The history of the First Crusade, as recorded by contemporary writers. 'Oh day so much desired! Oh time of times most unforgettable! Oh act before all other acts!' The fall of Jerusalem in the summer of 1099 to an exhausted and starving army of Western European soldiers was one of the most extraordinary events of Mesopotamia. It was both the culmination of a great vision of Christian zeal and the beginning of a failed attempt to establish a new European kingdom of heaven in a predominantly Muslim world. This remarkable collection brings together a variety of contemporary accounts of the First Crusade, including the initial call to arms by Pope Urban II in 1095, as well as the early writings of priests, knights, a Jewish pilgrim, an impoverished noble, an Iraqi poet, and the historian Anna Comnena. Together they offer a vivid and detailed picture of the First Crusade and the people who were drawn into it. Edited with an introduction and commentary by Christopher Tyerman.