Book excerpt: The Historia Ierosolimitana, attributed to Albert of Aachen, is the most complete, detailed and colourful of the contemporary narratives of the First Crusade, and of the careers of the first generation of Latin settlers in Outremer. This English translation, with original Latin text, has been prepared from a critical study of the manuscripts. Generating interest in previously disregarded aspects of crusade and settlement in the first decades of the twelfth century, it is set to alter the focus of crusades studies.