ABSTRACT
Ralph of Caens Gesta Tancredi has a very strong claim to be given serious consideration in regard to providing accurate information concerning military operations undertaken during the course of the First Crusade. Traditionally the Gesta, perhaps because of its difficult Latin and offputting prosimetric style, has tended to be given far less attention by modern scholars than it deserves. As Susan Edgington observed, the Gesta is the least studied and least well known of all the major contemporary sources for the First Crusade. Because of this lack of study, many of the details uniquely treated by Ralph have remained obscure, and this too may have hampered its use for the writing of military history. However, even very recent scholars who have written monographs dealing with the military history of the First Crusade continue to give little attention to Ralphs work despite the fact that it now is available in English translation with substantial notes regarding many once obscure details.
