1100 by an anonymous author associated with Bohemond I of Antioch shortly after the successful campaign. The battle cry of the First Crusade is first reported in the Gesta Francorum, a chronicle written ca. Later variants include the Old French Dieux el volt and the Classical Latin Deus id vult ('God wills it') or Deus hoc vult ('God wills this'). According to Heinrich Hagenmeyer, the personal pronoun 'le' (or 'lo') was very likely part of the original motto as shouted during the First Crusade at Amalfi, since both the authors of the Gesta Francorum and the Historia Belli Sacri report it. The variants Deus le volt and Deus lo vult, incorrect in Classical Latin, are forms influenced by Romance languages. The phrase appears in another form in the Vulgate translation of 2 Samuel 14:14 from the Bible: nec vult Deus perire animam ('God does not want any soul to perish').
