Translation and evaluation of the 7th and 8th books of Albert of Aachen's Historia Ierosolimitana

Crusades were undoubtly one of the longest and deepest events that affected Anatolia, Europe and Near-East in the middle ages. The movement that started with a call by Pope Urban II in the Clermont Council in France in 1095 and aimed to expell the Turks from Anatolia and to save the Holly Lands from the Muslims lasted about 200 years. This long lasting event is very important in terms of proving that Anatolia was homeland for Turks and how difficult to expell them from there. There is lots of detailed information in the Latin sources about this event which is very important in terms of Anatolian Turkish history. One of the most important and detailed of these sources is the work of the author named Alber of Aachen. The work which consists of two volumes and twelve books in total, whose original language is Latin, and has recently been translated into English by Susan B. Edgington. In our study we translated 7th and 8th books of this work from English to Turkish and evaluated them. The 7th book of the work describes the first years of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, which was established in the Near-East at the end of the First Crusade, and the power struggle between the rulers of other Crusader states. In the 8th book there is detailed information is given about the "Crusade of 1101" which is discussed whether it was a new crusade or continuation of the First Crusade. The information in the 8th book about the Crusade of 1101, which is closely related to Turkish history, is very important as it is not found in almost any sources from that period. Key Words: Albert of Aachen, Historia Ierosolimitana, the First Crusade, the Crusader States, the Crusade of 1101.