Albert of Aix

Albert of Aix (flourished 1120) was a canon of the church of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) and historian of the First Crusade. He gathered oral and written testaments of participants in the Crusade and provided a chronicle on the subject, the Historia expeditionis Hierosolymitanae (“History of the Expedition to Jerusalem”). His work remains an important source on the First Crusade and the history of the kingdom of Jerusalem until 1120 and is the sole document on the People’s Crusade of 1096, led by Peter the Hermit. Albert’s history is a compilation of legends and eyewitness reports. Little is known about his life. He himself never visited the Holy Land.