FulcheriiTS, Carnot-ensis (^Fozicher tie Chartres'), a mediajvul French priest and historian, was lorn at Chartres in 1059, and died in 1127 at Jerusalem, whith- er he had gone on the first Crusade (lOOC)) as chap- lain to Baldwin, whom he followed in all his expedi- tions. His Histoire de Jinisalem, continued to the year of his death, embraces the greater part of the events of the Crusade from the council at Clermont (lOPS), and is especially important as being a record of such facts only as himself or other ej'c-witnesscs could verify. It was published hy Bongars in Pecveil des Ilistoriens de 1 1 Cro'sade, and in a fuller and cor- rected form by Duchesne in Historiens de France (vol. iv), and in tlie Historiens des Crnisades published by the Academj' of Inscriptions and Belles- I-ettres. — Hoefer, Nouv. Bioff. Generale, xviii, 282-3 ; Histoire Littei-aire de la France, t. si. (J.W. M.)
Fulco (FouLQUES, Fulk) of Necii-lv, one of the most popular preachers of the Middle Ages, was born in tlie second half of the 12th century. " He was one of the ordinary, ignorant, worldly-minded ecclesias- tics, the priest and parson of a country town not far from Paris. Afterwards he experienced a change ; and as he had l)efore neglected his flock, and injured them by his bad example, so now he sought to build them up b}' his teaching and example." Feeling his lack of education for tlie ministry, " he went on week- days to Paris, and attended the lectures of Peter Can- tor, a theologian distinguished for his peculiar scrijitu- ral l)cnt and his tendency to practical reform ; and of the knowledge lierc acquired he availed himself bv elaborating it into sermons, which he preached on Sun- day's to his flock. These sermons were not so much distinguished for profoundness of thouglit as for their adaptation to tlie common understanding and to the occasions of ])ractical life. At first neigliboring cler- gymen invited him to preach before their congrega- tions. Next he was called to Paris, and he preached not only in churches, but also in the public places. Professors, students, people of all ranks and classes, flocked to hear him. In a coarse cowl, girt about
with a thong of leather, he itinerated as a preacher of repentance through France, and fearlcs>ly denounced the reigning vices of learned and unlearned, high and low. His words often wrought such dee|) compunc- tion that people scourged themselves, tlirew them- selves on the ground before him, confessed their fins before all, and declared themselves ready to do any- thing he might direct in order to reform their lives, and to redress the wrongs which the}- had done. Usu- rers restored back the interest the}' had taken ; those who, in times of scarcity, had stored up large quanti- ties of grain to sell again at a greatly advanced ])rice, threw open their granaries. In such times he frc- quenth' exclaimed, ' Give food to him who is perishing with hunger, or else tl;ou perishest thyself.' He an- nounced to the corn-dealers that before the coming harvest they would be forced to sell cheap their storcd- up grain, and cheap it soon became in consequence of his own annunciation. Multitudes of abandoned wom- en, who lived on the wages of sin, were converted by hirn. For some he obtained husbands ; for others he founded a nunnery. He exposed the impure morals of the clergj' ; and the latter, seeing the finger of ev- erj' man pointed against them, were obliged to sepa- rate from their concubines. A curse that fell fiom his lips spread alarm like a thunderbolt. People whom he so addressed were seen to fall like epileptics, foaming at the mouth and distorted with convulsions. Such appearances promoted the faith in the supernat- ural power of his words. Sick persons were brought to him from all quarters, who expected to 1 e healed bj' his touch — by his blessing ; and wonderful stories were told of the miracles thus wrought. . . . The per- sonal influence of this man, who stood prominent nei- ther b}' his talents nor his official station, gave birth to a new life of the clerL'j', a greater zeal in discharg- ing the duties of the prcdicatorial (ffice and of the cure of souls, both in France and in England. Young men who, in the study of a dialectic theoloL'y at the University of Paris, had forgotten the obligation to care for the salvation of souls, were touched by the discourses of this unlearned itinerant, and trained by his instrumentality into zealous preachers. He form- ed and left behind him a iieculiar school ; he sent his disciples over to England, and his example had a stim- ulating effect even on such as had never come into personal contact with him. 'Man}',' says Jacob of Yitry, 'inflamed with the fire of love, and incited by his example, began to teach and to preach, and to lead not a few to repentance, and to snatch the fouls of sin- ners frcm destruction' "' (Neander, Church Hist., Tor- rey's transl., iv, 209). When Innocent III proclaimed the fourth Crusade, A.D. 1198, Fulco devoted himself wholly to preaching in its favor, and among all the "orators who blew the sacred trumpet" he Avas the most successful. " Diehard of England was satiated with the glory and misfortunes of his iirst adventure, and he presumed to deride the exhortations of Fulco, who was not abashed in the presence of kings. ' You advise me,' said Plantagenet, 'to dismiss my three daughters, pride, avarice, and incontinence. I be- queath them to the most deserving: my jiride to the Knights Templars, my avarice to the monks of Cis- teaux, and my incontinence to the prelates.' But the preacher was heard and obeyed by the great vassals" (Giljbon, Decline and Fcdl, Flarper's editi(m, vi, GO). Fulco did not live to see the results of the Crusade ; he died at Neuilly A.D. 1201.— Yillehardouin, Hist.de la Conqvite de Constantinojile (transl. by T. Smith, Lon- don, 1829, 8vo); Hoefer, Nouv. Biorj. Cintr. xviii, 308; Milmaii, Leit'm Chrhtlanitij, bk. ix, ch. vii ; Gieseler, Ch. Hi^iorij, per. iii, § 80; Huiter, Geschichte Pabst In- noctnfs III {Wurnhnrg, 1834), vol. i; Herzog, Real-En- cyMoj^. xi.x, 51G. •