[1][2] Nothing else is known of his life except that he was the author of a Historia Hierosolymitanae expeditionis (“History of the Expedition to Jerusalem”), or Chronicon Hierosolymitanum de bello sacro, a work in Latin in twelve books, written between 1125 and 1150.
In more recent times beginning with Heinrich von Sybel,[4] its historical value has been seriously impugned, but the verdict of the best scholarship seems to be that in general it forms a true record of the events of the First Crusade, although containing some legendary matter.
[5] Albert never visited the Holy Land, but he appears to have had a considerable amount of discourse with returned crusaders, and to have had access to valuable correspondence.
[1] Unlike many other chronicles of the First Crusade, Albert did not rely on the Gesta Francorum, but used his own independent interviews;[6] he may also have had access to the Chanson d'Antioche, as his work shares textual similarities with that poem.
A modern edition in Latin and English translation by Susan B. Edgington[8] is available in the Oxford Medieval Texts series.