Chapter I – The First Crusade
“Let therefore hatred depart from among you, let your quarrels end, let wars cease, and let all dissensions and controversies slumber. Enter upon the road to the Holy Sepulchre; wrest that land from the wicked race, and subject it to yourselves ... God has conferred upon you above all nations great glory in arms. Accordingly undertake this journey for the remission of your sins, with the assurance of the imperishable glory of the Kingdom of Heaven.” – Pope Urban II as written by Robert the Monk
Much more than the summary presented by me can be written and should be read of the events that took place in the years 1096-1099 of our Lord the Savior also known as the First Crusade. A movement that was started by the misguided Emperor of the Romans,
Alexios of the House
Komnenos when he requested help from the west against Seljuk Turks in Anatolia. The Roman Empire was in despair. Since the
Battle of Mazikert they still have yet to recover and have gradually been losing ground to the Muslims, Turks in Anatolia and the Fatimids in Syria and Palestine.
In the West, second half of the 11th century saw an increase of power of the Roman Church and the role of the Pope in Rome as the supreme leader of Christians. In the east the Roman patriarch was just one of the big five next to Patriarchs in Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople and Jerusalem. Following the Schism between Rome and Constantinople in 1054 the relation between West and East have not improved. Despite that
Pope Urban II saw a chance to restore the diplomacy and maybe cure the schism and also to redirect the violence in Europe to an outside source and responded to the pleas of the Greeks.
On 27 November the
Council of Clermont took place where
Pope Urban II held a sermon to an enormous group of people including much of French nobility and clergy. The speech focused on the necessity of helping the Roman Empire in the East and to reclaim lands in name of Christians in the East with the ultimate goal of reconquering of Jerusalam in name of Jesus. The council was a huge success and the Age of Crusades was born.
The Road to Jerusalem
Following the recruitment of great lords, knights, peasants and clergy the different armies departed from Europe to the Holy Land. Their first stop was
Constantinople as their first goal was to help the Greeks. The great leaders of the first crusade led each their own army. The Italo-Normans ware led by
Bohemond of Taranto, son of Robert the Fox of Apulia. The Lorraine army was led
by Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine. The Provencal army was led by Count of Toulouse,
Raymond IV and English Normans ware led by the eldest son of William the Conqueror,
Duke Robert of Normandy. The Roman Emperor Alexius made the crusaders swear fealty and promise to return conquered lands to the Greeks. And he levied the armies over the Bosporus to Asia Minor.
The first success of the First Crusade was the reconquest of
Nicaea for the Empire. The Crusaders sieged the city together with the Greeks and beat the army of Seljuk Kilij Arslan. The Crusaders ware forbidden from looting but ware compensated by the Greeks for their losses and lost plunder. The crusaders split again into two armies, Norman and French led and moved through Anatolia to Syria. On their way they fought off the Seljuk Turks in multiple skirmishes but ware otherwise unopposed.
Conquest of Antioch
The first city to be reconquered by the armies of Jesus, was Antioch, the ancient Greek city and the cradle of Christianity located on the Orontes river in Syria. A major city that was the location of the one of the patriarchs of the Christian world. The city was considered almost impregnable with it’s huge walls and it was impossible for the crusaders to surround it completely.
The siege saw many crusaders die of starvation and the Seljuks of Syria and Aleppo sent armies to relive the siege but ware both beaten. The success of the first crusade was due to the disunity and mistrust in the Muslim world. The infighting between the Seljuk turks and against Fatimids in Egypt made the conquest possible. In the End, the Norman Prince, Bohemond working together with Armenian local population entered the city and claimed it as his own. The first Latin Principality in the Outremer was born. The
Principality of Antioch. The rest of the crusaders left in 1099 on their road to Jerusalem.
Kingdom of Heaven
The crusaders turned south on to Jerusalem that they reached on 7th of June on 1099. The final piece of the crusade within their grasp. After a heave siege and many losses the army of Jesus entered Jerusalem and liberated it from the heathen hold. *1
Following the conquest of the most holy city a council was held in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where
Godwin of Boullion was elected the new secular leader and took the title of
Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri (Defender of the Holy Sepulchre). In reality the
Kingdom of Jerusalem was born and Godwin became its first ruler. The election of Godwin made the Raymond and his Provencal army dissatisfied as he also desired the crown. He later returned north to conquer the third Outremer Principality in Tripoli.
Most of the crusaders saw their vows as fulfilled and returned home. The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem was born but left behind around many enemies with little defense.
Notes:
*1 -The crusading armies massacred most of the Muslim and Jewish population although it has been exeggareted by later historians.
- I have omitted to mention the People’s Crusade as although interesting it did not add much to the short summary.
- As you notice, I’m deliberately not very positive of the Greeks in line with Latin propaganda.
- I have also not mentioned the conquests of Baldwin and Tancred as that will come in future chapters.
