Crusade of 1101

Crusade of 1101
Part of the First Crusade
A map of western Anatolia, showing the routes taken by Christian armies
Date Summer of 1101 Location Anatolia Result Seljuk Turkish victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of France Duchy of Burgundy County of Blois County of Nevers County of Vermandois Duchy of Aquitaine Montlhéry Holy Roman Empire Palatine County of Burgundy Duchy of Bavaria Margraviate of Austria County of Roussillon Republic of Genoa Eastern Roman Empire Papal States	Seljuk Empire Sultanate of Rum Danishmends Seljuk emirate of Aleppo
Commanders and leaders
Anselm IV of Milan † Stephen of Blois † Stephen of Burgundy Eudes of Burgundy Constable Conrad Girard I of Roussillon Raymond IV of Toulouse General Tzitas William II of Nevers William IX of Aquitaine Hugh of Vermandois † Welf of Bavaria Ida of Austria †	Kilij Arslan
Casualties and losses
High	Relatively low

The Crusade of 1101, also known as the Crusade of the Faint-Hearted, was launched in the aftermath of the First Crusade with calls for reinforcements from the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem. Pope Paschal II, successor to Urban II (who died before learning of the outcome of the crusade that he had called), urged a new expedition. He especially urged those who had taken the crusade vow but had never departed, and those who had turned back while on the march. The crusade was a resounding defeat of the West by the Seljuk Turks.

Cause of the Crusade

Dagobert's Arrival

The First Crusade was over and many of the Crusaders who participated returned to Europe. They had just taken over the Holy City of Jerusalem and had defeated the Fatimid counterattack at the Battle of Ascalon. Leaders Robert Curthose of Normandy and Robert of Flanders left Godfrey of Bouillon to defend Jerusalem with only 300 men.

One of these people was the Archbishop of Pisa, Dagobert of Pisa. Realizing the need to expand Pisa's influence east, a move already done by Republic of Venice and Genoa. After being made legate by Pope Paschal II, he set off to the Levant with a fleet of 120 ships which, on their way, made successful raids on Byzantine owned islands like Cephalonia and Corfu. After hearing about this news, Eastern Roman Emperor Alexios I Komnenos dispatched the Byzantine navy which skirmished with the Pisans who, after few skirmishes, left for the Outremer.

One of the Crusader leaders, Bohemond of Antioch, was besieging the Byzantine port of Latakia, and Dagobert and the Pisans agreed to help by blockading the port from the sea. However, the other Crusader leaders, who saw the necessity for cooperation with the Byzantine Emperor and eastern Christians, were horrified and persuaded Dagobert to call off the blockade. Bohemond was forced to abandon the siege, and accompanied Dagobert to Jerusalem, arriving on 21 December 1099.

Immediately after Christmas, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Arnulf of Chocques, was deposed on the ground that his election had been uncanonical, and with Bohemond's support, Dagobert was elected in his place. Public opinion had always held that the Holy Land should be the patrimony of the church, but Arnulf had been too weak to establish supremacy. Dagobert's position was stronger, as he was (probably) papal legate and had the support of the Pisan fleet. Immediately after his enthronement, Godfrey of Bouillon knelt before him and was invested with the territory of Jerusalem, and Bohemond did the same for Antioch. Baldwin, was at this time Count of Edessa, but he did not pay homage to Dagobert. This connection with Pisa now meant that the Crusaders had a line of communication with Western Europe and now did not need to rely on Eastern Roman supply shipments.

Bohemond and Dagobert, sailing for Apulia, in a ship flying the cross of St George

Bohemond's Capture

In the May of the year 1100, an Armenian warlord Gabriel of Melitene took the city of Melitene from an Anatolian Turkic Beylik called the Danishmendids. When he received reports that the Danishmendid Bey Gazi Gümüshtigin of Sebastea was preparing an expedition to recapture Melitene he sought help from Bohemond and even offered his daughter in marriage.

Before the First Crusade, Alexios, the Eastern Roman Emperor, had made Bohemond of Taranto promise to give whatever land he conquered east of Antioch to him. But after the Siege of Antioch, where the Crusaders took Antioch from the Seljuk Empire, Bohemond took the city for himself, founding the Principality of Antioch with himself the Prince of Antioch. In doing this action he had broken his oath to Alexios. For this reason, at around the same time as Bohemond received the cry of help from the Armenians of Melitene, Alexios pressured Bohemond to fulfill his oath and to surrender Antioch to the Eastern Romans. But Bohemond refused so the Byzantine navy took the important Cilician ports of Seleucia Trachea and Corycos from Antioch. In response, Bohemond replaced the Greek patriarch of Antioch, John the Oxite with a Latin one named Peter of Narbonne. Bohemond needed to expand his base, so he decided to help the Armenians in Melitene.

So, Bohemond got his army and ventured out to Melitene to fight the Danishmendids. But at the Battle of Melitene, the Danishmendids under Gazi Gümüshtigin ambushed the expedition and "most of the Crusaders were killed." Bohemond was captured along with Richard of Salerno. Among the dead were the Armenian bishops of Marash and Antioch. Bohemond's followers who were captured in the battle were killed and Bohemond and Richard of Salerno were imprisoned at Neocaesarea, which is modern-day Niksar. Alexios offered to pay 260,000 gold pieces as ransom, way more than the 100,000 the Danishmendids asked for, not to free him but to keep him in custody at Constantinople, but the Danishmendids refused. While Bohemond was imprisoned at Neocaesarea, his nephew, Tancred of Galilee, took control of the city, defending it from the Byzantines. The Eastern Romans meanwhile took control of the lands surrounding the port city of Latakia, Albara, and Maarat-al-Numan, lands that were immediately to the south of Antioch. Then Alexios had the Byzantines take over Cilicia, lands which were north of Antioch, Alexios did this to take over the lands around the Principality of Antioch and then to squeeze it to extinction.

Coronation of Baldwin I

Godfrey of Bouillon, the King of Jerusalem was busy making the Muslim-Levantine cities of Acre, Jaffa, Caesarea Maritima, Ascalon, and Arsuf tributaries. These campaigns culminated at the First siege of Arsuf, originally called Apollonia, and was controlled by the Shiite Muslim Fatimid Caliphate, which was based in Egypt. Godfrey had earlier reached an agreement with the citizens of Arsuf after it was known that he intended to stay in Jerusalem and reconciled with Raymond of Toulouse, who was attempting to create a kingdom of his own in the Levant. The treaty stated that Arsuf would pay tribute to Godfrey and included an exchange of hostages that included Godfrey's knight, Gerard of Avesnes. However the Muslim hostages escaped, giving Arsuf no reason to pay their tribute. Godfrey subsequently besieged the city in October. During this siege, Godfrey first spent six weeks building mangonels or stone throwers, which were used to support two siege towers. The number of Godfrey's men, however, was severely reduced after most of the crusaders returned back to Europe via Latakia. In the end the two assaults made on Arsuf were defeated when the garrison set the siege towers on fire. Godfrey was left with no options and ended the siege.

During the siege, while the Crusaders pounded the walls with catapults, the Fatimids had Gerard hung from the mast of an old ship that had been lying in the city. They raised Gerard up to be in view of the attacking Crusaders. Gerard begged Godfrey to take pity on him. Godfrey responded that while Gerard was the bravest of knights, but he could not call off the attack. Godfrey said that it was better for Gerard to be the sole casualty than to Arsuf to remain a danger to Christian pilgrims. Gerard then asked that his property be donated to the Holy Sepulchre, of which Godfrey was Defender, instead of the king. The Crusaders continued their attack. Gerard was wounded multiple times, though he managed to survive and make it back to Jerusalem. The Fatimid governor offered to surrender to Raymond of Saint-Gilles, the only Crusader leader during the First Crusade who managed to stop the Crusaders from ransacking towns they took and massacring its Muslim inhabitants. Insulted, Godfrey refused. Raymond even encouraged the garrison at Arsuf to hold out against Godfrey, touting his perceived weakness. This would cause Godfrey to blame him again (Raymond had done the same thing after the Battle of Ascalon) for the failure of his army to capture Arsuf. Within Godfrey's army, Franco I of Maasmechelen, a relative of Godfrey, is known to have died in the battle. After the siege, In the May of the year 1100, one of the last leaders of the 1st Crusade still in the Holy Land, Raymond of Toulouse, left for the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, Constantinople to ask the Byzantine Emperor, Alexios I Komnenos, for help to carve out his own kingdom around the Seljuk-controlled Levantine city of Tripoli.

During these campaigns Godfrey suddenly fell ill. After being ill for a month and a half, Godfrey died on 18 July 1100. He had extracted oaths from Dagobert and other leading crusaders that they "would not confer the throne on anyone except his brothers or one of his blood", according to Albert of Aix. Warner of Grez, Godfrey's most influential retainer, took possession of the Tower of David in Jerusalem to secure control of the city while others loyal to Godfrey took other towers to prevent Dagobert annexing the Holy City for the Papal States. Although Warner soon died, two other members of Godfrey's court, Geldemar Carpenel and Arnulf of Chocques, sent a delegation to Godfrey's brother, Count Baldwin of Edessa, urging him to come to Jerusalem and become king.

To prevent Baldwin from seizing Godfrey's realm, Dagobert and Tancred sought assistance from Bohemond I of Antioch. Dagobert sent a letter to him, stating that Baldwin's rule would "bring about the downfall of the church and the destruction of Christianity itself", according to later chronicler William of Tyre even though he was captured. Baldwin hurried to Melitene and pursued the Danishmendids for three days, but he was unable to rescue Bohemond. After his return, the Armenian lord of Melitene, Gabriel of Melitene, swore fealty to him. Baldwin appointed fifty knights to defend the town.

News of Godfrey's death reached Edessa shortly after Baldwin's return from Melitene. His chaplain, Fulcher of Chartres, noticed that Baldwin "grieved somewhat over the death of his brother, but rejoiced more over his inheritance". To finance his journey to Jerusalem, Baldwin seized gold and silver from his subjects. He appointed his relative, Baldwin of Le Bourcq, his successor in the county and Le Bourcq swore fealty to him. Baldwin of Le Bourq was staying in Antioch when Baldwin of Boulogne decided to leave Edessa for Jerusalem. He was a military commander of the troops of Bohemond I of Antioch who was just captured. Baldwin of Boulogne summoned Baldwin from Antioch and granted him the County of Edessa. Baldwin swore fealty to Baldwin of Boulogne, who left Edessa for Jerusalem on 2 October 1100.

Battle of Nahr al-Kalb.

About 200 knights and 300–700 foot-soldiers accompanied Baldwin when he left Edessa on 2 October 1100. He spent four days in Antioch, but did not accept the local inhabitants' plea for him to administer the principality during Bohemond's captivity. After leaving Antioch, the qadi of Tripoli warned Baldwin that the Seljuk emir of Damascus, Shams al-Muluk Duqaq, wanted to ambush him on the narrow road near the mouth of the Nahr al-Kalb River. At the Battle of Nahr al-Kalb, Baldwin routed the Damascene troops. Baldwin then chased Shams al-Muluk Duqaq all the way to Damascus, where he demanded for the city to surrender to him but they did not.

Baldwin reached Jerusalem around 9 November. Dagobert withdrew to a monastery on Mount Zion, and the townspeople stopped Baldwin outside the walls and ceremoniously accompanied him to the Holy Sepulchre. Albert of Aix's sporadic references suggest that Baldwin adopted the title of prince. Baldwin first raided the surroundings of Ascalon, which was still held by the Fatimid Caliphate, then launched a punitive expedition against the bandits who had their headquarters in the caves near Jerusalem. He made an incursion across the River Jordan before returning to Jerusalem on 21 December.

Baldwin was reconciled with Dagobert who agreed to anoint and crown him king. The ceremony took place in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Christmas Day. Thereafter Baldwin was most frequently styled king. For instance, a charter of grant in 1104 referred to him as "Baldwin, king of Judea and Jerusalem, and defensor of the Holiest Sepulchre of our Lord, Jesus Christ". In most of his charters, he also emphasised that he was Godfrey's lawful heir. Nearby towns would then send Baldwin gifts to ensure his good will.

But soon a crisis emerged. Tancred, Prince of Galilee, did not recognize Baldwin as king. Not only that, Baldwin's ally, Geldemar Carpenel laid claim to Haifa, which was part of Tancred's Principality of Galilee, stating that Tancred had arbitrarily seized it, The new King of Jerusalem, Baldwin I of Jerusalem summoned Tancred to Jerusalem, but although Tancred did not recognise him as the lawful King of Jerusalem, they agreed to meet at a river near Jaffa. They met, but their meeting did not result in compromise. The conflict was resolved when Tancred was invited to Antioch to administer the principality on Bohemond's behalf. Noblemen had come from the Principality of Antioch and asked Tancred to assume the administration of the principality on behalf of his relative, Bohemond I of Antioch, who had been captured by Turkish troops at the Battle of Melitene. Tancred accepted the offer and renounced Galilee in March 1101, but he also stipulated that the king should grant the same land "as a fief" to him if he returned to the kingdom within fifteen months. Before leaving for Antioch in March, Tancred renounced his domains in Palestine, but also stipulated that the same domains should be granted in fief to him if he were to leave Antioch within fifteen months. Baldwin gave Haifa to Geldemar and the Galilee to Hugh of Fauquembergues.

Franco-Lombard Expedition

Lombard-Tuscan man-at-arms from c. 1100, Vita Mathildis.

In the west, the pope started calling a crusade for the rescue of Bohemond from the Danishmendids at Neocaesarea and to reinforce the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Pope Paschal II purposely targeted the places in Europe who previously did not send many crusaders in the First Crusade. This led to many people from many different nations or ethnicities joining either to save Bohemond of Taranto, whose heroic actions during the First Crusade made himself a hero to many Europeans, or to repair their reputations after deserting the First Crusade. Some people who deserted the First Crusade were people like Hugh of Vermandois, who was the prince of France, and Count Stephen of Blois. Apparently, Countess Adela of Blois was so ashamed of her husband, Count Stephen, who had fled from the siege of Antioch in 1098, that she would not permit him to stay at home.

The largest contingent was sent by the region of Lombardy. The Lombards were led by the archbishop of Milan, Anselm IV, a man who was personally selected by the Pope Paschal II to lead the upcoming crusade. Anselm preached the crusade throughout Lombardy, where there had been little enthusiasm for the first one, but where his influence sparked a wave of zeal: crowds greeted him chanting "Ultreja! Ultreja!" On 15 July 1100, he celebrated the anniversary of the fall of Jerusalem in Milan. He appointed one Grossolano, then bishop of Savona, to act as his vicar and, on 13 September, with bishops Guy of Tortona, William of Pavia, and probably Aldo of Piacenza, and with princes like Milo I of Montlhéry, Guy II the Red of Rochefort, he left with a company reported at the exaggerated figure of 50,000 men, led by Albert of Biandrate, and his nephew Otto Altaspata. Albert, Count of Parma, the brother of the Antipope Guibert, was there as a representative of the resolution of the church-state conflicts which enveloped Lombardy in the final decades of the eleventh century. Their group was at least 10,000 strong with many excellent knights.

The army proceeded by land first through the Italo-Alpine region of Carnia, then through Carinthia, with the permission of Duke Henry V of Carinthia, and then went through the Sava valley (part of the Kingdom of Hungary then) before entering Byzantine territory through Belgrade. From here the Byzantine Greeks provided them with privileged markets and supplies due to Anselm's negotiations with Alexios I Komnenos, the Eastern Roman emperor. Due to the amount of crusaders, Anselm decided to split the army into three groups, the first near Philippopolis, the next near Adrianople, and the other one near Rodosto. This enabled the crusader army to pass through Thrace to Constantinople without incident. When Anselm and his 10,000 group of Crusaders reached the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, Constantinople, Alexios I escorted them to a camp outside the Walls of Constantinople. At this point sources claim that order was held by Anselm and Albert with ease. But some other sources also claim that this camp did not satisfy the Italian crusaders, and they made their way inside the city where they pillaged the Blachernae palace, even killing Alexios' pet lion. The Lombards were quickly ferried across the Bosporus and made their camp at Nicomedia, to wait for reinforcements.

At Nicomedia, in Asia Minor, Anselm met Raymond IV of Toulouse, one of the leading barons of the capture of Jerusalem. During the First Crusade, Raymond had tried to carve out a domain for himself in the Levant but had failed. First, after the Crusaders had taken Antioch after its siege, Raymond had attempted to take the city for himself, but Bohemond of Taranto had taken it before him and created the Principality of Antioch for himself, making himself the Prince of Antioch. Then, Raymond attempted to make himself the ruler of Jerusalem after the Siege of Jerusalem (1099), but that scheme failed as well and Godfrey of Bouillon became its first king. Then after the Battle of Ascalon, he had tried to take Ascalon, Tripoli, and Arsuf (check the Siege of Arsuf in the Coronation of Baldwin section) for himself too. Unfortunately, all of those schemes failed. After the failure of his schemes, Raymond had fled with the Crusaders still loyal to him and, in the winter of 1099–1100, captured Laodicea from him (Bohemond had himself recently taken it from Alexios). From Laodicea he went to Constantinople, and pledged his allegiance to Alexios, as his interests aligned with Alexios. Also, both Raymond and Alexios considered Bohemond an enemy due to his control of Antioch. Now Alexios had ordered Raymond, with his contingent of loyal Crusaders, Pechenegs under General Tzitas, and Byzantine Greeks to lead Anselm's army through Anatolia towards Neocaesarea, to rescue Bohemond of Taranto. Raymond and his group of loyal Crusaders had already successfully gone through Seljuk Anatolia once before, and in doing so, taking over Western and Southern Anatolia to the Byzantines. It made sense for them to lead Anselm through Anatolia again.

But after Raymond and Anselm met, they already started to disagree. Raymond wanted to lead the Crusaders through the route he had gone upon during the First Crusade and reinforce the Kingdom of Jerusalem. But Anselm and the Italian Crusaders wanted to go on a route directly towards Neocaesarea to rescue Bohemond, a dangerous route that led them through the heart of Turkish Anatolia, controlled by the Sultanate of Rum. The Crusader army ended up going on this route. While waiting at Nicomedia, Anselm's army got more reinforcements including French, Germans, and Burgundians. This 8,000 strong army was led by Stephen of Blois, Count Stephen of Burgundy, Duke Eudes of Burgundy, Joscelin of Courtenay, Baldwin of Grandpré, Dodo of Clermont-en-Argonne, Engelrand of Coucy, Bishop of Laon, Hugh of Die, Archbishop of Lyons, Hugh Bardoul (Bardolf) II of Broyes, Viscount Odo Arpin of Bourges, and Conrad, constable of Emperor Henry IV. Many of these Crusaders sold all their possessions to provision themselves with equipment, horses, fodder, and money for the journey, betting everything they had on this mission. These Franco-German Crusaders, with the support of Alexios was assigned command of the entire Crusader army, although the Lombards were reluctant to do so.

Guided by Raymond, the Crusader army, joined by his band of loyal Crusaders, Pechenegs, and Eastern Romans marched through Anatolia. The army first went towards Dorylaeum, following the route taken by Raymond and Stephen in 1097 during the First Crusade. But due to the protests of the Lombards, who wanted to free Bohemond and so go to the more direct, but dangerous route through Seljuk Asia Minor to Neocaesarea Then the army turned east and captured the Seljuk controlled city of Ancyra on 23 June 1101. After returning it to Alexios, the Crusaders turned north. As they started their march north towards Gangra, the crusaders did not realize that they were being followed and watched by Seljuk spies sent by the Seljuk Sultan of Rum Kilij Arslan I. The sultan, who wanted revenge after the First Crusade's capture of his previous capital at Nicaea and the Byzantine occupation of Western and Southern Anatolia, now saw his opportunity to destroy the Crusader army. After his defeat at the Battle of Dorylaeum in 1097, Kilij Arslan had been creating an anti-Crusader coalition with the purpose of ending more Crusader invasions of Seljuk Anatolia. Arslan knew the land well and would not underestimate the Crusaders like he had done during the First Crusade. With the Crusaders heading for Gangra, Arslan employed the scorched earth tactic or Fabian strategy. Kilij Arslan poisoned as many wells and cisterns as he could, emptied as many villages or towns the Crusaders were heading towards, and he had Seljuks harass, skirmish, attack, and kill isolated Crusaders, Christian foraging parties, and their supply lines. But most importantly, Arslan avoided any pitched battles. Arslan's coalition included his Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, the Danishmendid Emirate of Sivas, and the Emir of Aleppo, Fakhr al-Mulk Ridwan.

The Crusaders briefly unsuccessfully besieged the heavily garrisoned city of Gangra. Raymond suggested for the Crusaders to continue north to attempt to capture the Turkish-controlled city of Kastamone. He probably did this in an attempt to get more in favor with Alexios, whose Komnenos family originated from there before the Seljuk Empire had taken it. It was on the march to Kastamone that the Seljuk harassment got worse. By the time the Crusaders took Kastamone, they were starving, thirsty, and wary of the Seljuks. Their constant raids and surprise attacks had weakened the Crusaders, and whenever some knights tried to pursue, they would find themselves fallen into a feigned retreat and would get killed. The Seljuk attacks caused scouts and foragers to be sent rarely, exacerbating the Crusaders' hunger, isolation, and demoralization further. After taking Kastamone and returning it back to the Byzantines, the Crusaders now made a decision. Raymond and the Franco-Germans knew that it was best for them to head up to the Black Sea coast and enter Byzantine controlled Paphlagonia, from where they could resupply and regroup, far from the attacking Seljuks. Unfortunately they ended up marching again through the hostile Seljuk Anatolia to Neocaesarea, due to the behest of the Lombards, ever so-desperate to rescue Bohemond. After leaving Kastamone, it became August, and the Crusaders continued east towards Neocaesarea, soon to enter the territory of the Danishmendids. By this time the Crusaders were losing supplies, and the heat had taken a big toll on them. The heat during the August of the Kastamonu area, is now around 84 degrees fahrenheit, and shows us what temperature the Crusaders had to face daily. The heat put many Crusaders to the test, putting them at risk of heat stroke and death, made even worse by their heavy equipment and marching. Worse, they came under attack from the Seljuk Turks, who harassed them for weeks, and a foraging party was destroyed in July. At this point, under the threats of the Lombards, the entire army turned away from the possible safety of the Byzantine controlled Black Sea coast and again moved east, through Danishmend territory and getting closer to the rescue of Bohemond.

Battle of Mersivan

After crossing the Halys River the Crusaders entered the territory of the Danishmends, sacking a village of Christian Byzantine Greeks while doing so. Soon the Crusaders approached the walls of Mersivan.

As the Crusaders were marching towards Mersivan they were organized into 5 divisions, the Lombards in the front of the column led by Anselm IV, followed by Raymond IV of Toulouse with the Pechenegs. After Raymond were the Burgundians led by Count Stephen I of Burgundy and Duke Eudes I of Burgundy. After the Burgundians came the Germans led by the German constable Conrad, and then the French led by Stephen of Blois. This army had weak horses and was tired after the long march through Anatolia. Also, due to the massive size of the army, communication between each of the contingents was slow. As the army marched towards Mersivan, they had found themselves surrounded by a Seljuk army led by Kilij Arslan I himself. Kilij Arslan had the Seljuks cut off the crusading armies' advances and surrounded the Crusaders to block off any routes of escape. In reaction to the Seljuks, the Crusaders created a camp and filled it with the camp followers and supplies, deploying themselves all around the camp with the intention of protecting it. The Seljuks then proceeded to ride around the camp on their swift horses and shoot endless streams of arrows along with many ferocious shouts.

The next day, the German constable, Conrad led a group of German crusaders in an attempt to break the Seljuk lines, but the attack failed. Not only did he fail, but he was unable to get back to the Crusader lines, as the Seljuks blocked off him from the rest of the army and then ambushed him, killing many Germans. This caused Conrad and his Germans to take refuge in a nearby castle while the rest of the crusaders feared that he had abandoned them. The day after Conrad's failed attack, nothing eventful happened. The Seljuk continued to surround the Crusaders and shower arrows on them, adding to their pressure and anxiety. The next day, Anselm's Italian crusaders attempted to break through the Seljuk lines from the east, but even though they killed many Turks, they lost many Crusaders too, forcing them to withdraw. On the fifth day of the battle, Kilij Arslan was joined by some Danishmendid princes and the Turcoman emir of Aleppo, Fakhr al-Mulk Ridwan. Along with them came many Aleppan Turks and Danishmendids. After joining Kilij Arslan, the Turks launched an attack, annihilating the Lombards and making the Pechenegs retreat from the Crusader lines. At this point of the battle the Turks were attacking the Crusaders from all sides, and the French and German crusaders were forced to fall back. Raymond was trapped on a rock and was rescued by Stephen and Conrad. The battle continued into the next day, when the crusader camp was captured and the knights fled, leaving women, children, and priests behind to be killed or enslaved. Raymond, Stephen of Blois, and Stephen of Burgundy fled north to Sinope, and returned to Constantinople by ship. The Crusaders who did not possess many horses, mostly the Lombards, were not able to retreat that far from the Turks, and were hunted like wild game by them. After the battle, most of the old men and women and children were all killed. Those camp followers and warriors who did not die, but got captured, were sent into slavery. Anselm IV and Eudes I, Duke of Burgundy both died in battle. Also, the Holy Lance found by Peter Bartholomew during the Siege of Antioch was captured by Kilij Arslan. News of Anselm's death did not reach Milan until 1102. He was succeeded by his vicar, Grosolanus. After the Battle of Mersivan, the Franco-German-Lombard Crusader expedition of Raymond of Toulouse, Anselm of Milan, and Stephen of Blois was almost completely destroyed. Those who managed to escape, were mainly the knights and nobles who had horses.

One of the Crusaders who managed to escape the calamity was Raymond IV of Toulouse. He, with a small escort, managed to reach the small Byzantine-Paphlagonian port of Bafra, a city at the mouth of the Halys River, and from where they managed to get on a small ship to Constantinople. Other knights who managed to escape went to Sinope and from there they sailed to Constantinople. Much of the Crusaders blamed the failure of the Crusade on Alexios and the Byzantines. In reality, Alexios was furious at the Crusade's failure. Although he received with Raymond and his companions with courtesy, he was very cold and did not hide his disappointment at all.

Niverais Expedition

William II of Nevers, leader of the Niverais Crusader Army of the Crusade of 1101.

Just as the Franco-Lombard contingent had left Nicomedia, a separate force under Count William II of Nevers arrived at Constantinople. The force consisted of soldiers from the County of Nevers or Niverais. The Niverais under William II had crossed into Byzantine-Epirote city of Valona over the Adriatic Sea from Bari. From Valona, the march of the Niverais to Constantinople was free of incident, an unusual occurrence for a crusader army. After being received cordially by the Eastern Roman Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, he soon reached Nicomedia. In Nicomedia, William II of Nevers soon learned there he was soon going to be joined by another crusader army that mainly consisted of French and Bavarians.

Not only that, he found out that the Franco-Lombard army was heading towards Ancyra. Either by a desire not to share his crusading glory with the oncoming Franco-Bavarian army or by a desire to join the Franco-Lombard army, with included his relative Count Stephen I the Rash of Burgundy, William made his decision. William left Nicomedia with his Niverais crusaders before the rest Franco-Bavarian army could assemble and headed for Ancyra. On his march, William came very close to joining Anselm IV's army but in fact never caught up with them. After reaching Ancyra, William went south, besieging Iconium in mid-August while the sultan of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, Kilij Arslan I, was distracted fighting the Franco-Lombards at the Battle of Mersivan. But after besieging it for three days, William could not take it and he continued on his march. William II of Nevers now set off for the Byzantine controlled city of Heraclea Cybistra.

But by the time William set off, Kilij Arslan was finished defeated the Lombards at the Battle of Mersivan and now set off to destroy William's army. To do this, Kilij Arslan had his Seljuks positioned and hidden on both sides of the road William was taking towards Heraclea Cybistra. As William approached Heraclea he was soon ambushed at Heraclea Cybistra by Kilij Arslan. After a bit of resistance, the tired and weakened crusader army succumbed to the Turcoman attack and at Heraclea almost the Niverais was almost completely wiped out, except for the count himself and a few dozen of his men. The women in his entourage, at least a thousand in number, were taken prisoner and then enslaved. After spending a few days crossing the Taurus Mountains, the Niverais crusaders managed to reach the Byzantine forts of Germanicopolis and Seleucia Isauria, forts which were in the Anatolian region of Cilicia. According to the only source of the Niverais expedition, Albert of Aachen, the local Byzantine governor offered to provide the William and his companions with an escort of twelve Pecheneg mercenaries to accompany them to the Levant. But few weeks later, Count William II of Nevers and his companions reached the Antioch under Tancred of Galilee half-naked and unarmed, claiming that the treacherous Pechenegs, who were accompanying them on the orders of the Byzantine governor, had robbed them and abandoned them in the Cilician desert they were crossing.

Franco-Bavarian Expedition

As William and the Niverais were leaving Nicomedia, a new crusading army had arrived, consisting of French and Bavarian crusaders. It was led by William IX of Aquitaine, who was a famous troubadour and was an enemy of Count Raymond IV of Toulouse. The reason he was an enemy of Raymond as his wife, Philippa of Toulouse, was the daughter of Raymond's elder brother, William IV of Toulouse and thus had a claim to the throne of County of Toulouse, Narbonne, and the Margrave of Provence. Another crusader leader included Hugh of Vermandois. He had participated in the successful First Crusade and after the Siege of Antioch, he was sent to Constantinople by the crusader leaders to ask Alexios I Komnenos for reinforcements. But after unsuccessfully doing so, he left for France, instead of rejoining the crusader army to attack Jerusalem. But after being scorned by his countrymen for abandoning his fellow crusaders and for breaking his oath to take Jerusalem, the Pope Paschal II threatened to excommunicate him, prompting him to take the cross again for this crusade. The French crusaders were joined by Hugh VI of Lusignan.

From here the French crusader army of 16,000 went through Southern Germany, Austria, and Hungary they were joined by Duke Welf I of Bavaria, a papal legate who was the Archbishop of Salzburg with the name of Thiemo, and the widowed margravine Ida of Austria, mother of Leopold III of Austria. The crusaders would reach the Eastern Roman Empire by crossing into the Byzantine city of Belgrade, after following the Danube River during their march. From here the crusaders would pillaged Byzantine territory on the way to Constantinople and had almost come into conflict with Pecheneg mercenaries sent by the Byzantines to stop them, until William IX of Aquitaine and Duke Welf I of Bavaria intervened. The logical choice for the Franco-Bavarians was to link up with the Niverais. But just before they could arrive, William and his contingent left to join the Franco-Lombard army. As William and his Niverais were heading for Ancyra, the Franco-Bavarians waited for 5 weeks. During these 5 weeks, the Franco-Bavarians stopped hearing information about the Lombard contingent made them start to fear that Alexios was responsible about that, leading to a mistrust of the Byzantines. False fears of the Anatolia trip induced many pilgrims to sell their horses to pay for a sea voyage, but there were also those who had second thoughts because they were afraid of being intercepted and captured by the Byzantine navy. The gigantic wave of confusion that gripped the Germans is vividly described by the historian Ekkehard of Aura, one of the civilian pilgrims who chose to remain on board the ships bound for Palestine, where he landed with his companions at the end of a six-week journey. After a part of the Franco-Bavarians left for the sea route to Jaffa from Constantinople, the rest of the crusaders decided to take the land route through Anatolia. These Franco-Bavarians, led by Hugh of Vermandois, followed the route that he had used during the First Crusade (the route Raymond wanted to lead Anselm's force through). But, as it was summer caused the army to face dehydration and fatigue due to the hot weather. Also, Seljuk Turkish supply raids and skirmishes, and the scorched earth tactics of the Seljuk Turks caused demoralization and supply issues. All this trouble was made by Kilij Arslan as all the harassment had his Seljuks do was all part of his plan. After defeating the Niverais, Kilij Arslan I knew that there was only one last crusader army left, the Franco-Bavarian one. He successfully first tried to weaken the crusader army and now planned another ambush next to a city on the crusader's route, Heraclea Cybistra. So as Hugh led the crusader army to Heraclea Cybistra in September, the they saw the dead bodies of William's Niverais crusaders and then, like the Niverais, were ambushed and massacred by Kilij Arslan. William and Welf escaped, but Hugh was mortally wounded; the survivors eventually arrived at Tarsus, where Hugh died on 18 October. There was not even much of a battle to speak of. The crusaders this time were so tired, starving, demoralized, weakened, and thirsty that they could not even fight back the Turks. The "battle" was an easy Seljuk Turkish victory.

Ida of Austria disappeared during this ambush and was presumably killed, but according to later legend, she was taken into captivity and became the mother of Zengi, a great enemy of the crusaders in the 1140s, which - however - is impossible due to chronological factors. Meanwhile Welf of Bavaria managed to escape to Cyprus but died in the Cypriot city of Paphos. He is now buried at Weingarten Abbey and was succeeded by his son Welf II. Several traditions concerning Thiemo's death exist. He may have been taken captive by the Seljuqs of Rûm after the Battle of Heraclea in Anatolia in September 1101 or was imprisoned by the Fatimid Caliphate at Ascalon in the following year. His martyrdom is described being tortured and killed by pulling the intestines out of his body with a spindle.

Crusade in the Holy Land

Mons Peregrinus

After the Battle of Mersivan, Raymond managed to escape the battle and return to Constantinople. In 1102, he travelled by sea from Constantinople to Antioch, where he was imprisoned by Tancred, regent of Antioch during the captivity of Bohemond, and was only dismissed after promising not to attempt any conquests in the country between Antioch and Acre. He immediately broke his promise, and besieged Tortosa. During the siege, he was joined by another leader of the Crusade of 1101, William of Nevers. William was able to escape the Battle of Heraclea also escaped to Tarsus and joined the rest of the survivors of the Crusade of 1101. Under Raymond, William and the survivors of the Crusade captured Tortosa from the Turks, with help from a Genoese fleet. After taking Tortosa, Raymond put the major city of Tripoli under siege. He was aided by Alexios I, who preferred a friendly state in Tripoli to balance the hostile state in Antioch. Alexios had ten Eastern Roman ships join a Genoese fleet to blockade Tripoli's harbor. Then, Raymond, with the aid of Byzantine engineers started to build a fort called Mons Peregrinus, "Pilgrim's mountain" or "Qalaat Saint-Gilles" ("fortress of Saint-Gilles"), in order to block Tripoli's access inland. Then, with the Genoese Hugh Embriaco, Raymond also seized Gibelet. As Gibelet or Giblet, it came under the rule of the Genoese Embriaco family, who created for themselves the Lordship of Gibelet, first as administrators of the city in the name of the Republic of Genoa, and then as a hereditary fief, undertaking to pay an annual fee to Genoa and the church of San Lorenzo, the cathedral at Genoa. After taking Gibelet in 1102, Raymond and his newly founded County of Tripoli controlled all the Levantine lands between Antioch and Kingdom of Jerusalem except for Tripoli itself. The Siege of Tripoli would continue until 1109 and Raymond would rule as the first Count of Tripoli from 1102 all the way to 1105. He would never live to enter Tripoli as its count.

Meanwhile in Edessa, Baldwin Le Bourq married Morphia, the daughter of Gabriel of Melitene, who was a vassal of Baldwin's. This action enabled him to consolidate his position among his mainly Armenian subjects. In early 1101, Sökmen, the Artuqid ruler of Mardin, attacked the Edessan city ofSaruj in early 1101. Baldwin attempted to relieve the town, but Sökmen routed his army, forcing him to return to Edessa. When relating these events, the Armenian historian, Matthew of Edessa, described Baldwin as a coward who was "pitiful in body". Sökmen captured the town, but the fortress resisted his siege. Baldwin went to Antioch to raise new troops before returning to Saruj. He forced Sökmen to leave the town and executed all the townspeople who had cooperated with the Artuqids. One of his cousins, Joscelin of Courtenay, came to Edessa in 1102. He was part of the failed Franco-Lombard expedition but after the Battle of Mersivan he managed to escape to the Holy Land. Baldwin granted him lands to the west of the Euphrates, a new Lordship of Turbessel.

To maintain Pisa's influence in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Dagobert of Pisa needed to control the church, but he was always short of money, and pious sympathisers gave their donations to the church. Complaints had been made about the legality of Dagobert's appointment. A new papal legate, Maurice of Porto, then came to Jerusalem in early March 1101. As Baldwin accused Dagobert of treachery and for urging Bohemond to oppose Baldwin's succession, he was able to convince Maurice to suspend him on 15 April, Dagobert had to bribe Baldwin with 300 bezants to persuade the legate to restore him to his office.

First Battle of Ramla

The towns along the coast which were still under Egyptian rule—Arsuf, Caesarea, Acre and Tyre—sent gifts to Baldwin to secure his benevolence. Always in need of funds, Baldwin concluded an alliance with the commanders of a Genoese fleet, offering commercial privileges and booty to them in the towns that he would capture with their support. They first attacked Arsuf, which surrendered without resistance on 29 April, securing a safe passage for the townspeople to Ascalon. The Egyptian garrison at Caesarea resisted, but the town fell on 17 May. Baldwin's soldiers pillaged Caesarea and massacred the majority of the adult local population. The Genoese received one third of the booty, but Baldwin did not grant areas in the captured towns to them. The Genoese fleet weakened Dagobert's position, as Baldwin no longer depended for sea power on the Pisan fleet.

While Baldwin and the Genoese were besieging Caesarea, the Fatimid vizier, Al-Afdal Shahanshah, started mustering troops at Ascalon. Baldwin moved his headquarters to nearby Jaffa and fortified Ramla to hinder any attempt at a surprise attack against Jerusalem. Roger Borsa, Duke of Apulia, in Baldwin's orders, sent money to Dagobert, partially for the recruitment of soldiers and demanded money for the costs of the defence of Ramla. Dagobert, though, retained the whole sum and he also refused to pay for the costs of the Ramlan defences. During a passionate debate in the presence of the papal legate, Dagobert stated that Baldwin should not "presume to make tributary and servant the holy Church". Maurice persuaded Dagobert to promise that he would "maintain thirty soldiers by a money agreement", but the patriarch failed to raise the promised amount.

The Fatimids were led by Saad el-Dawleh, former governor of Beirut, while the Crusaders were under the command of King Baldwin I. Baldwin had only 260 cavalry and 900 foot soldiers under his command, leaving him severely outnumbered by the Fatimid army, which was estimated at 32,000 men by Fulcher of Chartres, and downgraded to 3,000–5,000 by modern historians. The lightly armed and undisciplined Fatimid army approached Ramla in early September. Upon sighting the Fatimid army in the First Battle of Ramla, Baldwin arrayed his force in six divisions, commanding the reserve force himself. The much smaller, but experienced and well-equipped crusader forces were the first to attack, at dawn on 7 September. But in Baldwin's audacious attack the first two Crusader divisions were wiped out while the vanguard took heavy casualties too, with one of Baldwin's allies, Geldemar Carpinel among the slain. The battle seemed to be lost, but when the third division was pursued after being routed by the Fatimids, Baldwin ordered a counter-attack and committed his reserve. In vicious close-quarter combat, the Crusaders repulsed the Fatimid forces, who in panic they all buckled under the force of Baldwin's counterattack and started to retreat. After pursuing the fleeing Fatimids to Ascalon, Baldwin returned to Ramla to plunder the Fatimid camp. This success secured the Kingdom of Jerusalem against the Fatimid Caliphate's advances for the campaigning season. According to Fulcher of Chartres, who was present at the battle, the Fatimids lost around 5,000 men in the battle, including their general Saad al-Daulah. However, Crusader losses were heavy too, losing 80 knights and a large amount of infantry.

The battle had so nearly been a defeat for the Crusaders, and while the Fatimid survivors fled to Ascalon the remnants of the vanguard that was crushed earlier in the battle themselves fled to Jaffa. So great was the confusion after the battle that around 500 Fatimid troops advanced to the walls of Jaffa, where survivors of the Latin vanguard informed Baldwin's wife Arda that the king and all his men were dead. A letter was immediately sent north to Antioch to ask Tancred, regent of Antioch in the place of Bohemond of Taranto, for assistance. Jaffa did not immediately capitulate, and when Baldwin returned victorious the following day the remaining Egyptian forces quickly scattered. Ascalon remained in Fatimid hands, however, and a miscalculation would prove very costly to Baldwin when the two sides once again met at Ramla the following year.

Roger Borsa, Duke of Apulia, sent money to Dagobert, partially for the recruitment of soldiers, but Dagobert retained the whole sum. After learning of this embezzlement, Baldwin convinced the papal legate to dismiss Dagobert in late 1101. Dagobert fled first to Jaffa, then to Tancred in Antioch. Tancred, who now ruled Antioch, welcomed Dagobert to the city, where he put the Church of St George at his disposal. The vacancy enabled Baldwin to freely use the patriarch's rich treasury.

Second Battle of Ramla

By now the Crusade of 1101 was more of a pilgrimage. The survivors arrived at Antioch at the end of 1101, and at Easter in 1102 arrived in Jerusalem. Stephen of Blois, Hugh of Lusignan, William IX of Aquitaine, Stephen of Burgundy and other survivors were able to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem in 1102. Soon enough, they were all regrouping at Jaffa to depart home under the presence of King Baldwin. Duke William IX of Aquitaine had already left with some of the survivors. The reason they had left was because their vow having been fulfilled. But men like Stephen of Blois, Hugh of Lusignan and Stephen of Burgundy had been forced back due to unfavorable winds.

As they were doing this, news of a new Fatimid invasion force arrived, led by Sharaf al-Ma'ali Sama' al-Mulk al-Husayn ibn al-Afdal, who was Fatimid vizier al-Afdal's son. But Baldwin's faulty scouts had led him to believe he was facing a small Fatimid force, so he rode out with 200 knights, including the surviving leaders of the Crusade of 1101. But he soon realized his mistake too late. He found himself facing not a few hundred, but 20,000 Fatimid soldiers, an army which was 100 times bigger than his. They were attacked by the Fatimids, and many died. Baldwin and the rest of his army managed to retreat to Ramla and managed to barricade themselves in Ramla's single tower. Baldwin was left with no other option than to flee and escaped the tower under the cover of night with just his scribe and a single knight, Hugh of Brulis, who is never mentioned in any source afterwards. Baldwin had left the rest to their fate. The situation of the remaining knights in Ramla deteriorated when Fatimid forces stormed the town in the morning after Baldwin's escape, with only the tower remaining under Crusader control. The Fatimids ruthlessly attacked the tower, undermining walls and setting fires to smoke out the desperate defenders. After a day of desperately holding their ground, the Crusaders, all but abandoned by their king, said a prayer and charged out against the Fatimids. Almost all of the meagre force was immediately slain including Stephen of Blois, who finally recovered the honour that he had lost when he deserted the Siege of Antioch four years previously. However, Conrad of Germany, the constable of Henry IV who had previously led a contingent at the Crusade of 1101, fought so valiantly that even after everyone around him was dead he still fought on, holding off the Fatimids to the point that his awestruck foe offered to spare his life if he surrendered. But there were no survivors. Other than Stephen of Blois and Conrad of Germany, Stephen of Burgundy, and Hugh VI of Lusignan all died. Odo Arpin of Bourges got captured and was imprisoned at Ascalon and then Cairo before getting released by Alexios I Komnenos. After the Second Battle of Ramla, the Fatimid army blockaded and besieged the city of Jaffa where Arda and the civilian survivors of the Crusade of 1101 were. There the Fatimids got a random European corpse, mutilated it, and paraded it in front of the city's walls. The city defenders got tricked that Baldwin had died which demoralized them. But just as they were about to surrender Baldwin had arrived.

Baldwin spent the next two days evading Fatimid search parties until he arrived exhausted, starved, and parched in the reasonably safe haven of Arsuf on May 19. He fled to Arsuf, after which an English pirate, Godric of Finchale, took him to Jaffa, although the Egyptian army had blockaded it from the land. Meanwhile, a force of eighty knights under Hugh of Falchenburg managed to break in by land. With Baldwin's forces strengthened by the arrival of a fleet of French and German Crusaders, he was able to assemble an army of eight thousand men and surprised the unprepared Egyptians. Discontent was already arising from Sharaf's indecisive leadership and the Fatimids quickly retreated back to Ascalon.

During the siege of Jaffa, Baldwin I of Jerusalem had sent envoys to Antioch and Edessa, seeking assistance from Tancred and Baldwin II of Edessa. Both of the leaders assembled their troops and marched to Jerusalem together. They arrived in late September, only after the Egyptians' withdrawal. The three crusader rulers made a raid against Ascalon, but Tancred and Baldwin soon returned to their realms. As a condition of his assistance Tancred tried to persuade Baldwin to restore Dagobert as patriarch. Baldwin agreed but then a new legate arrived, Cardinal Robert of Paris, to replace the deceased Maurice. Baldwin convinced Robert to discuss the issue with the local bishops and abbots. After Baldwin, Arnulf of Chocques, and other prelates unanimously stated that Dagobert had almost provoked a civil war, attacked fellow-Christians in his raids on Byzantine islands on his journey to the east, abused his ecclesiastical authority, keeping for himself money given for the welfare of pilgrims, and deposed as Patriarch. Tancred again welcomed him to Antioch but did not further press his claim. In Steven Runciman's view, he had shown himself a corrupt and miserly old man, and his departure was not regretted. Instead, the legate allowed them to elect a pious priest, Evremar, as patriarch.

Aftermath

The Second Battle of Ramla led to the end of many crusaders who had taken the cross for the Crusade of 1101. Stephen, Count of Blois, father of Stephen, the future King of England, was killed during this battle, as was Hugh VI of Lusignan, ancestor of the future Lusignan dynasty of Jerusalem and Cyprus. Joscelin of Courtenay also stayed behind, and survived to become Count of Edessa in 1118.

The defeat of the crusaders allowed Kilij Arslan to establish his capital at Iconium, and also proved to the Muslim world that the crusaders were not invincible, as they appeared to be during the First Crusade. The crusaders and Byzantines each blamed the other for the defeat, and neither of them were able to ensure a safe route through Anatolia now that Kilij Arslan had strengthened his position. The only open route to the Holy Land was the sea route, which benefitted the Italian maritime republics. The lack of a safe land route from Constantinople also benefitted the Principality of Antioch, where Tancred, ruling for his uncle Bohemond, was able to consolidate his power without Byzantine interference.

Both the Second and Third Crusades suffered similar difficulties when attempting to cross Anatolia.

Epilogue: The Crusader States (1103-1118)

After the disastrous Second Battle of Ramla, Baldwin laid siege to Acre in April 1103. He was joined by the final remnants of the Crusade, who stationed themselves on ships in a futile attempt to blockade Acre from the sea. The besiegers, said to have numbered about 5,000 men, deployed catapults and a siege tower, which, after some prolonged fighting, eventually prompted the defenders to begin negotiations on the terms of the surrender. But shortly before the surrender of Acre, 12 Muslim galleys coming from Tyre and Sidon and a large transport ship with men and war material entered the city's harbor, in which these reinforcements revived the will to fight. The defenders did not only manage to defeat several of the siege engines, but also damaged the Crusader siege tower. King Baldwin then decided to break off the siege. The remaining siege engines were destroyed by the retreating Crusaders, and much of the orchards of Acre as well.

After the failure at Acre, King Baldwin made another advance into Mount Carmel to clear it of the gangs of bandits who were still making the traffic routes around Haifa unsafe from there. However, he was wounded in the kidneys in a skirmish, after which this endeavor had to be ended prematurely. He would not recover until the end of the year.

In 1103, Tancred would raid Al-Muslimiyah, sacking the city and ransoming its captives back to Seljuk Aleppo, which was under the Turkish lord, Fakhr al-Mulk Ridwan. Following that, Tancred would renew the war with Alexios and the Byzantines by taking Cilicia from them which included the cities of Tarsus, Mamistra, and Adana. Following these victories, Tancred would pay a ransom to the Danishmendids releasing his uncle, Bohemond.

Emperor Alexios had wanted to take Bohemond for himself ever since he had broken his oath made in Constantinople and kept Antioch for himself. When he heard of Bohemond's capture, he offered to redeem the Norman adventurer for 260,000 dinars, if Gümüshtigin would hand the prisoner over to him. When Kilij Arslan I, the Seljuk overlord of Gümüshtigin, heard of the deal, he threatened to invade the Emirate of the Danishmendids if he wasn’t given half the ransom. Bohemond proposed instead a ransom of 130,000 dinars paid just to Gümüshtigin. The bargain was concluded, and Gümüshtigin and Bohemond exchanged oaths of friendship. Ransomed by Tancred, he returned in triumph to Antioch in August 1103. Instrumental in the release of Bohemond was according to Matthew of Edessa the Armenian Kogh Vasil, who organised the collection of ransom, contributing substantially himself and apparently even adopting Bohemond as son afterwards. Thus, the main reason for the call of the Crusade of 1101 was fixed. Following his return to Antioch, Bohemond attacked Kafr Latah but was repelled by the local Arabs. Nevertheless, the Crusader position in the Outremer was never better, with the Maritime republics of Pisa, Venice, and Genoa flourishing, with each city having their own quarter in every major city.

Battle of Harran

Following Bohemond’s release, Baldwin II of Edessa, in an attempt to gain more popularity with the Armenians, granted villages to the Armenian prelate, Barsegh Pahlavuni. Baldwin's troops made frequent raids against the fertile plains around Harran. In 1104 Baldwin II of Edessa had attacked and besieged the city of Harran again. For his further support Baldwin sought help from Antioch and Jerusalem. This made Bohemond I of Antioch, Tancred of Galilee, Bernard of Valence the Patriarch of Antioch, and Dagobert of Pisa march north from Antioch to Edessa to join with Baldwin and Joscelin of Courtenay, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Benedict, the Archbishop of Edessa. The united Crusader army had 3,000 knights and 9,000 infantry and archers. Baldwin, Bohemond and Joscelin went together to Harran and entered into negotiations with the Seljuk garrison for a peaceful surrender. However, both Baldwin and Bohemond wanted to seize the wealthy town and the crusader army started disintegrating because of their conflict.

The Seljuks, under Jikirmish, atabeg of Mosul, and Sokman, the Artuqid lord of Mardin, gathered in the area of the Khabur, perhaps at Ras al-Ayn (Hellenistic Rhesaina). In May 1104 they attacked Edessa, with the hope that the Crusaders would lift their siege of Harran in reaction to the sudden attack.

This worked. The Crusaders rushed so quickly and chaotically to the Seljuk position that Baldwin and Bohemond weren’t even able to put on their armor. From Harran, the Seljuks feigned a retreat south, all the way to Raqqa. The Crusaders quickly Baldwin and Joscelin commanded the Edessan left wing while Bohemond and Tancred commanded the Antiochene right. Ralph of Caen says that the crusaders were caught unawares when Sökmen and Jikirmish attacked the crusaders' camp at Harran on 7 May. The attack surprised the Crusaders so much that Baldwin and Bohemond fought without armor. In the battle, Baldwin II of Edessa and Joscelin of Courtenay were both captured. Bohemond and Tancred were just able to escape.

After the battle, Jirkirmish’s troops had taken a small amount of booty compared to Sökmen’s Artuqids. In retaliation, Jikirmish, would take Baldwin from Sökmen’s captivity into his. Joscelin remained in the custody of Sökmen, passing to Ilghazi upon the latter's death. The citizens of Turbessel paid a ransom for Joscelin in 1107.

Now Jikirmish and his Seljuks besieged Edessa. The remainder of the Edessan troops declared Tancred regent for Baldwin. Tancred then attacked Jikirmish’s position, routing the Turks. To prevent anyone taking back Baldwin, Jikirmish would send him to a prison in Mosul. During the battle, Tancred captured a Turkic princess of Jikirmish's household at Edessa. Jikirmish offered to pay 15,000 bezants in ransom, or to release Baldwin in return for her liberty. Bohemond and Tancred preferred not to pay any money and Baldwin remained imprisoned.

Fall of Acre

The Battle of Harran was decisive. Bohemond’s dream of making a great principality in the Islamic Orient was now in shambles. The battle was one of the first decisive Crusader defeats with severe consequences to the Principality of Antioch. Alexios and the Eastern Roman Empire took advantage of the defeat to impose their claims on Antioch. A Eastern Roman admiral took Laodicea and the Byzantines invaded Cilicia. Their job was made easier by Armenians in Antiochene Cilicia who rebelled in favour of the Eastern Romans. Bohemond knew that his principality’s days were numbered. Antioch was being strangled to destruction by Alexios and his connection to the west was now being cut.

In May 1104, a Genoese and Pisan fleet of allegedly 70 ships arrived in Haifa. They had previously supported Raymond of Toulouse in conquering Byblos. Baldwin I of Jerusalem, who had just failed earlier to take Acre, saw an opportunity. He entered into negotiations with the Genoese, which ended in their agreeing to support him if, after taking Acre, they would receive a third of the spoils, trade privileges and a settlement in the business district of the city.

On 6 May 1104, just weeks after the Battle of Harran, the allies began the Siege of Acre. The Crusaders surrounded the city from the land side, while the Italians blocked the sea. The garrison of Acre initially put up fierce resistance. Due to the lack of assistance from Egypt, the Fatimid governor of Acre, the Mamluk Bena, better known as Zahr ad-Dawlah al-Juyushi, offered to surrender to the besiegers, on the same terms as granted in Arsuf.

Under the condition that all residents who wished to leave Acre to Ascalon would be allowed to do so with their chattels, but that the rest could remain as Frankish subjects and even maintain their mosques. Baldwin accepted the terms, and the city was finally handed over to the crusaders twenty days after the siege began. "When the Genoese saw how [the Muslims] went out with all their household goods and dragged their treasures with them, they were blinded by avarice and greed, broke into the city, killed the citizens and robbed them of gold, silver, purple fabrics and other valuables”, the chronicler Albert of Aix reported, “[t]he Frankish people”, i.e. the men of the royal army, were "seized by the flame of greed" and took part in the plundering orgy, which is said to have cost the lives of about 4,000 inhabitants and defenders of Acre. Baldwin became furious of the misconducts of the Genoese, and decided to punish them, had not the Patriarch Evremar reconciled the two parties, he then had to grant one-third of the town to them. Acre had always been the most important port of trade between Syria and Europe, and the harbour dues generated significant revenues for him. Acre would later be the last major Crusader stronghold in the Levant, falling to the Mamluks in 1291.

Crusade Against Byzantium

The Siege of Acre put more pressure on Bohemond to act. Bohemond started planning an invasion of the Eastern Roman Empire, just like the one he and his father had done in 1081. The first Norman invasion had almost been successful, and if he could do it again, he might just save his principality. Bohemond would then leave Antioch to return to Italy to launch a Crusade against Alexios. He left Tancred as regent of Antioch.and Richard of Salerno as regent of Edessa.

Bohemond set off for Italy. But on the way there, we would have to stop at many Byzantine ports to restock for supplies. For the Byzantines not to catch him at each of these ports, Bohemond devised a plan. The prince of Antioch and Taranto ordered his men to dress in mourning and to lay him in a coffin with secret air vents for Bohemond to breathe. A rooster was killed and it was placed inside the coffin with Bohemond so that the stench of death was all around the coffin. Whenever they reached a trade port, Bohemond’s men would announce the death of Bohemond, the enemy of Constantinople. This ruse went on just until the Normans were about to leave Corfu. There Bohemond revealed that he wasn’t dead but alive and sent Alexios a threatening letter which described to him his intentions of conquering the Eastern Roman Empire and Constantinople itself.

The ruler of Damascus, Shams al-Muluk Duqaq's death on 14 June led to internal conflict in Damascus. The atabeg (or regent) Toghtekin emerged as the ruler, creating the Burid dynasty. The Burids, however, faced strong opposition. Baldwin promised to support Duqaq's young brother Irtash against Toghtekin. His intervention brought about a rapprochement between the Sunnite Toghtekin and the Shiite Al-Afdal. The Burid Seljuks and the Fatimid Egyptians made an alliance against Jerusalem afterwards.

Meanwhile, during the Siege of Tripoli, Fakhr al-Mulk attacked Mons Peregrinus in September 1104, killing many of the Franks and burning down one wing of the fortress. Raymond himself managed to escape across a rooftop, but was badly burned and spent his final months in agony. He died of his injuries on February 28, 1105, before Tripoli was captured. Raymond was succeeded by his five year old son Alfonso Jordan as Count of Tripoli. Raymond’s nephew however, William II Jordan, Count of Cerdanya, who was with Raymond during the siege, was declared regent for Alfonso by Raymond’s army.

19th-century depiction of Tancred by Merry-Joseph Blondel

The Qadi of Tripoli had called Ridwan of Aleppo to relieve the siege upon his city. So as Ridwan was marching to Tripoli’s aid, he heard an interesting bit of news. Just like the cities of Cilicia, the city of Artah rebelled, expelling their Antiochene garrison and declaring their allegiance to Ridwan. This prompted Tancred to lead an army of 1,000 knights and 3,000 infantry to besiege Artah. Ridwan then changed his direction of march and marched, with more than 7,000 soldiers, including 3,000 volunteer infantry, to the city to relieve it instead. When the Muslims were within range of the Crusader camp, they launched a chaotic, disorganized full scale attack. But what they found was not an army of Crusaders, it was the deserted and empty Crusader camp. The Muslims, overconfident in their victory, started looting the camp. The Crusader feigned retreat worked, and they attacking the unexpecting Muslims. Only a small number of Muslims escaped. After this decisive defeat, Ridwan would never again challenge the Crusaders.

Meanwhile, Jerusalem was facing the coalition of the Burid dynasty under Toghtekin and the Fatimids, due to Baldwin’s support of Irtash. Sama' al-Mulk Husayn led an army of 10 to 12 thousand soldiers. It included Nubian bowmen, Arab and Berber cavalry, and Turkic horse archers from Damascus. The Muslim army intended to finish the job they had almost done the past two battles of Ramla, to destroy the Kingdom of Jerusalem, but this time with the biggest army they had ever assembled since the Battle of Ascalon. To counter this force, in August 1105, Baldwin assembled the largest crusader army since the beginning of his reign. At his request, Patriarch Evremar displayed the True Cross before the army to strengthen the crusaders' self-confidence. August. The Third Battle of Ramla started when the Muslims withstood the initial Crusader cavalry charge. After this, the battle raged for most of the day. Although Baldwin was once again able to drive the Egyptians from the field of battle and loot the enemy camp he was unable to pursue them any further: "the Franks appear to have owed their victory to the activity of Baldwin. He vanquished the Turks when they were becoming a serious threat to his rear, and returned to the main battle to lead the decisive charge which defeated the Egyptians." Despite the victory the Egyptians continued to make annual raids into the Kingdom of Jerusalem with some reaching the walls of Jerusalem itself before being pushed back. The next major engagement between Fatimids and Crusaders was the Battle of Yibneh in 1123.

Even after the defeat though, the Fatimid-Burid alliance against Jerusalem continued. The Egyptians failed to launch any major military campaigns against the Kingdom of Jerusalem, but they did continually raid Baldwin's southern frontier. They massacred hundreds of pilgrims near Jaffa and defeated the governor of the town while Baldwin was fighting against Damascene troops in Galilee in October 1106. In 1107 the Egyptians attacked Hebron, but Baldwin forced them to lift the siege. The Egyptian raids did not prevent Baldwin from pursuing an expansionist policy. He compelled the governor of Sidon to pay a large tribute for a two-year truce in early 1106. Early the following year, he made a raid into Oultrejordain and forced the enemy to destroy a fortress recently built by Damascene troops to control the caravan routes. In August 1108 Baldwin and a band of Italian adventurers laid siege to Sidon, but the arrival of an Egyptian fleet and Turkish horsemen from Damascus forced him to abandon the siege. In late 1108, he concluded a ten-year truce with the Turkoman Emir of Damascus Toghtekin in exchange for one-third of state revenues from the northern regions of Oultrejordain.

In January of 1105, Bohemond’s ship had reached Italy. He was greeted just like how Napoleon was greeted after he returned to France from his exile at Elba. Bohemond was treated like a hero and a celebrity. For the past five years, tales of his adventures and actions in the east had circulated all over Europe. One manuscript, which was written by the author of the Gesta Francorum was read all over Europe. So when Bohemond landed, he was greeted by many men and women who all wanted to see the hero of the Battle of Dorylaeum, the siege of Antioch, in where he vanquished tens of thousands of Seljuk Turks with his bravery and daring exploits. He was so popular that 50,000 Crusaders assembled in the Crusade of 1101 to free him from prison.

Bohemond personally met with Pope Paschal II. Paschal was reluctant to call a third crusade, this time against a fellow Christian nation, but he decided to call another Crusade, hoping that Bohemond, an experienced military commander, would lead it to victory, wiping the stain of the failed Crusade of 1101. He sent a papal letter to Bohemond and put a papal legate under his command. The call to crusade was now in effect, and while Bohemond was supposed to lead the army to Jerusalem, he was allowed to take it also to the Balkans to vanquish Alexios.

From here he entered France, enthralling audiences across the country with gifts of relics from the Holy Land and tales of heroism while fighting the infidel, gathering a large army in the process. Henry I of England famously prevented him from landing on English shores, since the king anticipated Bohemond's great attraction to the English nobility. His newfound status won him the hand of Constance, daughter of the French king, Philip I. Of this marriage wrote Abbot Suger:

Bohemond came to France to seek by any means he could gain the hand of the Lord Louis' sister Constance, a young lady of excellent breeding, elegant appearance and beautiful face. So great was the reputation for valour of the French kingdom and of the Lord Louis that even the Muslims were terrified by the prospect of that marriage. She was not engaged since she had broken off her agreement to wed Hugh, count of Troyes, and wished to avoid another unsuitable match. The prince of Antioch was experienced and rich both in gifts and promises; he fully deserved the marriage, which was celebrated with great pomp by the bishop of Chartres in the presence of the king, the Lord Louis, and many archbishops, bishops and noblemen of the realm.

Bohemond was also successful in getting Tancred a wife, Cecile of France. Bohemond saw the root of his problems in Alexios and Constantinople when it came to preserving the Principality of Antioch. In speech at the shrine of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat in early 1106, written down by Bishop Walram of Naumburg, Bohemond said of the emperor:

He has oppressed many thousands of Christians with wicked treachery, some consigned to shipwreck, many to poison, more still to exile, and countless others he has handed over to pagans. This emperor is not a Christian but a mad heretic, Julian the Apostate, another Judas, friend of the Jews, pretending peace but inciting war, cut-throat to his brothers, a bloody Herod against Christ!

Bohemond now had the funds, connections, army, papal decree, and motivation for the Crusade. For a year, Bohemond was planning his invasion, training his army, building a fleet to cross into the Balkans, and was spending time with his pregnant wife. Alexios was preparing too for the invasion. He had learned much of the tactics and military of the Normans in his previous encounters and used this in his strategy. Alexios first called on his Venetian allies, who he ordered to join the Byzantine navy to patrol the seas for any Norman invasion and to prevent Bohemond from crossing the Adriatic Sea. Then he sent 300 sons from prominent Dynatoi, which he had been training, to go lead a contingent of soldiers to patrol and fortify the Balkans, for them to get accustomed to its mountainous terrain. Then he travelled to Thessaloniki, taking control of the army and escaping an assassination attempt. From there he ordered every governor in the Balkans to fortify their city, stockpile resources, recruit soldiers, and to prepare for the Norman invasion, giving them funds to do so. Then he had his generals in Cilicia to come to the Balkans and focus on the invasion.

On October 9th, 1107, Bohemond managed to escape the Venetian and Byzantine navies, and landed and took Valona, with 15,000 soldiers. By the 13th, he was already besieging Dyrrhachium. He also brought with him a member of the Diogenes with him to serve as a puppet after he took Constantinople. Unfortunately, Bohemond’s scouts told him that the defences of Dyrrhachium were impenetrable and that also there were Byzantines in every pass and valley surrounding them. Bohemond retreated back to Valona to strategize. Bohemond was trapped in the Balkans, from the sea by the Byzantines and Venetians, and by land by contingents of Byzantines. Alexios chose not to attempt to end the siege by means of a pitched battle but attempted to weaken the Normans by dispatching sorties to occupy the passes in the Normans' rear and prevent them from foraging.

Bohemond, frustrated, went back to besiege Dyrrhachium in the spring of 1108. Rams were built by the Crusaders, but then they were set on fire by the Byzantine defenders. Bohemond tried to dig tunnels, but the Byzantine defenders built counter tunnels and when they connected, the Byzantines lit fires to smoke the Crusader miners out. Bohemond built a massive siege tower, but then the defenders set it on fire again using Greek fire. Bohemond then attacked the Byzantine contingents which were surrounding them. In the attack the Crusaders were unsuccessful with the Byzantines routing the attackers. Now Bohemond’s resources got scarce. The Crusaders were unable to get resources from the sea due to the Byzantine and Venetian navy, which was also supplying the city of Dyrrhachium with supplies. Bohemond couldn’t also forage for food because of the Byzantine contingents patrolling around the Crusaders. Morale was scarce within the Crusaders as they questioned Bohemond’s greatness and the expedition’s value and feasibility. Then Alexios sent a messenger with a letter. The Crusaders expected promises of lands, gifts, and titles from the emperor if they defected but the letter didn’t have that. Alexios instead did something brilliant, he wrote the letter as if it was a reply. He pretended in his letter that Bohemond had already asked for gifts, titles, and lands for a defection. Bohemond saw through the letter but his army believed it. Bohemond knew that his Crusade had failed.

Bohemond walked to the imperial tent at Devol unarmed to discuss a peace. Alexios, instead of murdering the prince, knowing that it would anger the western world, decided to humiliate him in front of the west. He made him sign the Treaty of Devol. Its terms included that Bohemond would become a vassal of the emperor, to help defend the empire, wherever and whenever he was required to do so, and agreed to an annual payment of 200 talents in return for this service. He was also given the title of sebastos, as well as doux (duke) of Antioch, granted as imperial fiefs Antioch and Aleppo (the latter of which neither the Crusaders nor the Byzantines controlled, but it was understood that Bohemond should try to conquer it). Bohemond would return Laodicea and other Cilician territories to Alexios and to let Alexios appoint a Greek patriarch "among the disciples of the great church of Constantinople" (The restoration of the Greek patriarch marked the acceptance of submission to the empire, but posed canonical questions, which were difficult to resolve).

According to Anna Komnene, Bohemond then swore, "I swear to thee, our most powerful and holy Emperor, the Lord Alexios Komnenos, and to thy fellow-Emperor, the much-desired Lord John Porphyrogenitos that I will observe all the conditions to which I have agreed and spoken by my mouth and will keep them inviolate for all time and the things that are for the good of your Empire I care for now and will forever care for and I will never harbor even the slightest thought of hatred or treachery towards you;... and everything that is for the benefit and honor of the Roman rule that I will both think of and execute. Thus may I enjoy the help of God, and of the Cross and of the holy Gospels."

Fall of Tripoli

In 1107, the citizens of Turbessel paid for Joscelin of Courtenay’s ransom. A Turkish soldier of fortune, Jawali Saqawa, captured Jikirmish and seized Mosul in 1107. Joscelin started negotiations with Jawali over the release of Baldwin. Jawali demanded 60,000 dinars and the release of the Muslim prisoners from Edessa. The Seljuq Sultan, Muhammad I Tapar, made the Mamluk Mawdud atabeg of Mosul. When Mawdud expelled Jawali from Mosul, Jawali fled to the fortress of Qalat Jabar, taking Baldwin with him. Joscelin paid 30,000 dinars to Jawali and offered himself as hostage to guarantee the payment of the balance. Jawali, who needed allies against Mawdud, accepted the offer and released Baldwin in the summer of 1108. Meanwhile in Antioch, Tancred refused to honour the Treaty of Devol, in which Bohemond swore an oath of fealty to Alexios, and for decades afterwards Antioch remained independent of the Byzantine Empire. So in 1108, Tancred took the cities of Laodicea, Tarsus, Adana, and Mamistra from the Byzantines.

Baldwin went to Edessa after his release, but Tancred demanded his oath of fealty in exchange for the town, which he had possession of after the Battle of Harran. Baldwin refused and went to Turbessel. After Tancred carried out a raid against Turbessel, they started peace negotiations, but could not reach a compromise. Baldwin made an alliance with the Armenian, Kogh Vasil against Tancred. Oshin of Lampron also sent troops—300 Pecheneg horsemen—to join them. Their raids against the Principality of Antioch persuaded Tancred to accept the arbitration of the Catholic prelates, who decided in favor of Baldwin; he returned to Edessa on 18 September 1108.

In accordance with his treaty with Jawali, Baldwin released most of the Muslim prisoners held in Edessa. He also allowed the Muslim burghers of Saruj to build a mosque, and executed the unpopular rais (or governor) of the town, who was a convert from Islam. Jawali's alliance with Baldwin alarmed Fakhr al-Mulk Ridwan, the Seljuq ruler of Aleppo, which brought about a rapprochement between Ridwan and Tancred. When Jawali launched a military expedition against Aleppo, Baldwin and Joscelin of Courtney joined him, while Tancred came to assist Radwan. Ridwan and Tancred routed Jawali, Baldwin and Joscelin near Turbessel in late September 1108.

Baldwin fled the battlefield to a nearby fortress. Tancred laid siege to it, but lifted the siege when he learnt of Jawali's approach. Believing that Baldwin had died, the Armenian burghers of Edessa held an assembly to set up a provisional government. After his return, Baldwin thought that the Armenians wanted to dethrone him and ordered the blinding of the ringleaders. The Armenian bishop of the town was obliged to pay a huge fine. To put an end to the conflicts between the crusader leaders, Baldwin I of Jerusalem summoned them in the name of the "Church of Jerusalem" to Mount Pilgrim near Tripoli in April 1109. At the meeting, the king mediated a reconciliation between Baldwin and Tancred, who acknowledged Baldwin's rule in the County of Edessa in exchange for receiving Galilee and other fiefs in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Thereafter Baldwin participated in the siege of Tripoli, which ended with the capture of the town by the crusaders.

Raymond was the last Crusader who was an ally of the Byzantines and with him dead, Alexios tried to get in favor with the two claimants to the County of Tripoli, William II Jordan and Bertrand, Raymond’s eldest son, by sending rich gifts to both of them. Bertrand sailed east on Genoese ships at the head of a 4,000 strong army, with the intention of claiming the lands Raymond had once ruled. This army would end up raiding Byzantine Thessaly. Instead of punishing Bertrand, Alexios invited him to Constantinople, where he offered him rich gifts. Bertrand then became a Byzantine ally. Then he sailed to Antioch, where he asked for Tancred to restore him of some of the lands he had taken from his father’s County of Tripoli. Tancred agreed, but only if Bertrand could lead his Italo-Provencal army against the Byzantines. Bertrand, loyal to Alexios, disagreed, suggesting that they attack the Muslims instead, but Tancred was uninterested. Now Bertrand marched to the siege at Tripoli where he encountered the Crusader siege camp. It was led by Baldwin I of Jerusalem, Baldwin II of Edessa, Tancred of Galilee, and William II Jordan, Bertrand’s rival to the County of Tripoli. Tripoli waited in vain for reinforcements from Egypt.

When Bertrand and William met, they immediately started fighting for control of Raymond’s succession. Bertrand's cousin, William Jordan, who had ruled these lands since Raymond's death, refused to cede them to him. Bertrand sought Baldwin's assistance, while William Jordan secured Tancred's support. Since neither Tancred nor Jordan were his vassals, Baldwin I of Jerusalem summoned them in the name of the "whole church of Jerusalem" to the castle of Mount Pilgrim near Tripoli. At the assembly in June 1109, Tancred agreed to abandon Turbessel in return for his restoration to his old domains in the Kingdom of Jerusalem (Galilee, Haifa and the Temple of the Lord). Tancred did not take possession of his old domain, which remained under Baldwin's control. Raymond's inheritance was distributed between Bertrand and Jordan, with Bertrand swearing fealty to Baldwin, and Jordan to Tancred.

Now all the Crusader leaders united their armies to finish the job started by Raymond, the taking of Jerusalem. On 26 June 1109, the Egyptian governor, Sharaf ad-Daulah, offered to surrender the town if a safe passage for those who wanted to leave the town was guaranteed. Baldwin accepted the offer, but he could not prevent the Genoese from killing all those inhabitants whom they could capture. Two-thirds of the town was granted to Bertrand of Toulouse who again took an oath of fealty to Baldwin. Baldwin captured Beirut on 13 May 1110, with the assistance of Bertrand and a Genoese fleet. He was again unable to prevent a general massacre of the townspeople.

One hundred thousand volumes of the Dar-em-Ilm library were deemed "impious" and burned. The Fatimid navy arrived eight hours too late. Most of the inhabitants were enslaved, the others were deprived of their possessions and expelled. Bertrand, Raymond IV's illegitimate son, had William-Jordan assassinated in 1110 and claimed two-thirds of the city for himself, with the other third falling to the Genoans. Thus Tripoli became a crusader state; the rest of the Mediterranean coast had already fallen to the crusaders or would pass to them within the next few years, with the capture of Sidon in 1110 and Tyre in 1124. During the battle, William was shot by an arrow wound and he died a short time later. The county passed to Bertrand alone. Tancred’s sphere of influence was now diminished, with him losing control of Edessa, after his war with Baldwin of Le Bourq, and Tripoli, after William’s death.

Mawdud’s First Invasion of the Crusader States

Jawali Saqawa, the rebellious atabeg of Mosul was overthrown by the Seljuk warlord Mawdud, with the help of the Seljuk Sultan. The Seljuk sultan instructed Mawdud to unite his troops with the Seljuq ruler of Armenia, Sökmen el-Kutbî, and the Artuqid Ilghazi against the crusaders. They laid siege to Edessa in April 1110. Baldwin sent envoys to Baldwin I of Jerusalem.

Baldwin of Jerusalem was busy besieging Beirut with Bertrand when the message arrived. The siege started by February 1110, when Genoese and Pisan ships started to blockade the harbour. Fatimid ships from Tyre and Sidon tried in vain to break the blockade. In the meantime, the Beirut's defenders destroyed one siege tower, but the attackers managed to build another two to storm the walls.

Jacques de Vitry, a historian of the Crusades, reported:

Our people lay siege to Beyrout both by sea and land, and being joined by Bertram, the noble count of Tripoli, after a two months' siege, having brought wooden towers up to the walls and joined them to the walls by ladders, forced their way into the city, and slew many of the citizens, cast the rest into chains and held them captive . . . Beyrout is a city on the seashore between Sidon and Biblium in the country of Phoenicia ... it is fertile and fair, with fruit trees, woods and vineyards.

Moreover, William of Tyre wrote that Baldwin and Bertrand ordered galleys from the nearby controlled ports to blockade Beirut, while constructing all siege towers, ladders, bridges and catapults from the pine trees in the neighborhood. The defenders had to defend the walls with no rest by day and by night for two months, until some crusaders managed to leap over the walls to open the gates for the attackers. With the gates being open, the inhabitants escaped to the port, yet the blockade forced them to retreat, hence they became trapped between two enemies.

However, the Fatimid governor fled by night through the Italian fleet to Cyprus. On 13 May 1110, Baldwin captured the city by assault after a seventy-five-day siege. The Italians conducted a massacre among the inhabitants, in which 20,000 Arabs might have been possibly killed by the attackers in Beirut.

Before departing for Edessa to aid them, Baldwin I celebrated Pentecost in Jerusalem. The King persuaded Bertrand of Tripoli, Joscelin of Courtenay and other crusader leaders to join his campaign, and the Armenian Kogh Vasil and Ablgharib also sent contingents. After the fall of Beirut, Baldwin, Joscelin, and Bertrand hurried to Edessa to fight against the invaders.On their arrival, Mawdud and his allies lifted the siege of Edessa and withdrew towards Harran.

Baldwin and Tancred accused each other of having incited the invasion. Tancred also claimed sovereignty over the County of Edessa, saying that its territory had been subject to Antioch under the Byzantine Empire. Baldwin I refuted Tancred's claim, declaring himself the head of the Latin East. After a short campaign against the neighboring Muslim territories, the rulers of the other crusader states decided to leave the county. On the King's advice, Baldwin ordered the transfer of the local Christian (predominantly Armenian) peasants to the lands to the west of the Euphrates. Taking advantage of the gathering of the Christian peasants by the river and their mainly Armenian escort, Mawdud attacked and massacred them. Baldwin, who had already crossed the river along with the other crusader leaders, hastily returned and assaulted Mawdud's troops, although they outnumbered his small retinue. Baldwin and his men were only saved by Baldwin I and Tancred, who had followed on the other bank of the river.

Norwegian Crusade in the Holy Land

King Sigurd and King Baldvine ride from Jerusalem to the river Jordan by Gerhard Munthe (1899).

Then in October, Baldwin welcomed the first ever European monarch to come on Crusade, Sigurd I of Norway who brought a fierce army of 5,000 Vikings and 60 ships on their Norwegian Crusade. In the summer of 1110, they arrived at the port of Acre (Akrsborg) (or perhaps in Jaffa), and went to Jerusalem (Jórsalir), where they met the ruling crusader king Baldwin I. They were warmly welcomed, and Baldwin rode together with Sigurd to the river Jordan, and back again to Jerusalem. The Norwegians were given many treasures and relics, including a splinter off the True Cross that Jesus had allegedly been crucified on. This was given on the condition that they would continue to promote Christianity and bring the relic to the burial site of St Olaf. After all of these events, Baldwin asked for help in capturing Muslim-held ports on the coast. Sigurd's answer was that "they had come for the purpose of devoting themselves to the service of Christ", and accompanied him to take the city of Sidon, which had been re-fortified by the Fatimids in 1098.

Baldwin's army besieged the city by land, while the Norwegians came by sea. A naval force was needed to prevent assistance from the Fatimid fleet at Tyre. During the siege, a Fatimid navy attacked the Viking navy blockading the city. The Egyptian fleet routed the Norwegians, but the Doge of Venice, Ordelafo Faliero, and his fleet soon joined the crusaders and pushed back the Egyptians. The city fell after 47 days on the 5th of December.

The Icelandic skald Einarr Skúlason gives the following account.

Sætt frá ek dœla dróttin, drengr minnisk þess, vinna, tóku hvast í hristar hríð valslöngur ríða. Sterkr braut váligt virki vals munnlitaðr gunnar, fögr ruðusk sverð en sigri snjallr bragningr hlaut fagna.

The Norsemen's king, the skalds relate, Has ta'en the heathen town of Saet: The slinging engine with dread noise Gables and roofs with stones destroys. The town wall totters too, — it falls; The Norsemen mount the blackened walls. He who stains red the raven's bill Has won, — the town lies at his will.

Baldwin spared the lives of the townspeople and many of them moved to Tyre and Damascus. When the city surrendered, King Baldwin gave the same terms of surrender he had previously given to Arsuf and Acre. He allowed safe conduct of passage for those leaving and even allowed some members of the Muslim populace to remain in peace. By order of Baldwin and the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Ghibbelin of Arles, a splinter was taken off the holy cross and given to Sigurd. The Lordship of Sidon was created and given to Eustace Grenier, later a constable of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Meanwhile, in 1110, Tancred captured a castle from the Muslims. The castle would later become an important castle in the County of Tripoli, Krak des Chevaliers.

The following year Baldwin marched to Ascalon: to prevent a siege the Egyptian governor of the town, Shams al-Khalīfa, promised to pay 70,000 dinars as a tribute and allowed crusader troops into the citadel. However, the townspeople rose up against al-Khalīfa in July and his Berber guards joined the rioters, murdering him and the crusader troops.

Mawdud’s Second Invasion of the Crusader States

In 1111, Muhammad I Tapar led a full-scale invasion of all the Crusader states with the intent of conquering and destroying them once and for all. With him were the Shah-Armens of Diyarbekir under Sökmen el-Kutbî and Turks from Hamadan under Bursuq II, and of course Seljuks from Mosul under the warlord Mawdud. At the approach of the large Muslim army, the small Frankish forces of the County of Edessa withdrew within the walls of their two major towns. The Turks first laid siege to Edessa, Baldwin II of Edessa’s capital but they weren’t able to take it. So then the Turks laid siege to Turbessel held by Joscelin of Courtenay. Sickness spread through the Muslim camp, killing many including Sökmen el-Kutbî. Muhammad Tapar left the expedition during the siege, with Mawdud being the new default leader of the invasion. Many Shah-Armens left the army joined by many other Turcoman and Muslim soldiers and lords who went back to their lands, including the emir of Hamadan, Bursuq II who wanted to take the Shah-Armens for himself with Sökmen’s death. The siege failed and soon the thwarted Seljuk host moved to Aleppo. At that city, the forces of Damascus led by Toghtekin joined Mawdud's army and they decided to reconquer Tripoli in September.Even though the majority of Aleppo's citizens were well disposed to the Seljuk army, the ruler of the city, Fakhr al-Mulk Ridwan refused to open the city's gates. Ridwan regarded the Sultan's army as a threat to his authority.

At Aleppo, Sultan, the Munquidite, emir of Shaizar, sent envoys to him, seeking his assistance against Tancred. Mawdud and Toghtekin then led their large Seljuk army to Shaizar. By this time Tancred had called up his Antiochene army and based it at the castle of Rugia near Jisr ash-Shughur, a bridge over the Orontes River about 50 kilometers south of Antioch. The huge concentration of Muslim forces alarmed Tancred and he requested Baldwin for help. Baldwin complied, accompanied by the other Baldwin, Bertrand, Joscelin, and Pagan of Sajar and other Armenian rulers. After the Crusader army united, the Crusaders advanced first to the Christian-held town of Afamiya, then toward the Muslim host outside Shaizar.

When the Crusader host reached Shaizar, Mawdud sent the traditional Seljuk horse archers to constantly shoot arrows at the Crusader host and to not let any Crusader escape, get supplies, or to water their tired horses. But the Crusaders were experienced fighting such tactics, and they refused to chase the Turks, instead forming a camp to keep all the camp followers, and standing all around the camp, raising their shields to block arrows. If the Turks came too close, the Crusaders would charge to drive them off, but they never charged too far to avoid being surrounded by the enemy Turks and killed. The battle wasn’t really a battle. The Crusaders just held their ground around their camp for days, being showered with arrows by the Turks. The Crusaders camped near Shaizar but within two weeks they were forced to fall back on Afamiya because the Turks cut off their supplies and now they were getting low. During the withdrawal, they were harassed again, but did not allow themselves to be drawn into a pitched battle, as the disciplined Crusaders strictly kept their formation while retreating. At this, Mawdud's warriors, discouraged by their lack of success and plunder, dispersed for home. The future poet and diplomat Usamah ibn Munqidh, then 16 years old, was a participant in the battle, and later reminisced about it in his Kitab al-I'tibar. This drawn battle, really a running skirmish, allowed King Baldwin I and Tancred to successfully defend the Principality of Antioch. No Crusader towns or castles fell to the Seljuk Turks during the campaign. Mawdud would return to Mosul in the autumn after many Turks deserted him and his campaign after the Battle of Shaizar. Shortly thereafter, Baldwin attacked a caravan that was travelling from Tyre to Damascus, carrying with it the city's most precious possessions, and was able to carry off the rich cargo.

Death of Bertrand and Tancred

During this period, Alexios entrusted Manuel Boutoumites with the job of creating an alliance against Tancred and his Principality of Antioch. Boutoumites sailed to Tripoli with a fleet of 12 ships filled with supplies, gold, and money. When he landed, he was welcomed by Bertrand who provided storage for the money and gold. He reaffirmed his oath to Alexios and readily assented to assist the imperial forces against Tancred, and even to come and pay homage to Alexios when he would arrive to besiege Antioch. Now Boutoumites made his way to Baldwin of Jerusalem.

Baldwin was busy. He was in a middle of besieging Tyre. During the Seljuk invasion of the Crusader states, Tyre, in defiance, ceased its tribute payments to the Crusaders, as noted by Albert of Aix. William of Tyre reported: "Tyre lies in the bosom of the sea like an island closed round about by waters. It is the capital and metropolis of Phoenicia." According to Ibn al-Qalanisi, Izz Al-Mulk, the Egyptian governor of Tyre, persuaded Toghtekin, the ruler of Damascus, to help defend the city. In exchange for 20,000 bezants, Toghtekin sent 200 cavalry and 500 archers, along with additional soldiers from Jabal Amil, who fortified Tyre's defenses, spreading across its ramparts.

So on November 29, 1111, Baldwin I of Jerusalem laid siege to Tyre, although he had no supporting fleet. He gathered all available troops and ordered the construction of siege engines, employing tactics such as skirmishes and using iron grapnels produced by a refugee from Tripoli. Eustace Grenier funded two wooden siege towers, which were taller than Tyre's stone towers. William of Tyre wrote about the besieged:

They met each scheme by a similar one and strove to repel in kind the injuries that were being inflicted upon them. They brought together great quantities of stones and cement, mounted two towers which were practically opposite our machines, and began to build them higher. Thus within a very short time these rose far above the wooden machines opposed to them outside the walls. From there the defenders hurled fire upon the engines below and were prepared to bum everything, unopposed.

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While Baldwin continued the siege, a Eastern Roman embassy under Boutoumites arrived.. Baldwin wanted to secure their assistance against Tyre. The Byzantines, having good relations with the Fatimids, refused to attack without compensation. Hence, the Byzantines proposed an alliance against Tancred to recover their cities lost to him. Baldwin, however, advised of the untruth of Boutoumites's claims, lost confidence in him. He feigned willingness to attack Tancred provided that he received the promised subsidies beforehand. Boutoumites, however, perceived the king's intentions, and refused to do so. Thus the mission ended in failure, and Boutoumites left Jerusalem, returning to Constantinople via Tripoli.Since both parties were not able to reach a compromise, the Byzantines did not supply the attackers with provisions. Albert of Aix recounted that a knight named Reinfrid, bribed with a thousand bezants to escort Tyrian nobles carrying gifts to Damascus, reported to Baldwin who ordered his forces to ambush and seize the convoy. In another account, Toghtekin had sent a carrier pigeon to establish contact with Tyre, but it was intercepted by an Arab in the service of the Crusaders. The message was delivered to Baldwin, who ordered some men to disguise themselves and meet the delegation from Damascus. Ultimately, the disguised men captured the delegation, leading to their execution. Afterwards, the city defenders responded with a bold charge against the Crusader camp but were repelled, and two hundred knights including William of Wanges entered Tyre, but they were captured and killed. However, the Tyrians managed to burn the siege engines using pitch, sulfur, wax, and fat, mixed together with tow to a big tree, then burning it and letting it fall onto the wooden siege engines.

Izz al-Mulk, the Egyptian governor of Tyre, persuaded Toghtekin to come to the rescue of the besieged town. After being persuaded Toghtekin then advanced on Tyre with 20,000 cavalry, defeating a Crusader detachment of 700 men-at-arms and 60 cavalry who were gathering supplies. As a result, Baldwin lifted the siege and withdrew to Acre on April 10, 1112, after losing around 2,000 men. However, the Crusaders retained control of most nearby villages.

After his talks with Baldwin of Jerusalem had failed, Boutoumites then went to Joscelin of Courtenay to talk about an alliance against Tancred but he flat out refused. By the time Boutoumites was going back to Tripoli to go back to Constantinople, two major deaths happened. In 1111, Bohemond died in his estates of Apulia while Bertrand died in Tripoli. Bohemond was succeeded by Bohemond II, who was with his mother Constance of France who was still in Italy. Tancred was to govern Antioch as a regent while Bohemond was still in Italy. The other death was Bertrand who died on 3 February 1112.

Fortress of Safita, granted to Pons by Tancred of Antioch

Bertrand was succeeded by his 14 year son Pons of Tripoli was only 14. Anna Comnena recorded that Bishop Albert of Tripoli wanted to keep the money that Boutoumites had deposited with Bertrand to himself. Lewis says the dispute is evidence the bishop exerted a strong influence on the government during Pons' minority. The money was returned to the Byzantines only after they had threatened to impose a blockade on Tripoli and with an embargo on Cypriote goods. Pons could only keep the gold and other valuable objects explicitly promised to his father as personal gifts. The Byzantines also persuaded Pons to swear fealty to Alexios I Komnenos as his grandfather and father had done.

Tancred seized the opportunity to put the County of Tripoli in his favor. To do this, he made an agreement with Pons’s "guardians and lords."The agreement made Pons "one of Tancred's knights", according to Ibn al-Qalanisi. Historian Jean Richard associated the "guardians and lords" with the most influential noblemen of the County of Tripoli who ruled the county on the minor count's behalf. Their decision helped to reconcile Antioch's Norman and Tripoli's Occitan crusaders, who had fallen out during the Siege of Antioch. The conflict with the Byzantines also contributed to the rapprochement between Tripoli and Antioch.

The lands he had taken from the County which Bertrand had previously asked for, Tancred returned to Pons. These included Tortosa, Maraclea, Safita, and finally Krak des Chevaliers and the lands around them. Also, Pons was allowed the opportunity to be mentored by Tancred at Antioch. Tancred died the following year in 1112 during a typhoid epidemic. He had married Cecile of France, but died childless. Tancred was buried in the porch of St. Peter, the cathedral of Antioch. In his will he ordered his wife, Cecile of France, be engaged to Pons. William of Malmesbury wrote that the dying prince arranged the marriage because he was convinced that Pons would be a successful military leader. His will also had the Principality of Galilee be inherited to Joscelin of Courtenay. Tancred had Roger of Salerno succeeded him for the regency. Pons remained in Antioch during the first months or years of the rule of Tancred's successor, Roger of Salerno. Roger married Cecilia of Le Bourcq, daughter of Hugh I, Count of Rethel and sister of Baldwin II, just before Tancred’s death.

Mawdud’s Final Invasions of the Crusader States

In 1112, Mawdud invaded the County of Edessa once again. He first invaded Joscelin of Courtenay’s Lordship of Turbessel, besieging the town. Joscelin led a sortie with a small Crusader force against Mawdud and pushed the Seljuks back. In April 1112, Mawdud returned and besieged Edessa. His agents started secret negotiations with some Armenian soldiers in the town, but Joscelin, who was informed of the plot, warned Baldwin of Edessa. The Armenians were slaughtered on Baldwin’s orders. Mawdud could not capture the town and withdrew to Mosul in June.

Just as this invasion was happening, Toghtekin of Damascus had just lifted Baldwin of Jerusalem’s siege of Tyre. Mawdud, after returning to Mosul, proposed to Toghtekin that they make an alliance against the Crusader states to destroy them once and for all. Baldwin made an incursion against Damascene territory in 1113.. This prompted Mawdud and an Artuqid emir, Ayaz, who came to assist Toghtekin against the crusaders, to join with the Damascene army and to cross the Jordan River just south of the Sea of Galilee. Baldwin I offered battle near the bridge of al-Sannabra. Al-Sannabra was a town just south of the Sea of Galilee. Mawdud used the device of a feigned retreat to entice Baldwin I into rashly ordering a charge. It worked and the Crusaders came out of their defensive position and chased the fleeing Turks with Baldwin I of Jerusalem among them. Baldwin only realized his mistake when his meager Crusader army unexpectedly encountered the massive army of Mosul and Damascus. Baldwin’s soldiers were surrounded and attacked, with Baldwin just escaping the fray. Most of his soldiers weren’t that lucky, with a big chunk of the Crusader host being cut down in combat. The surviving Crusaders kept their cohesion and fell back to a hill west of the Sea of Galilee where they fortified their camp. The Crusaders were again stuck in their camp as a massive Seljuk army rained arrows upon them and tried to lure them out again and again with feigned retreats, just like at the Battle of Shaizar. The Crusaders kept their discipline and didn’t pursue as the Seljuks, who had trapped the Crusader army, got free rein over the countryside. Columns raided the Crusader countryside, including one which sacked Nablus.

Baldwin had to seek assistance from the new rulers of Tripoli and Antioch, Pons and Roger. They were reinforced from Tripoli and Antioch but remained inert. A number of Christian pilgrims also rallied to the army after al-Sannabra. Although Baldwin got reinforcements, he still wasn’t able to attack the Seljuks again. Unfortunately for the Muslims, they ran out of supplies and had failed to take any Crusader city once again and they returned to Damascus. The coalition leaders celebrated in Damascus but before long, Mawdud was murdered by Assassins at Damascus. It was while in Damascus as a guest of Toghtekin that Mawdud was murdered by the Assassins, possibly with the knowledge of his host (who himself accused Ridwan of the deed). As Mawdud and Toghtekin returned from prayer an assailant stabbed Mawdud four times, fatally wounding him. The killer was beheaded by nearby guards and his body burned. Mawdud was taken into a nearby house and offered food but, according to Ibn al-Athir, refused to eat as he was in the middle of a fast and died later that day. He was succeeded as atabeg by Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi, his representative at Baghdad.

Mawdud's invasions devastated the eastern regions of the County of Edessa, but Joscelin's fief at Turbessel still flourished. In 1113 Baldwin persuaded Joscelin to come to Edessa, saying that he was dying and wanted to make his last will. Stating that Joscelin had not sent enough food to Edessa, Baldwin had him imprisoned and only released him after Joscelin renounced all of his lands but Galilee. This meant that Baldwin, not Joscelin, now ruled Turbessel. Joscelin soon left the county for Jerusalem, where Baldwin I granted Galilee to him. A new reconciliation between the crusader leaders was brought about by marriage alliances: Baldwin's sister, Cecilia, was given in marriage to Roger of Salerno, who had succeeded Tancred in Antioch in late 1112; and Joscelin married Roger's sister, Maria. While Baldwin was away from his capital to take possession of Turbessel, the Armenians of Edessa continued to plot against him. He returned to the town and ordered the transportation of the Armenian townspeople to Samosata. After the Armenians started to move to Kaisun, Baldwin allowed those who remained in Samosata to return to Edessa in early 1114. Mawdud's successor, Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi, invaded the county in May 1114, but Edessa resisted his siege, forcing him to return to Mosul. Walter, the chancellor of Antioch, who wrote a chronicle of the history of the principality, never refers to Pons' presence in Antioch. This implies he had reached the age of majority and returned to Tripoli before 29 November 1114. During this period, Roger was almost constantly at war with the nearby Muslim states such as Aleppo. In 1114 there was an earthquake that destroyed many of the fortifications of the principality, and Roger took great care to rebuild them, especially those near the frontier.

Bursuq’s Invasion of the Crusader States

Muhammad I Tapar, Sultan of the Great Seljuk Empire had previously appointed Mawdud, emir of Mosul to take charge of a Seljuk army with the task of conquering the Crusader States or, what the Crusaders at the time called it, the Outremer. Mawdud’s several campaigns all had failed in their objective. So after Mawdud had died, the sultan appointed al-Bursuqi as Mawdud's successor at Mosul. The sultan also ordered his emirs to continue jihad (or holy war) against the Crusaders. Al-Bursuqi launched a devastating raid against the County of Edessa in April and May 1115. As the Artuqid ruler of Mardin, Ilghazi, had declined to participate in the campaign, al-Bursuqi invaded his territory, but Ilghazi defeated his troops. Because of the failure of his campaign, al-Bursuqi stayed in al-Rahba, and Juyûsh-beg was appointed atabeg of Mosul by the sultan.

The sultan soon replaced Aqsunqur with Bursuq II, emir of Hamadan, also charging him with the direction of the jihad (or holy war) against the crusaders. After gathering new troops in Mosul and the Jazira, Bursuq invaded Syria in early 1115. After besieging Edessa for a short time, he marched towards Aleppo where he wanted to establish his base of operation. The eunuch atabeg of Aleppo, Lulu, sent envoys to Ilghazi, and the atabeg of Damascus, Toghtekin, seeking their assistance against Bursuq. These Levantine atabegs were jealous that their authority would be diminished if the Sultan's forces proved victorious so they allied themselves with the Latins.

Ilghazi and Toghtekin approached Roger of Salerno, who ruled the Principality of Antioch, and Roger soon called on the heads of the other crusader states, Baldwin I of Jerusalem, Pons of Tripoli and Baldwin II of Edessa. In turn, these set of alliances caused the Emirate of Aleppo, the Burid dynasty of Damascus, the Artuqid dynasty of Mardin, the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, basically every single power in the Levant region, to all work together to stop the Seljuk threat.

Roger of Salerno, the regent of Antioch, first joined his army of Antiochenes with an army of Edessans, making an army of 2,000. After doing so he marched to Afamiya, a strategic location between Aleppo, Damascus, or Antioch. This meant that he could quickly march to whichever city was being attacked by the Seljuks. Roger sent spies to observe his enemy's movements, gathered provisions for his army and put his principality into a state of defense. His spies reported that Bursuq II took the town of Hama from the Burid dynasty. Roger moved closer to the Turkish army, camping at Shaizar. Hearing this news, Baldwin of Jerusalem assembled his army of 500 knights and 1000 infantry and marched to Shaizar. their coalition forced the Seljuk troops to withdraw without a fight. Pons marched north to aid Roger only after Baldwin I of Jerusalem had ordered him to join his campaign with 200 knights and 2,000 infantry. This shows that Pons still acknowledged the suzerainty of the king. Baldwin sent a message to Roger, telling him not to engage with the Turks before the coalition reinforcements arrived.

When Bursuq arrived, he surrounded Roger’s camp at Shaizar, shooting arrows everywhere and trying to lure the Crusaders out in a feigned retreat. The mood was tense and to maintain discipline, Their harassing attacks severely provoked the Latins. Such was the eagerness of the Frankish knights to close with their enemies that Roger threatened to put out the eyes of any man who sallied out of the camp without permission. Later, he rode through the camp with his sword drawn to emphasize his point. Then Bursuq heard of Baldwin’s coalition approaching, which included 5000 Muslim allies. The coalition forced the Seljuk troops to withdraw without a fight. When Bursuq heard of Baldwin's relieving force, he withdrew to the east. Counting the 5,000 followers of his Muslim allies, Baldwin's combined army may have been as large as 10,700 men. The allies advanced to Shaizar and burned the lower town as punishment for aligning itself with the Seljuks. When Bursuq moved to besiege Kafartab, the coalition reached Apamea, Bursuq lifted the siege of the Antiochene fort of Kafartab and retreated without fighting.When Bursuq didn't turn back to defend the town, the allied leaders assumed the campaign was over. The Levantine Turks and the Christian princes took their followers home.

As soon as the allied host dispersed, Bursuq invaded again and captured the Christian-held town of Kafartab, near Afamiya. Roger recalled his army and marched to the Turkish army again with 700 cavalry and 2,000 infantry. Some forces from the nearby County of Edessa also participated under Baldwin of Edessa. Meanwhile, Bursuq took his army in the direction of Zardana Roger based his army 40 km (25 mi) south of Antioch at the castle of Rugia, at a bridge on the Orontes near Jisr al-Shughur, Syria.

Early on September 14, Roger received intelligence that his opponents were carelessly going into camp at Sarmin, near the Tell Danith watering point, near Sarmin. They were watering their horses. Roger quickly moved his army to Tell Danith to launch a surprise attack on the Turks. When Roger attacked, the Turks were so unprepared they were still watering their horses and many were still entering their camp. Roger marshalled the Crusader army into left, center, and right divisions. Baldwin II of Edessa led the left wing while Prince Roger personally commanded the center. The right was made out of Turcopoles. The Crusaders marched in this formation with Baldwin’s left wing leading. The Crusaders completely surprised the Turks, quickly routing them and taking their camp. Bursuq II and the remnants of his army took position on a hill behind his camp. When the Crusaders attacked the hill, the Crusader left and right flanks, made out of infantry and knights, easily routed the remaining Turks. Only in the right flank of Turcopoles did the Seljuks have the upper hand. Over there a counterattack of Seljuk horse archers pushed back the Turcopoles. Before the Seljuks took advantage of this, the Crusaders won the Battle of Tell Danith in the Battle of Tell Danith on 14 September 1115. After Bursuq's defeat, the Seljuks of Mosul refrained from launching a new military expedition against the crusader states in Syria for ten years. At least 3,000 Turks were killed and many captured, along with property worth 300,000 bezants. Frankish losses were probably light.

Death of Baldwin of Boulogne

Both the Christian Crusaders and the Muslim Levantine Turks were embarrassed by the alliance against the Seljuk Sultan and Bursuq. So when news of the Battle of Tell Danith arrived, the Christians and the Muslims quickly broke their pact. The Levantine Turks quickly sought a pardon from their nominal overlord, Sultan Muhammad I Tapar for helping the Crusaders.

Taking advantage of the weakening of the Seljuqs' power after Roger of Salerno's victory at the Battle of Sarmin, Baldwin decided to annex the small Armenian principalities in the valley of the Euphrates. The Armenian Thoros I of Cilicia captured Kogh Vasil's successor, Vasil Dgha, who had made an alliance with Bursuq. Thoros sold Vasil Dgha to Baldwin, who forced his prisoner to renounce Raban and Kaisun in 1116. Next, Baldwin laid siege to Abu'l-Garib's fortress of Birejik. The siege lasted for a year and Ablgharib was forced into surrender in 1117. Baldwin granted the fortress to his cousin, Waleran of Le Puiset. In the same year, Kogh Vasil's brother, Bagrat, had to abandon Cyrrhus and Baldwin captured Constantine of Gargar.

Montreal Castle (at Shoubak in Jordan)

With the pressure on the northern regions diminished, Baldwin was able to again deal with the Egyptians, who had already approached Jerusalem in 1113, and were making a fresh attempt to capture Jaffa in 1115. Baldwin led an expedition which rescued the city and then went across the Jordan and ordered the construction of the castle of Montreal in the autumn of 1115. The following year, he returned to the region and marched as far as Aqaba on the Red Sea. After the local inhabitants fled from the town, Baldwin constructed castles in the town and on a nearby island and left a garrison in both fortresses. The three strongholds—Montreal, Eilat and Pharaoh's Island—secured the control of the caravan routes between Syria and Egypt. They also enabled Baldwin to continuously survey the movements of the Egyptian troops. From the Red Sea coast, Baldwin hastened to Tyre and began the construction of a new fortress, known as Scandelion Castle, at the Ladder of Tyre, which completed the blockade of the town from the mainland.

Funeral of Baldwin I

Baldwin fell seriously ill in late 1116. Thinking that he was dying, he ordered that all his debts be paid off and he started to distribute his wealth. As he was starting to choose his successor on his deathbed, he suddenly recovered at the start of the following year. To strengthen the defence of the southern frontier, he launched an invasion of Egypt in March 1118. He marched as far as the Nile Delta, seizing the Egyptian city of Pelusium without a fight as the local Egyptians had fled in panic before he reached the town. The late-12th-century Muslim historian Ibn Zafar al Siqilli wrote that Baldwin ordered the mosques in the town to be levelled. Baldwin's retainers urged him to attack Cairo, but the old wound in his kidney that he had received in 1103 suddenly re-opened.

Dying, Baldwin was carried back as far as Al-Arish on the frontier of the Fatimid Empire. On his deathbed, he named Eustace III of Boulogne as his successor, but also authorised the barons to offer the throne to Baldwin of Edessa or "someone else who would rule the Christian people and defend the churches", if his brother did not accept the crown. Baldwin died on 2 April 1118. In accordance with his last wishes, his cook, Addo, removed his intestines and preserved his body in salt, so as to secure a burial in Jerusalem. Baldwin I of Jerusalem was buried in the Calvary Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre next to his brother Godfrey of Bouillon, who had died 18 years ago, five days later, on Palm Sunday.

Sources

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Further reading

Primary sources

• Albert of Aix, Historia Hierosolymitana

Secondary sources

• Cate, James Lea (1942–1943). "A Gay Crusader". Byzantion. 16 (2): 503–526. JSTOR 44168569.