Bohemund said: "O finest knights, your frequent victories provide an
explanation for your great boldness. Thus far you have fought for
the faith against the infidel, and have emerged triumphant from every
danger. Having already felt the abundant evidence of Christ's
strength should give you pleasure, and should convince you beyond all
doubt that in the most severe battles it is not you, but Christ, who
has fought.

The Gesta Francorum, however, the text that Guibert sets out to
correct, did not neglect the providential aspect of the First Crusade,
although the surviving text contains no prologue making such an
agenda blatantly explicit. Nevertheless, the anonymous author
provides more than enough characters, direct discourse, and action to
assure every reader that God looked favorably upon the Crusade. The
warning given to Kherboga by his mother, for example,[8] indicates
that even pagans were aware that God was on the side of the
Christians; the appearance of the divine army,--led by three
long-dead saints,[9] is another example of divine support. Perhaps
the most vivid example is the series of visits Saint Andrew pays to
Peter Bartholomew,[10] urging him to dig up the Lance that pierced
Christ's side.

Redirecting, or redistributing the credit for victory, then, was not
a radical contribution by Guibert. A far more noticeable correction,
however, was the result of Guibert's determination to correct the
style of his source:

A version of this same history, but woven out of excessively simple
words, often violating grammatical rules, exists, and it may often