The Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolymitanorum is admittedly one of the best primary sources for the First Crusade. It was written by a member of the crusading forces who was himself an eye-witness of the events related. His name has not come down to us, and even in the early 12th century Baudri de Dol could refer to him with these words: Nescio quis compilator nomine suppresso. From the work itself however, it can be seen that he was at the start a member of the army of Bohemund. We can follow his experiences from the summer of 1096 when he took the cross, apparently at Amalfi, to the battle of Ascalon in August 1099. He remained with Tancred and crossed the Bosporus without entering Constantinople in 1096. He was at the siege of Nicea, at the battle of Dorylaeum, and at the battle for Antioch as a solider in the army of Bohemund. In November 1098, after Bohemund had captured Marra and then returned to Antioch, he joined the Provençal army under Count Raymond of Toulouse and took part in the siege of Area (called Archa or Archas in the Latin text), the capture of Jerusalem, and the battle of Ascalon, with which he finishes his history.