# Crusade of 1101

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.

## Background

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.

## Cause of the Crusade
### 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.
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

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.

## Battles of Heraclea

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 where 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.
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

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.
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.
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.
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 had sent envoys to Antioch and Edessa, seeking assistance from Tancred and Baldwin II. They arrived only after the Egyptians' withdrawal. Tancred tried to persuade the new papal legate, Robert of St Eusebio, to restore Dagobert, but Baldwin convinced Robert to discuss the issue with the local bishops and abbots. After the prelates unanimously stated that Dagobert had almost provoked a civil war and had abused his ecclesiastical authority, 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.