First Crusade : Discussion

[kobiraaz]

Council of Clermont

In 1095 Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus sent envoys to the west requesting military assistance against the Seljuk Turks. The message was received by Pope Urban II at the Council of Piacenza. Later that year, in November, Urban called the Council of Clermont to discuss the matter further. In convoking the council, Urban urged the bishops and abbots whom he addressed directly, to bring with them the prominent lords in their provinces.

He made one of the most influential speeches in the Middle Ages, calling on Christian princes in Europe to go on a crusade to rescue the Holy Land from the Turks. In the speech given at the Council of Clermont in France, on November 27, 1095, he combined the ideas of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with that of waging a holy war against infidels.

Dr. E.L. Skip Knox gives a summary of the pope's speech, which has been recorded differently in various sources:


"The noble race of Franks must come to the aid their fellow Christians in the East. The infidel Turks are advancing into the heart of Eastern Christendom; Christians are being oppressed and attacked; churches and holy places are being defiled. Jerusalem is groaning under the Saracen yoke. The Holy Sepulchre is in Moslem hands and has been turned into a mosque. Pilgrims are harassed and even prevented from access to the Holy Land.

"The West must march to the defense of the East. All should go, rich and poor alike. The Franks must stop their internal wars and squabbles. Let them go instead against the infidel and fight a righteous war.

"God himself will lead them, for they will be doing His work. There will be absolution and remission of sins for all who die in the service of Christ. Here they are poor and miserable sinners; there they will be rich and happy. Let none hesitate; they must march next summer. God wills it!

"Deus vult! (God wills it) became the battle cry of the Crusader.

Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, given a late Gothic setting in this illumination from the Livre des Passages d'Outre-mer, of c 14

 

[Joe Shearer]

Now that the Islamists are creeping in, this is getting boring.

 

[kobiraaz]

"The noble race of Franks must come to the aid their fellow Christians in the East. The infidel Turks are advancing into the heart of Eastern Christendom; Christians are being oppressed and attacked; churches and holy places are being defiled. Jerusalem is groaning under the Saracen yoke. The Holy Sepulchre is in Moslem hands and has been turned into a mosque. Pilgrims are harassed and even prevented from access to the Holy Land.

"The West must march to the defense of the East. All should go, rich and poor alike. The Franks must stop their internal wars and squabbles. Let them go instead against the infidel and fight a righteous war.

"God himself will lead them, for they will be doing His work. There will be absolution and remission of sins for all who die in the service of Christ. Here they are poor and miserable sinners; there they will be rich and happy. Let none hesitate; they must march next summer. God wills it!

"Deus vult! (God wills it) became the battle cry of the Crusader.

This was grossly exaggerated actually! By that time Jerusalem was multicultural city. Jews, Christians, Muslims used to live in Harmony. Jews were good in finance, Christians used to control administration, they had separated quarter in Jerusalem. When Alexius asked for help he meant few Hundred knights to recapture his lost territory. He was greatly disturbed and unsettled seeing large crusader Army!!

 

[kobiraaz]

This was grossly exaggerated actually! By that time Jerusalem was multicultural city. Jews, Christians, Muslims used to live in Harmony. Jews were good in finance, Christians used to control administration, they had separated quarter in Jerusalem. When Alexius asked for help he meant few Hundred knights to recapture his lost territory. He was greatly disturbed and unsettled seeing large crusader Army!!

Apart from the fact that jews and christians of jerusalem were disturbed by intra-fighting between Shia egyptian Fatimids and Sunni Seljuq Turks!

 

[kobiraaz]

Recruitment

A map of the routes of the major leaders of the crusade, in French

Pope Urban II planned the departure of the crusade for August 15, 1096, before this, a number of unexpected bands of peasants and low-ranking knights organized and set off for Jerusalem on their own. The peasant population had been afflicted by drought, famine, and plague for many years before 1096, and some of them seem to have envisioned the crusade as an escape from these hardships. The response was beyond expectations: While Urban might have expected a few thousand knights, he ended up with a migration numbering up to 40,000 Crusaders of mostly unskilled fighters, including women and children. This is known as The People's Crusade which was part of the First Crusade and lasted roughly six months from April 1096 to October. It is also known as the Peasants' Crusade or the Paupers' Crusade. This crusade was led and inspired by a charismatic monk and powerful orator named Peter the Hermit of Amiens.

First Crusade historian Albert of Aachen tells a curious story about some rustics, guided by divinely inspired goose and a she-goat to take the holy path to Jerusalem. The rustics followed their animal leaders wholeheartedly. For Albert, and some other contemporary authors, it was “abominable wickedness” of “stupid and insanely irresponsible mob pilgrims”

 

[kobiraaz]

Massacre of Jews in Rhineland " The First Holocaust"

The crusaders soon found their first victim- Not as you might expect Muslims but Jews!! At a local level, the preaching of the First Crusade ignited violence against Jews, which some historians have deemed "the first Holocaust". At the end of 1095 and beginning of 1096, months before the departure of the official crusade in August, there were attacks on Jewish communities in France and Germany. Everytime a crusade to the holy land was called there were pogroms back at Europe.

Jewish Cemetery of 1st crusade in Worms Germany

Persecution of Jews in Metz during the First Crusade, by Auguste Migette

 

[Juice]

Kinda the same way Constantinople fell, eh? (open gate). Peter the Hermit was a main mover of the first crusade (his complaints about treatment at Christian shrines gave the Pope the idea)....but led that mob to their doom instead of waiting for the pros. (he himself escaped). That pic of Metz above has an old Roman gate ...never saw one there...but Trier has one that looks just like that...artistic license? (just left of upper-center)

 

[JonAsad]

When we reach to " Salahdin " vs Crusaders- wake me up-

 

[kobiraaz]

Kinda the same way Constantinople fell, eh? (open gate). Peter the Hermit was a main mover of the first crusade (his complaints about treatment at Christian shrines gave the Pope the idea)....but led that mob to their doom instead of waiting for the pros. (he himself escaped). That pic of Metz above has an old Roman gate ...never saw one there...but Trier has one that looks just like that...artistic license? (just left of upper-center)

Council of Clermont was so vast that they had to hold the meeting outside the cathedral.... So this painting is also not accurate...

 

[kobiraaz]

People's Crusade

Unofficial crusaders under Peter the Hermit had no organization and formal leader. They knew they were heading to Constantinople, But they had no planning regarding food or drink in this long walk. So they fought and stole from local people.

In semlin, a dispute over the price of a pair of shoes in the market led to a riot, which then turned into an all-out assault on the city by the crusaders (probably against the desires of Peter), in which 4,000 Hungarians were killed.

1888 map showing proximity of Zemun (Semlin), river Sava and Belgrade.

The crusaders then fled across the river Sava to Belgrade, but only after skirmishing with Belgrade troops of Byzantine Empire. The residents of Belgrade fled, and the crusaders pillaged and burned the city.


In Nis, a few Germans got into a dispute with some locals along the road and set fire to a mill, which escalated out of Peter's control until Niš sent out its entire garrison against the crusaders. The crusaders were completely routed, losing about 10,000 (a quarter of their number).

"Arrival of the Crusaders at Constantinople", though they were not allowed to enter Constantinople by Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus,

Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, not knowing what else to do with such an unusual and unexpected "army", quickly ferried all 30,000 across the Bosporus by August 6. In any case, it is known that Alexius warned Peter not to engage the Turks, whom he believed to be superior to Peter's motley army, and to wait for the main body of crusaders ( professional soldiers), which was still on the way.

Portrait of Emperor Alexios

 

[kobiraaz]

Nicaea
Even though Alexius had urged Peter to wait for the main army, Few thousands Frenchmen decided to attack the Turkish capital Nicaea!!! They couldnt get into the city because it was well fortified.....

City-walls of Nicaea

But they could at least loot the villages around nicaea!!

Anna Comnea (1083 - ca.1148), daughter of Byzantine Emperor Alexius wrote in "The Alexiad" -------------

Later some Normans, 10,000 in all, detached themselves from the rest of the army and ravaged the outskirts of Nicea, acting with horrible cruelty to the whole population;they cut in pieces some of the babies, impaled others on wooden spits and roasted them over a fire; old people were subjected to every kind of torture


But this action was of limited effectiveness in reducing the world population of Muslims, because Crusader's victim including old people and babies were actually Christians.

 

[kobiraaz]

Siege of Xerigordon

Norman's raiding party returned unhindered many times with their booty! 6000 Germans led by Reinald also went to Nicaea for similar raid. Reinald was unsatisfied with the pillaging results near Nicaea and went further to Xerigordon, a fortress four days march to the east, to set up a pillaging base. On September 18, 1096, Reinald easily defeated the Xerigordon garrison.

The young Sultan Kilij Arslan I was in the middle of a military campaign , fighting Danishmend.

Kilij Arslan I ordered his general, Elchanes, to deal with the crusader's raiding parties with 15,000 troops, mostly mounted archers.

Elchanes arrived three days after Reinald occupied Xerigordon, on September 21 and besieged the crusaders tightly. The speed of the Turkish mounted troops surprised the Germans; they had not expected to be besieged and were unprepared..........


Moreover, there was no water system inside the fortress:

Our people were in such distress from thirst that they bled their horses and ***** and drank the blood; others let their girdles and handkerchiefs down into the cistern and squeezed out the water from them into their mouths; some urinated into one another's hollowed hands and drank; and others dug up the moist ground and lay down on their backs and spread the earth over their breasts to relieve the excessive dryness of thirst

Relief forces never came.

For eight days, the Crusaders resisted thirst and a rain of arrows and smoke from the Turks. After, the leader of the Germans offered to surrender and to fight for the Turks. The fort surrendered on September 29, 1096. Some of the Crusaders who converted to Islam became slaves, while others who refused to abandon their faith were killed.

There are various accounts on Reinald's fate. Some mention that he was killed at the beginning of the siege while trying to ambush the Turks' own water source in front of the fortress, others that he died during the siege, and one that claims he converted to Islam.

 

[Vassnti]

True destriers, cross-bred with plough-horse stock, came in later, when the even heavier plate armour made its appearance, but heavier horses were needed even at this stage.

PS: A stallion is not a type of horse, it is a male horse. There is no earthly reason why a mare might not have been used to carry a man-at-arms.

Destriders are though to be very close to the Friesians of today.

Stallions had extra strength, endurance, fire, and dash that were absolutely necessary for battle. That was the firm opinion of everyone who mattered when it came to war. It was not considered an opinion but a rock-ribbed, absolute, God-given fact. Geldings were timid and fearful in battle. They lacked the strength to keep going on forced marches. They lack dash and élan when charging the enemy. Mares? Who would be sissy enough to ride a mare into battle? A prancing, snorting stallion was a reflection of the rider's manhood. A gelding was also considered a reflection, only far less desirable.

This opinion lasted until into the mid-1800s when most of the major armies converted their cavalry to geldings. A number of factors led to this change including the realization that geldings worked just as well as stallions with far less fuss. Economics spurred on the changes, too. Stallions, you see, can be troublesome. Stallions also require a higher level of horsemanship to successfully handle. For those who are interested in the process by which this occurred, I've included a URL for an article discussing the British experience with switching over to geldings. It also outlines some of the problems using stallions pose.

Grantville Gazette » Nonfiction » Stallions vs. Geldings as War and Riding Horses

Having the Crusaders riding stallions and the Turks doing shoot and scoot on mares supposedly lead to some intersting battles.

 

[kobiraaz]

Battle of Civetot

Turks sent two spies to the Crusaders' camp at Civetot to make them think that Xerigordon was still safe, and even that Nicaea had been conquered by Reinald. The spies were sent to spread the rumor that Germans were going to keep all the loot for themselves which caused excitement to get there as soon as possible to share in the looting. Peter the Hermit had gone back to Constantinople to arrange for supplies and was due back soon, and most of the leaders argued to wait for him to return (which he never did). However, Geoffrey Burel, who had popular support among the masses, argued that it would be cowardly to wait, and they should move against the Turks right away. His will prevailed and, on the morning of October 21, the entire army of 20,000 marched out toward Nicaea, leaving women, children, the old and the sick behind at the camp.

Three miles from the camp, where the road entered a narrow, wooded valley near the village of Dracon, the Turkish army was waiting. When approaching the valley, the crusaders marched noisily and were immediately subjected to a hail of arrows. Panic set in immediately and within minutes, the army was in full rout back to the camp. Most of the crusaders were slaughtered; however, women, children, and those who surrendered were spared. Three thousand, including Geoffrey Burel, were able to obtain refuge in an abandoned castle. Eventually the Byzantines under Constantine Katakalon sailed over and raised the siege; these few thousand returned to Constantinople, the only survivors of the People's Crusade.

An illustration showing the defeat of the People's Crusade

 

[kobiraaz]

Anna Comnea (1083 - ca.1148), daughter of Byzantine Emperor Alexius wrote in "The Alexiad"

A Celt (Anna calls the crusaders "Celts," "Latins," and "Normans" interchangeably.) named Peter, called "Peter the Hermit," left to worship at the Holy Sepulcher. (The tomb of Christ is in Jerusalem.) After having suffered much bad treatment at the hands of the Turks and the Saracens who were ravaging all of Asia he returned to his home only with great difficulty. Since he could not bear to have failed in his aim, he decided to begin the same voyage over again. But he understood that he should not retravel the route to the Holy Sepulcher alone for fear that a worse mishap might occur to him; and he thought up a clever scheme, which was to preach throughout all the countries of the Latins (Countries dominated by the Roman Catholic Church, whose official language was Latin.) as follows: "A divine voice has ordered me to proclaim before all the nobles of France that they should all leave their homes to go worship at the Holy Sepulcher and try with all their ability and with all their passion to free Jerusalem from the domination of the Agarenes." (The Turks.)

In fact he succeeded. As if he had made a divine voice heard in the heart of each person, Celts from all over assembled, arriving one after the others with their arms, horses, and the rest of their military equipment. These men were so passionately enthusiastic they filled all the roads. These Celtic soldiers were accompanied by a multitude of unarmed people, more numerous than grains of sand or stars, carrying palm branches (It was traditional for pilgrims to the Holy Land to carry palm branches over their shoulders.) and crosses over their shoulders: women and children who had left their countries. To see them one would have thought they were streams which flowed together from everywhere--from Dacia mostly, they headed toward us with their entire army.

The arrival of so many people was preceded by locusts which spared the wheat but despoiled and devoured the vines. It was truly the sign such as the prophets of that time had predicted, that this formidable Celtic army, when it arrived, would not intervene in Christian affairs, but would crush in a terrible manner the barbaric Ishmaelites (Muslims.) who are slaves of drunkenness, of wine and of Dionysus. (The Greek god of wine. It is difficult to know what caused Anna to judge the Muslims as drunkards, for Islam strictly forbids its followers to drink wine.) For this race, which is ruled by Dionysus and Eros, is so degenerate in regard to sexual relations of every kind that, if it is circumcised in the flesh, is not in its passions: it is enslaved--entirely enslaved--by the vices of Aphrodite. This is also the reason that the Ishmaelites adore in their worship Astarte and Ashtaroth, and that they make so much of an image of a star and the golden statue of Chobar. (Both Western and Eastern Medieval Christians insisted that Muslims were polytheistic idol-worshipers, although in fact they were strict monotheists and forbad images.) Besides, wheat was considered as the symbol of Christianity because it is not a stimulant and is very nourishing. This is how the prophets interpreted the symbolism of the wheat and the vines.

But enough about prophets; these signs also accompanied the approach of the barbarians, and intelligent people could expect something novel. In fact the arrival of such a multitude did not take place at the same moment, nor by the same road. (In fact, how could such masses setting out from different countries have all assembled to cross from Italy?) (Anna wrongly assumes that all of the crusaders crossed over from Italy, probably because the first to arrive came from that direction.) One group crossed, then another, then another after that: thus one after another they all crossed over, then continued across the continent. Each army was preceded by a cloud of locusts, as I said above; so everyone having experienced this several times, knew that this phenomenon portended the arrival of French troops.

When these groups began crossing the Straits of Lombardy, the emperor summoned some of the leaders of the Roman troops and sent them to the region around Dyrrachium and Avlona, with orders that the travelers who had crossed over should be received kindly and provided all along their route with abundant provisions from all regions; and instructions to observe them discretely, constantly observing them, so that if they were observed making raids or pillaging neighboring regions, they should be repelled by light skirmishes. These officers were aided by interpreters who knew the Latin language and could settle the conflicts which might arise.

I would like to give a clearer and more detailed account of this matter. Inspired by word of the preaching which circulated everywhere, Godefroi (Godefroi of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine.) was the first to sell his lands and set out on the road. He was a very rich man, extremely proud of his noble birth, his courage, and the glory of his ancestry, for every Celt wanted to surpass all others. There arose a movement including both men and women such as no one could remember having ever seen before: the simplest people were truly motivated by their desire to worship at the sepulcher of the Lord and to visit the holy places; but villainous men like Bohemond and his like had an ulterior motive, and the hope that perhaps they might seize the imperial city itself (Constantinople, which was indeed invaded, pillaged and conquered by the soldiers of the Fourth Crusade in 1204.) on the way since they had stumbled on this opportunity for profit. Bohemond confused the minds of many noble warriors because he cherished an old grudge against the emperor.

Meanwhile, Peter, after having preached as I have described above, crossed the Strait of Lombardy before any of them with 80,000 infantrymen and 100,000 horsemen, and arrived at the imperial palace after having crossed through Hungary. The Celtic people, as can be guessed, are in any case very hotheaded and passionate: once they've caught fire they are unstoppable. Informed of all that Peter had had to endure previously at the hands of the Turks, the emperor advised him to wait for the arrival of the other counts; but he, refusing to listen to him, feeling his company strong in numbers, crossed the strait and set up camp near a small village called Helenopolis. Normans followed him: about 10,000 of them. They broke off from the rest of the army and began pillaging the region around Nicaea, conducting themselves with extreme cruelty toward all. Suckling infants, for example, were either mutilated or speared on spits and roasted over the fire. As for older people, they inflicted all manner of tortures on them. When the inhabitants of the city heard these things, they opened the gates and made a sortie against the Normans. A violent combat followed; but in the face of the belligerent ferocity of the Normans the native troops retreated into the citadel. The attackers returned to Helenopolis with all their booty. But a dispute arose between them and those who had not gone with them on the raid, as often happens in such cases; envy inflamed those who had remained behind and there followed between the two groups a quarrel which ended by the audacious Normans making a new separate sortie and taking Xerigordon in a single assault.

The sultan reacted to these events by sending Elkhanes against them with a substantial force. As soon as he arrived, he recaptured Xerigordon. As for the Normans, he put many to the sword and took the rest prisoner while planning a surprise assault on the others who had remained behind with Peter. He set up ambushes in appropriate spots where those who were traveling toward Nicaea would be fallen upon and massacred. Knowing the Celts were greedy, he summoned two courageous men and ordered them to go to Peter's camp and say that the Normans, having conquered Nicaea, were in the process of dividing up the riches of the city. This news spread among those with Peter and threw them into a terrible confusion; for as soon as they heard of dividing riches, they rushed off in disorder along the road to Nicaea, almost entirely forgetting the military experience and discipline proper to fighting men. Since they did march in ranks or troops, they fell into a Turkish ambush near Drakon and were wretchedly massacred. So many Celts and Normans were victims of the Ishmaelite sword that when the bodies of the slaughtered warriors which were scattered about were collected, they were piled--not in a huge pile, nor even a mound, or a hill--but into a high mountain of considerable dimensions, so great was the mass of bones. Later men belonging to the same race as the massacred men built walls like those of the city, filling the holes between the stones with bones instead of mortar, and thus made this city into their tomb. The fortified place exists still today, surrounded by a wall made of stones and bones mixed together.

When all these had been slain by the sword, Peter alone with a few others returned to Helenopolis and entered it. The Turks, who wanted to seize the city, raised new ambushes. But when the emperor learned all of this and had verified the facts of this appalling massacre, he realized how tragic it would have been if Peter had also been taken prisoner. So he sent for Constantine Euphorbenos Katakalon, whom I have mentioned often above, and had him assemble a large body of warships and sent them to rescue those on the other side of the strait. As soon as the Turks saw these troops arrive, they fled. Constantine, without losing a moment, gathered Peter and his few companions and led them safe and sound to the emperor. When the latter reminded him of his imprudence from the beginning and told them that he had undergone such a disaster because he had disregarded the emperor's advice, the proud Latin, far from admitting that he was responsible for this disaster, accused the others of not having obeyed him, following their own whims, and spoke of them as thieves and brigands, which is why the Lord had not allowed them to reach the Holy Sepulcher.

Those Latins who, like Bohemond and his kind, had for a long time coveted the Roman (Byzantine.) Empire and wished to seize it, took advantage of the pretext of Peter's preaching which had provoked this enormous movement by deceiving the more honest among them. Selling their lands, they pretended to go off to war against the Turks to free the Holy Sepulcher.

Translated by Paul Brians