Modern historiographical discussions of the dissemination and reception of First Crusade histories in the Middle Ages have long centred on the textual tradition linked to the anonymous Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum. This focus is understandable: the Gesta Francorum, or a very similar text, influenced an array of early twelfth-century chroniclers, most notably the northern French Benedictines Baldric of Bourgueil, Robert the Monk and Guibert of Nogent, and several of these so-called ‘Gesta-derivatives’ went on to enjoy fairly wide – in the case of Robert's Historia Iherosolimitana, exceptionally wide – manuscript circulations. However, as historians have gradually exposed the role of other early crusade accounts in transmitting the venture's narrative, the importance of the Historia Hierosolymitana by the northern French cleric Fulcher of Chartres – which is linked to, but often diverges from, the Gesta Francorum tradition – has become increasingly apparent. Much of this scholarship has focused on Fulcher's homeland, France, where his work was consulted by Guibert of Nogent and, as recent studies by Susan Edgington and Andrew Buck have elucidated, served as a foundation text for the chroniclers known as ‘Bartolf of Nangis’ and ‘Lisiard of Tours’. We also know that the Historia reached England in the twelfth century because, as Heinrich Hagenmeyer established in his 1913 critical edition, both Orderic Vitalis and William of Malmesbury named Fulcher as a source, though only William demonstrably utilised his text.

This chapter draws attention to neglected evidence suggesting that Fulcher's Historia achieved a wider dissemination in England than its use by these two famous Anglo-Norman chroniclers implies. It does so by exploring London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS 51 – the sole surviving witness to the Liber revelationum, compiled c. 1200 by Peter of Cornwall, prior of Holy Trinity, Aldgate. The Liber, an enormous collection of revelatory material (mainly concerning visions) divided into two books, was assembled by three scribes working under Peter's supervision. While the prologue and the most original chapters, especially those written by Peter himself, recounting tales he had heard, were transcribed and translated by Robert Easting and Richard Sharpe in 2013, those transposed from Fulcher's Historia (and most deriving from other identifiable written sources) remain unedited and unstudied. To begin to redress this, the first part of this chapter seeks to identify the recension of Fulcher's work that was available at Holy Trinity, while the second considers how Peter and his scribes approached and utilised the text.