The First Crusade 1096-1099
Pope Urban II's Call to Arms In Clermont France, November of 1095, Pope Urban II issued a call to arms at the Council of Clermont. Alexius I Comnenus, Emperor of Byzantium, had contacted the Pope to help ward off Seljuk Turks that were invading Anatolia. Along with Alexius' request came the goal of recapturing Jerusalem from Islamic rule, even though this was not part of his request, the Christian crusaders still found it important. Pope Urban II did set an actual date for the crusade in August of the next year. Campaigning from Peter the Hermit, caused peasants to go before scheduled. this ended up in an unorganized, crude, peasant army that did not succeed in anything know as the People's Crusade which is part of the first crusade.
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Excerpt From Pope Urban II's Speech "From the confines of Jerusalem and the city of Constantinople a horrible tale has gone forth and very frequently has been brought to our ears,"
"a generation forsooth which has not directed its heart and has not entrusted its spirit to God, has invaded the lands of those Christians and has depopulated them by the sword, pillage and fire; it has led away a part of the captives into its own country, and a part it has destroyed by cruel tortures." |
The People's Crusade Walter Sans Avoir, also referred to as Walter the Penniless, was the first to leave, with a rather large army, along with eight knights. They set off for their destination of Byzantium. Their trip was almost without unpleasant occurrence until they reached Belgrade where they plundered a bit much. They later reached Constantinople before expected by the Byzantine leaders in July. Byzantine leaders did not have supplies or housing for them because they were so early. Peter the Hermit's group soon followed their arrival. This group ran into more trouble than Walter the Penniless' group. Just before reaching Byzantine, in Zemun, Hungary, a major disturbance, which produced the death of multiple Hungarians ensued. Desperately trying to escape justice from Hungary they tried to make in it into Byzantium, but were stopped by Byzantine authorities, and in the process of this encounter violence occurred. Creating more destruction in Nish, Germans from the group set fire to the mills in the town and traded hostages for supplies, Troops were sent to attack the group, which resulted in more violence. Ultimately they made it to Constantinople, leaving a trail of death and destruction behind them.
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There was still a lack of supplies and thievery was prevalent. Alexius tried to convince both groups to stay in Constantinople until the main body of skilled crusaders arrived. The crusaders were not too happy about this idea. Alexius convinced them to go to Asia Minor. Peter later returned back in the hopes of receiving help from Alexius.
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Later the crusade broke in a group of Germans and French peasants. Both groups decided to pillage Nicea (French group did it first) . Turkish forces expecting another attack, surrounded the Germans. The Germans were able to attain a fortress nearby, but surrendered in eight days. Then met the cruel fate of either converting to Islam or death, then forced to slavery. The end of the People's Crusade soon followed when the Turks sent a fake letter to the French crusaders of riches (told from the view of the German crusaders). The French went to get the riches and were killed on the way by the Turks.
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The First Crusade The journey on the first crusade was very difficult because they could not use the Mediterranean Sea considering the ports along side of it was not controlled by the crusaders. They had to journey through many harsh climates and terrains and at one point ran out of water. Disease also became common. About 10,000 people had amassed at Constantinople by 1097 eager for the trip to the Jerusalem. Pope Urban II had appointed a leader to the crusade, but there was really no axiomatic command structure. Four large crusading armies and a number of small crusading armies went on the journey. They had three areas they needed to conquer, Nicea, Antioch, and Jerusalem.
They first encountered the city of Nicea, which was a fortress city. Kilij Arslan I, leader of the city, was away fighting on another battle, therefore it was very easy to take control of Nicea. After conquering Nicea, the crusaders headed for Antioch. As they marched to Antioch they encountered Byzantine troops which joined them on their journey. |
They later encountered an army that Arslan acquired, which later turned into the Battle of Dorylaeum, which the crusaders won. The rest of the way to Antioch was awful considering Aslan's army had left destruction on the route that the crusader were taking. This caused them to not be able to get supplies and also caused them to plunder many villages along the way. The siege of Antioch lasted eight months. They eventually captured it with various different strategies along with turmoil. They were able to take down two armies lead by Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan and Daquq.
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After this they successfully got a defense tower by the means of bribery and were able to access the fortress and murder most the citizens within the walls. Soon after Kerbogha's army came, but were defeated by crusaders and Christian citizens . The plague then spread amongst them and some of the men resorted to cannibalism because the Muslim inhabitants refused to give any of the crusaders food. Later they marched to Jerusalem to besiege it. The crusaders discovered that there was an unprotected part of the fortress and fought their way in. Once the crusaders got into the city they murder practically everyone. Men, women, and children were all killed. The people who were not killed were force into labor.
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