserted the siege at Antioch, because these so-called “ropedancers” (they had escaped by lowering themselves down the city walls on ropes) had included William and Aubrey of the Grandmesnil family, who were one of Saint-Évroult’s greatest donor families. Elsewhere, Orderic added a lengthy digression on how the knight Ilger Bigod had protected Christians at the Holy Sepulchre and had been given hairs from the Virgin Mary as a reward – relics that would eventually find their way to the nearby Norman church at Maule via Arnold, a monk of Saint-Évroult.
A Norman Perspective
Such additions rendered Baldric’s history of the First Crusade more immediately relevant to Orderic’s Norman audiences. Once this broader background had been laid out in the specially designated Book IX, Orderic then integrated updates from the Latin East into the remainder of the Ecclesiastical History, as if their inclusion had become just another part of Norman contemporary history. Orderic showed a notable tendency to record the actions of Normans on crusade, such as Duke Robert Curthose, Robert Bordet (a vassal of the Grandmesnils who carved out territories from Muslim lands in Spain), and most prominently, Bohemond of Taranto. In particular, Bohemond’s imprisonment and dramatic escape is told in great detail during Book X, in an account that bears many of the hallmarks of Orderic having heard the story via a contemporary chanson de geste, including daring military action and lengthy monologues that emphasize the appropriate courtly mannerisms; the genre is perhaps best encapsulated in the figure of Melaz, an archetype of female nobility.
Modern historians have often accused Orderic of failing to control the diverse and wide-ranging threads of his narrative and criticised him for producing an Ecclesiastical History that was so long that almost nobody after him bothered to copy or even to read it (the complete text survives only in Orderic’s autograph manuscript, while only a few shorter sections were deemed worthy of copying by other Norman churches). But Orderic’s crusade narrative shows us exactly why these charges miss the point of his writing. The Crusades, like the rest of Orderic’s History, highlighted the monastery of Saint-Évroult’s place in a complex landscape of ecclesiastical and secular affairs, while at the same time allowing Orderic to pursue his passion for a good story from the pages of the past.
Charlie Rozier is Lecturer in Medieval Studies at the University of East Anglia. His research explores medieval perceptions of the past and the conceptualisation of historical writing, with particular focus on England and Normandy c.1000–1200. He has published widely on authors such as Orderic Vitalis, Eadmer of Canterbury, and Symeon of Durham, amongst others, and his next book explores the Norman transformation of intellectual environments in England after their conquest in 1066. Follow him on Bluesky @rozierhistorian.bsky.social
In the 1130s, the Norman monk Orderic Vitalis inserted a detailed account of the First Crusade into his Ecclesiastical History. His treatment reveals how crusading narratives were shaped for monastic and regional audiences in medieval Europe.
By Charlie Rozier
While the chronicler Orderic Vitalis (1075–c.1142) may not be a household name, his works provide us with some of the most detailed contemporary commentary on the tumultuous history of the Normans and their world. During the 1130s, Orderic incorporated a narrative of the First Crusade and the subsequent history of the Latin East into his epic thirteen-book Ecclesiastical History (completed c.1142), bringing events from distant lands to local audiences by highlighting the deeds of Norman figures in what he described as a most “glorious subject” for his pen. Orderic’s account provides key insights into the impact of the crusading movement on Norman society at home, but it also tells us about the early dissemination of early Latin narratives and oral histories of the Crusade. In brief, his work helps us to understand why the crusade mattered to European audiences.
The life story of Orderic Vitalis is known from his own autobiographical reflections. Orderic tells us that he was born at Shrewsbury in 1075, and that his father was a French priest named Odelerius from Orléans, who was at that time working in the service of the local Norman earl, Roger Montgomery. While Orderic noted that his mother was English, he said nothing else of her, not even her name. Wracked by the guilt of being a priest whose relationship had produced three children (first Orderic, Benedict, then and lastly Everard), Odelerius gave his eldest son to monastic orders, sending the ten-year-old Orderic to the community of Saint-Évroult in southern Normandy in 1085.
Early Works
In Normandy, Orderic received comprehensive training in the study of Scripture, literature, poetry, and music. More importantly, he also acquired a lifelong enthusiasm for writing about the past. By his late teens, Orderic was making additions to the abbey’s annals, and by 1113, he had produced a handsome new copy of the Deeds of the Norman Dukes by William of Jumièges, which he also expanded to include topics of relevance to the Saint-Évroult monks. After this, Orderic began his Ecclesiastical History. This was originally conceived as an official account of the community at Saint-Évroult for an audience of its monks and secular patrons, but Orderic could not resist recounting the histories of the various noble families who had sponsored the church, nor the actions of those brave monks who ventured to establish new church foundations wherever the Normans went.
In its final form, the Ecclesiastical History functions as a historical encyclopaedia of the Norman people, their churches, and the various European regions to which Normans emigrated, all seen through the viewpoint of the Saint-Évroult community (although Orderic’s tendency to change subject as and when new sources became available during his writing makes this a decidedly non-linear narrative in many places).
Writing the First Crusade
In the middle of the 1130s, when about half of the work was complete, Orderic made the decision to devote an entire new book to the narration of the First Crusade (this would eventually become Book IX). Exactly why he did so at that particular point is unknown. Certainly, Orderic’s status as a conscientious historian of contemporary events and a devout Christian monk compelled him to make a record of the crusade. In a preface to this new part of his work, Orderic acknowledged a growing tradition of Crusade-writing, citing works by Fulcher of Chartres, Baldric of Bourgeuil, and “many other Latin and Greek writers.” Orderic wrote in an awestruck tone about the “tremendous movement” to capture Jerusalem, concluding, “I do not know how to pass over such a noble theme.”
Orderic may also have made the decision due to having access to new sources by the middle of the 1130s, and especially contact with Baldric’s History. Elsewhere, Orderic wrote of having transcribed extracts from other histories and the lives of saints as he had been shown them on his travels to other monasteries, or through their arrival at Saint-Évroult among belongings of visiting scholars. Orderic described Baldric as a man “whom I knew well,” and we also know that the Jerusalem History was available to read at the nearby Norman monasteries of Bec, Lyre, and Jumièges. So, while Orderic’s precise motivations to write on the crusades are unclear, they seem to derive from his overall enthusiasm for the subject matter over a sustained period of time and his capacity to read and contribute to the growing body of early crusade historiography.
The crusade narrative of Orderic’s Book IX is largely an abridgement of Baldric’s text. Following the tradition of other early Frankish accounts such as the Gesta Francorum and the works of Fulcher of Chartres and Robert the Monk, Orderic placed heavy emphasis on papal authority, the importance of divine providence in the crusading endeavour, and the cohesion of French-speaking participants during the course of the Crusade.
All of these were aspects inherited from his use of Baldric, but Orderic’s revisions and additions to Baldric’s text remind us that while the subject matter of his Ecclesiastical History ranged far and wide, its enduring focus lay on the history of Saint-Évroult. For example, Orderic softened Baldric’s heavy criticism of those who had deserted the siege at Antioch, because these so-called “ropedancers” (they had escaped by lowering themselves down the city walls on ropes) had included William and Aubrey of the Grandmesnil family, who were one of Saint-Évroult’s greatest donor families. Elsewhere, Orderic added a lengthy digression on how the knight Ilger Bigod had protected Christians at the Holy Sepulchre and had been given hairs from the Virgin Mary as a reward – relics that would eventually find their way to the nearby Norman church at Maule via Arnold, a monk of Saint-Évroult.
A Norman Perspective
Such additions rendered Baldric’s history of the First Crusade more immediately relevant to Orderic’s Norman audiences. Once this broader background had been laid out in the specially designated Book IX, Orderic then integrated updates from the Latin East into the remainder of the Ecclesiastical History, as if their inclusion had become just another part of Norman contemporary history. Orderic showed a notable tendency to record the actions of Normans on crusade, such as Duke Robert Curthose, Robert Bordet (a vassal of the Grandmesnils who carved out territories from Muslim lands in Spain), and most prominently, Bohemond of Taranto. In particular, Bohemond’s imprisonment and dramatic escape is told in great detail during Book X, in an account that bears many of the hallmarks of Orderic having heard the story via a contemporary chanson de geste, including daring military action and lengthy monologues that emphasize the appropriate courtly mannerisms; the genre is perhaps best encapsulated in the figure of Melaz, an archetype of female nobility.
Modern historians have often accused Orderic of failing to control the diverse and wide-ranging threads of his narrative and criticised him for producing an Ecclesiastical History that was so long that almost nobody after him bothered to copy or even to read it (the complete text survives only in Orderic’s autograph manuscript, while only a few shorter sections were deemed worthy of copying by other Norman churches). But Orderic’s crusade narrative shows us exactly why these charges miss the point of his writing. The Crusades, like the rest of Orderic’s History, highlighted the monastery of Saint-Évroult’s place in a complex landscape of ecclesiastical and secular affairs, while at the same time allowing Orderic to pursue his passion for a good story from the pages of the past.
Charlie Rozier is Lecturer in Medieval Studies at the University of East Anglia. His research explores medieval perceptions of the past and the conceptualisation of historical writing, with particular focus on England and Normandy c.1000–1200. He has published widely on authors such as Orderic Vitalis, Eadmer of Canterbury, and Symeon of Durham, amongst others, and his next book explores the Norman transformation of intellectual environments in England after their conquest in 1066. Follow him on Bluesky @rozierhistorian.bsky.social
Also, check out Charlie on Early Career Researcher Podcast, which you can also follow on Bluesky @ecrpodcasters.bsky.social
Further Readings
Chibnall, M., editor. The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis. 6 vols., Oxford, 1969–80.
Rozier, Charles C., Daniel Roach, Giles Gasper, and Elisabeth van Houts, editors. Orderic Vitalis: Life, Works and Interpretations. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2016.
Roach, Daniel. “Orderic Vitalis and the First Crusade.” Journal of Medieval History, vol. 42, no. 2 (2016), pp. 1–25.
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