First Crusade The First Crusade ( 1096 – 1099 ) started as a widespread pilgrimage ( France and Germany ) and ended as a military expedition by Roman Catholic Europe to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquests of the Levant ( 632 – 661 ) , ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem in 1099 . It was launched on 27 November 1095 by Pope Urban II with the primary goal of responding to an appeal from Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos , who requested that western volunteers come to his aid and help to repel the invading Seljuq Turks from Anatolia . An additional goal soon became the principal objective — the Christian reconquest of the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land and the freeing of the Eastern Christians from Islamic rule . During the crusade , knight s and peasants from many nations of Western Europe travelled over land and by sea , first to Constantinople and then on towards Jerusalem . The Crusaders arrived at Jerusalem , launched an assault on the city , and captured it in July 1099 , massacring many of the city ' s Muslim , Christian , and Jewish inhabitants . They also established the crusader states of the Kingdom of Jerusalem , the County of Tripoli , the Principality of Antioch , and the County of Edessa . Because the First Crusade was largely concerned with Jerusalem , a city which had not been under Christian dominion for 461 years , and the crusader army refused to return the land to the control of the Byzantine Empire , the status of the First Crusade as defensive or as aggressive in nature remains controversial . The First Crusade was part of the Christian response to the Muslim conquests , and was followed by the Second to the Ninth Crusades , but the gains made lasted for less than 200 years . It was also the first major step towards reopening international trade in the West since the fall of the Western Roman Empire . Origin . The origin of the Crusades in general , and particularly that of the First Crusade , is widely debated among historians . The Crusades are most commonly linked to the political and social situation in 11th - century Europe , the rise of a reform movement within the papacy , and the political and religious confrontation of Christianity and Islam in Europe and the Middle East . Christianity had spread throughout Europe , Africa , and the Middle East in Late Antiquity , but by the early 8th century Christian rule had become limited to Europe and Anatolia after the Muslim conquests . The Umayyad Caliphate had conquered Syria , Egypt , and North Africa from the predominantly Christian Byzantine Empire , and Hispania from the Visigothic Kingdom . In North Africa , the Umayyad empire eventually collapsed and a number of smaller Muslim kingdoms emerged , such as the Aghlabids , who attacked Italy in the 9th century . Pisa , Genoa , and the Principality of Catalonia began to battle various Muslim kingdoms for control of the Mediterranean Basin , exemplified by the Mahdia campaign and battles at Majorca and Sardinia . Essentially , between the years 1096 and 1101 the Byzantine Greeks experienced the crusade as it arrived at Constantinople in three separate waves . In the early summer of 1096 , the first large unruly group arrived on the outskirts of Constantinople This wave was reported to be undisciplined and ill equipped as an army . This first group is often called the Peasants ’ or People ’ s Crusade . It was led by Peter the Hermit and Walter Sansavoir and had no knowledge of or respect for the wishes of Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus . The second wave was also not under the command of the Emperor and was made up of a number of armies with their own commanders . This group , and the first wave numbered an estimated 60 , 000 . The second wave was led by Hugh I , Count of Vermandois . He was also the brother of King Philip I of France . Among the second wave was Raymond IV , Count of Toulouse and the army of Provinçals . " It was this second wave of crusaders which later passed through Asia Minor , captured Antioch in 1098 and finally took Jerusalem July 15 , 1099 . ” The third wave composed of contingents from Lombardy , France and Bavaria arrived in Jerusalem in the early summer of 1101 . Situation in Europe . At the western edge of Europe and of Islamic expansion , the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula was well underway by the 11th century ; it was intermittently ideological , as evidenced by the " Epitome Ovetense " written at the behest of Rodrick McManigal in 881 , but it was not a proto - crusade . Increasingly in the 11th century foreign knights , mostly from France , visited Iberia to assist the Christians in their efforts . Shortly before the First Crusade , Pope Urban II had encouraged the Iberian Christians to reconquer Tarragona , using much of the same symbolism and rhetoric that was later used to preach the crusade to the people of Europe . The heart of Western Europe had been stabilized after the Christianization of the Saxon , Viking , and Hungarian peoples by the end of the 10th century . However , the breakdown of the Carolingian Empire gave rise to an entire class of warriors who now had little to do but fight among themselves . The random violence of the knightly class was regularly condemned by the church , and in response it established the Peace and Truce of God to prohibit fighting on certain days of the year . At the same time , the reform - minded papacy came into conflict with the Holy Roman Emperors , resulting in the Investiture Controversy . Popes such as Pope Gregory VII justified the subsequent warfare against the Emperor ' s partisans in theological terms . It became acceptable for the Pope to utilize knights in the name of Christendom , not only against political enemies of the Papacy , but also against Al - Andalus , or , theoretically , against the Seljuq dynasty in the east . To the east of Europe lay the Byzantine Empire , composed of Christians who had long followed a separate Orthodox rite ; the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches had been in schism since 1054 . Historians have argued that the desire to impose Roman church authority in the east may have been one of the goals of the crusade , although Urban II , who launched the First Crusade , never refers to such a goal in his letters on crusading . The Seljuq Turks had taken over almost all of Anatolia after the Byzantine defeat at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 , with the result that on the eve of the Council of Clermont , the territory controlled by the Byzantine Empire had been reduced by more than half . By the time of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos , the Byzantine Empire was largely confined to Balkan Europe and the northwestern fringe of Anatolia , and faced Norman enemies in the west as well as Turks in the east . In response to the defeat at Manzikert and subsequent Byzantine losses in Anatolia in 1074 , Pope Gregory VII had called for the " milites Christi " ( " soldiers of Christ " ) to go to Byzantium ' s aid . This call , while largely ignored and even opposed , nevertheless focused a great deal of attention on the east . Situation in the Middle East . Until the crusaders ' arrival the Byzantines had continually fought the Seljuqs and other Turkish dynasties for control of Anatolia and Syria . The Seljuqs , who were orthodox Sunni Muslims , had formerly ruled the Great Seljuq Empire , but by the time of the First Crusade it had divided into several smaller states after the death of Malik - Shah I in 1092 . Malik - Shah was succeeded in the Anatolian Sultanate of Rum by Kilij Arslan I , and in Syria by his brother Tutush I , who died in 1095 . Tutush ' s sons Fakhr al - Mulk Radwan and Duqaq inherited Aleppo and Damascus respectively , further dividing Syria amongst emirs antagonistic towards each other , as well as Kerbogha , the atabeg of Mosul . Egypt and much of Palestine were controlled by the Arab Shi ' ite Fatimid Caliphate , which was significantly smaller since the arrival of the Seljuqs . Warfare between the Fatimids and Seljuqs caused great disruption for the local Christians and for western pilgrims . The Fatimids , under the nominal rule of caliph al - Musta ' li but actually controlled by vizier al - Afdal Shahanshah , had lost Jerusalem to the Seljuqs in 1073 ( although some older accounts say 1076 ) ; they recaptured it in 1098 from the Artuqids , a smaller Turkish tribe associated with the Seljuqs , just before the arrival of the crusaders . Historiography . It is now impossible to assess exactly why the First Crusade occurred , although many possible causes have been suggested by historians , most recently Jay Rubenstein . The historiography of the Crusades reflects attempts made by different historians to understand the Crusades ' complex causes and justifications . An early theory , the so - called " Erdmann thesis " , developed by German historian Carl Erdmann , directly linked the Crusades to the 11th - century reform movements . This first theory claimed that the exportation of violence to the east , and the assistance to the struggling Byzantine Empire were the Crusaders ' primary goals , and that the conquest of Jerusalem was more a secondary , popular goal . Generally , subsequent historians have either followed Erdmann , with further expansions upon his thesis , or rejected it . Some historians , such as Speros Vryonis , have emphasized the influence of the rise of Islam generally , and the impact of the recent Seljuq onslaught specifically . Steven Runciman argued that the crusade was motivated by a combination of theological justification for holy war and a " general restlessness and taste for adventure " , especially among the Normans and the " younger sons " of the French nobility who had no other opportunities . Runciman even implies that there was no immediate threat from the Islamic world , arguing that " in the middle of the 11th century the lot of the Christians in Palestine had seldom been so pleasant " . However , Runciman makes his argument only in reference to Palestine under the Fatimids c . 1029 – 1073 , not under the Seljuqs . Moreover , the source of his generally positive view of Palestinian Christians ' lot in the later 11th century is unclear , as there were very few contemporary Christian sources from Palestine writing in this period , and surviving Christian sources deriving directly from Seljuq Palestine are virtually non - existent . In opposition to Runciman ' s argument , and on the basis of contemporary Jewish Cairo Geniza documents , as well as later Muslim accounts , Moshe Gil argues that the Seljuq conquest and occupation of Palestine ( c . 1073 – 1098 ) was a period of " slaughter and vandalism , of economic hardship , and the uprooting of populations " . Indeed , drawing upon earlier writers such as Ignatius of Melitene , Michael the Syrian had recorded that the Seljuqs subjected Coele - Syria and the Palestinian coast to " cruel destruction and pillage " . Thomas Asbridge argues that the First Crusade was Pope Urban II ' s attempt to expand the power of the church , and reunite the churches of Rome and Constantinople , which had been in schism since 1054 . Asbridge , however , provides little evidence from Urban ' s own writings to bolster this claim , and Urban ' s four extant letters on crusading do not seem to express such a motive . According to Asbridge , the spread of Islam was unimportant because " Islam and Christendom had coexisted for centuries in relative equanimity " . Asbridge , however , fails to note that the recent Turkish conquests of Anatolia and southern Syria had shattered the tense but relatively stable balance of power that a somewhat revived Byzantine Empire had gradually developed with earlier Islamic powers over the course of the 10th and early 11th century . Following the defeat at Manzikert in 1071 , Muslims had taken half of the Byzantine Empire ' s territory , and such strategically and religiously important cities as Antioch and Nicaea had only fallen to Muslims in the decade before the Council of Piacenza . Moreover , the harrowing accounts of the Turkish invasion and conquest of Anatolia recorded by such Eastern Christian chroniclers as John Skylitzes , Michael Attaleiates , Matthew of Edessa , Michael the Syrian and others , which are summarized by Vryonis , seem to contradict Asbridge ' s broad picture of equanimious " coexistence " between the Christian and Muslim worlds in the second half of the 11th century . Thomas Madden represents a view almost diametrically opposed to that of Asbridge ; while the crusade was certainly linked to church reform and attempts to assert papal authority , he argues that it was most importantly a pious struggle to liberate fellow Christians , who , Madden claims , " had suffered mightily at the hands of the Turks " . This argument distinguishes the relatively recent violence and warfare that followed the conquests of the Turks from the general advance of Islam , the significance of which is dismissed by Runciman and Asbridge . Christopher Tyerman incorporates both arguments in his thesis ; namely , that the Crusade developed out of church reform and theories of holy war as much as it was a response to conflicts with the Islamic world throughout Europe and the Middle East . In Jonathan Riley - Smith ' s view , poor harvests , overpopulation , and a pre - existing movement towards colonizing the frontier areas of Europe also contributed to the crusade ; however , he also takes care to say that " most commentators then and a minority of historians now have maintained that the chief motivation was a genuine idealism " . The idea that the crusades were a response to Islam dates back as far as 12th - century historian William of Tyre , who began his chronicle with the fall of Jerusalem to Umar . Although the original Islamic conquests had taken place centuries before the First Crusade , more recent events would have been fresh in the minds of the European Christians of the time . For example , in 1009 the Church of the Holy Sepulchre had been destroyed by the Fatimid Caliph al - Hakim bi - Amr Allah ; Pope Sergius IV supposedly called for a military expedition in response , and in France , many Jewish communities were even attacked in a misdirected retaliation . Despite the Church ' s rebuilding after al - Hakim ' s death , and pilgrimages resuming , including the Great German Pilgrimage of 1064 – 1065 , pilgrims continued to suffer attacks from local Muslims . In addition , the even more recent Turkish incursions into Anatolia and northern Syria were certainly viewed as devastating by Eastern Christian chroniclers , and it is plausible they were presented as such by the Byzantines to the Pope in order to solicit the aid of European Christians . Council of Clermont . While the Crusades had causes deeply rooted in the social and political situations of 11th - century Europe , the event actually triggering the First Crusade was a request for assistance from Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos . Alexios was worried about the advances of the Seljuqs , who had reached as far west as Nicaea , not far from Constantinople . In March 1095 , Alexios sent envoys to the Council of Piacenza to ask Pope Urban II for aid against the Turks . Urban responded favourably , perhaps hoping to heal the Great Schism of forty years earlier , and to re - unite the Church under papal primacy by helping the Eastern churches in their time of need . In July 1095 , Urban turned to his homeland of France to recruit men for the expedition . His travels there culminated in the Council of Clermont in November , where , according to the various speeches attributed to him , he gave an impassioned sermon to a large audience of French nobles and clergy , graphically detailing the fantastical atrocities being committed against pilgrims and eastern Christians . There are five versions of the speech recorded by people who may have been at the council ( Baldric of Dol , Guibert of Nogent , Robert the Monk , and Fulcher of Chartres ) or who went on crusade ( Fulcher and the anonymous author of the Gesta Francorum ) , as well as other versions found in later historians ( such as William of Malmesbury and William of Tyre ) . All of these versions were written after Jerusalem had been captured . Thus it is difficult to know what was actually said and what was recreated in the aftermath of the successful crusade . The only contemporary records are a few letters written by Urban in 1095 . All five versions of the speech differ widely from one another in regard to particulars . All versions , except that in the Gesta Francorum , generally agree that Urban talked about the violence of European society and the necessity of maintaining the Peace of God ; about helping the Greeks , who had asked for assistance ; about the crimes being committed against Christians in the east ; and about a new kind of war , an armed pilgrimage , and of rewards in heaven , where remission of sins was offered to any who might die in the undertaking . They do not all specifically mention Jerusalem as the ultimate goal ; however , it has been argued that Urban ' s subsequent preaching reveals that he expected the expedition to reach Jerusalem all along . According to one version of the speech , the enthusiastic crowd responded with cries of " Deus vult ! " ( " God wills it ! " ) . However , other versions of the speech do not include this detail . Recruitment . Urban ' s speech had been well - planned ; he had discussed the crusade with Adhemar of Le Puy and Raymond IV , Count of Toulouse , and instantly the expedition had the support of two of southern France ' s most important leaders . Adhemar himself was present at the Council and was the first to " take the cross " . During the rest of 1095 and into 1096 , Urban spread the message throughout France , and urged his bishops and legates to preach in their own dioceses elsewhere in France , Germany , and Italy as well . However , it is clear that the response to the speech was much greater than even the Pope , let alone Alexios , expected . On his tour of France , Urban tried to forbid certain people ( including women , monks , and the sick ) from joining the crusade , but found this nearly impossible . In the end , most who took up the call were not knights , but peasants who were not wealthy and had little in the way of fighting skills , in an outpouring of a new emotional and personal piety that was not easily harnessed by the ecclesiastical and lay aristocracy . Typically , preaching would conclude with every volunteer taking a vow to complete a pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre ; they were also given a cross , usually sewn onto their clothes . As Thomas Asbridge wrote , " Just as we can do nothing more than estimate the number of thousands who responded to the crusading ideal , so too , with the surviving evidence , we can gain only a limited insight into their motivation and intent . " Previous generations of scholars argued that the crusaders were motivated by greed , hoping to find a better life away from the famines and warfare occurring in France , but as Asbridge notes , " This image is . . . profoundly misleading . " He argues that greed was unlikely to have been a major factor because of the extremely high cost of travelling so far from home , and because almost all of the crusaders eventually returned home after completing their pilgrimage rather than trying to carve out possessions for themselves in the Holy Land . It is difficult or impossible to assess the motives of the thousands of poor for whom there is no historical record , or even those of important knights , whose stories were usually retold by monks or clerics . As the secular medieval world was so deeply ingrained with the spiritual world of the church , it is quite likely that personal piety was a major factor for many crusaders . Despite this popular enthusiasm , however , Urban ensured that there would be an army of knights , drawn from the French aristocracy . Aside from Adhemar and Raymond , other leaders he recruited throughout 1096 included Bohemond of Taranto , a southern Italian ally of the reform popes ; Bohemond ' s nephew Tancred ; Godfrey of Bouillon , who had previously been an anti - reform ally of the Holy Roman Emperor ; his brother Baldwin of Boulogne ; Hugh I , Count of Vermandois , brother of the excommunicated Philip I of France ; Robert Curthose , brother of William II of England ; and his relatives Stephen II , Count of Blois and Robert II , Count of Flanders . The crusaders represented northern and southern France , Flanders , Germany , and southern Italy , and so were divided into four separate armies that were not always cooperative , though they were held together by their common ultimate goal . The motives of the nobility are somewhat clearer than those of the peasants ; greed was apparently not a major factor . It is commonly assumed , for example by Runciman as mentioned above , that only younger members of a family went on crusade , looking for wealth and adventure elsewhere , as they had no prospects for advancement at home . Riley - Smith has shown that this was not always the case . The crusade was led by some of the most powerful nobles of France , who left everything behind , and it was often the case that entire families went on crusade at their own great expense . For example , Robert of Normandy loaned the Duchy of Normandy to his brother William II of England , and Godfrey sold or mortgaged his property to the church . According to Tancred ' s biographer , he was worried about the sinful nature of knightly warfare , and was excited to find a holy outlet for violence . Tancred and Bohemond , as well as Godfrey , Baldwin , and their older brother Eustace III , Count of Boulogne , are examples of families who crusaded together . Riley - Smith argues that the enthusiasm for the crusade was perhaps based on family relations , as most of the French crusaders were distant relatives . Nevertheless , in at least some cases , personal advancement played a role in Crusaders ' motives . For instance , Bohemond was motivated by the desire to carve himself out a territory in the east , and had previously campaigned against the Byzantines to try to achieve this . The Crusade gave him a further opportunity , which he took after the Siege of Antioch , taking possession of the city and establishing the Principality of Antioch . People ' s Crusade . The great French nobles and their trained armies of knights , however , were not the first to undertake the journey towards Jerusalem . Urban had planned the departure of the first crusade for 15 August 1096 , the Feast of the Assumption , but months before this , a number of unexpected armies of peasants and petty nobles set off for Jerusalem on their own , led by a charismatic priest called Peter the Hermit . Peter was the most successful of the preachers of Urban ' s message , and developed an almost hysterical enthusiasm among his followers , although he was probably not an " official " preacher sanctioned by Urban at Clermont . A century later he was already a legendary figure ; William of Tyre believed that it was Peter who had planted the idea for the crusade in Urban ' s mind ( which was taken as fact by historians until the 19th century ) . It is commonly believed that Peter led a massive group of untrained and illiterate peasants who did not even have any idea where Jerusalem was , but indeed there were many knights among the peasants , including Walter Sans Avoir , who was lieutenant to Peter and led a separate army . Lacking military discipline , in what likely seemed to the participants a strange land ( Eastern Europe ) , Peter ' s fledgling army quickly found itself in trouble despite the fact they were still in Christian territory . The army led by Walter fought with the Hungarians over food at Belgrade , but otherwise arrived in Constantinople unharmed . Meanwhile , the army led by Peter , which marched separately from Walter ' s army , also fought with the Hungarians , and may have captured Belgrade . At Nish the Byzantine governor tried to supply them , but Peter had little control over his followers and Byzantine troops were needed to quell their attacks . Peter arrived at Constantinople in August , where his army joined with the one led by Walter , which had already arrived , as well as separate bands of crusaders from France , Germany , and Italy . Another army of Bohemians and Saxons did not make it past Hungary before splitting up . This unruly mob began to attack and pillage outside the city in search of supplies and food , prompting Alexios to hurriedly ferry the gathering across the Bosporus one week later . After crossing into Asia Minor , the crusaders split up and began to pillage the countryside , wandering into Seljuq territory around Nicaea . The greater experience of the Turks was overwhelming ; most of this group of the crusaders were massacred . Some Italian and German crusaders were defeated and killed at Xerigordon at the end of August . Meanwhile , Walter and Peter ' s followers , who , although for the most part untrained in battle but led by about 50 knights , fought a battle against the Turks at Civitote in October . The Turkish archers destroyed the crusader army , and Walter was among the dead . Peter , who was absent in Constantinople at the time , later joined the main crusader army , along with the few survivors of Civetot . Attacks on Jews in the Rhineland . 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 . In May 1096 , Emicho of Flonheim ( sometimes incorrectly known as Emicho of Leiningen ) attacked the Jews at Speyer and Worms . Other unofficial crusaders from Swabia , led by Hartmann of Dillingen , along with French , English , Lotharingian and Flemish volunteers , led by Drogo of Nesle and William the Carpenter , as well as many locals , joined Emicho in the destruction of the Jewish community of Mainz at the end of May . In Mainz , one Jewish woman killed her children rather than see them killed ; the chief rabbi , Kalonymus Ben Meshullam , committed suicide in anticipation of being killed . Emicho ' s company then went on to Cologne , and others continued on to Trier , Metz , and other cities . Peter the Hermit may have been involved in violence against the Jews , and an army led by a priest named Folkmar also attacked Jews further east in Bohemia . Emicho ' s army eventually continued into Hungary but was defeated by the army of Coloman of Hungary . His followers dispersed ; some eventually joined the main armies , although Emicho himself went home . Many of the attackers seem to have wanted to force the Jews to convert , although they were also interested in acquiring money from them . Physical violence against Jews was never part of the church hierarchy ' s official policy for crusading , and the Christian bishops , especially the Archbishop of Cologne , did their best to protect the Jews . A decade before , the Bishop of Speyer had taken the step of providing the Jews of that city with a guarded quarter to protect them from Christian violence and given their chief Rabbis the control of judicial matters in the quarter . Nevertheless , some also took money in return for their protection . The attacks may have originated in the belief that Jews and Muslims were equally enemies of Christ , and enemies were to be fought or converted to Christianity . Godfrey of Bouillon was rumoured to have extorted money from the Jews of Cologne and Mainz , and many of the Crusaders wondered why they should travel thousands of miles to fight non - believers when there were already non - believers closer to home . The attacks on the Jews were witnessed by Ekkehard of Aura and Albert of Aix ; among the Jewish communities , the main contemporary witnesses were the Mainz Anonymous , Eliezer ben Nathan , and Solomon bar Simson . Princes ' Crusade . The four main crusader armies left Europe around the appointed time in August 1096 . They took different paths to Constantinople and gathered outside its city walls between November 1096 and April 1097 ; Hugh of Vermandois arrived first , followed by Godfrey , Raymond , and Bohemond . This time , Emperor Alexios was more prepared for the crusaders ; there were fewer incidents of violence along the way . The size of the entire crusader army is difficult to estimate ; various numbers were given by the eyewitnesses , and equally various estimates have been offered by modern historians . Crusader military historian David Nicolle considers the armies to have consisted of about 30 , 000 – 35 , 000 crusaders , including 5 , 000 cavalry . Raymond had the largest contingent of about 8 , 500 infantry and 1 , 200 cavalry . The princes arrived in Constantinople with little food and expected provisions and help from Alexios . Alexios was understandably suspicious after his experiences with the People ' s Crusade , and also because the knights included his old Norman enemy , Bohemond , who had invaded Byzantine territory on numerous occasions with his father , Robert Guiscard , and may have even attempted to organize an attack on Constantinople while encamped outside the city . The crusaders may have expected Alexios to become their leader , but he had no interest in joining them , and was mainly concerned with transporting them into Asia Minor as quickly as possible . In return for food and supplies , Alexios requested the leaders to swear fealty to him and promise to return to the Byzantine Empire any land recovered from the Turks . Godfrey was the first to take the oath , and almost all the other leaders followed him , although they did so only after warfare had almost broken out in the city between the citizens and the crusaders , who were eager to pillage for supplies . Raymond alone avoided swearing the oath , instead pledging that he would simply cause no harm to the Empire . Before ensuring that the various armies were shuttled across the Bosporus , Alexios advised the leaders on how best to deal with the Seljuq armies that they would soon encounter . Siege of Nicaea . The crusader armies crossed over into Asia Minor during the first half of 1097 , where they were joined by Peter the Hermit and the remainder of his little army . In addition , Alexios also sent two of his own generals , Manuel Boutoumites and Tatikios , to assist the crusaders . The first objective of their campaign was Nicaea , previously a city under Byzantine rule , but had become the capital of the Seljuq Sultanate of Rum under Kilij Arslan I . Arslan was away campaigning against the Danishmends in central Anatolia at the time , and had left behind his treasury and his family , underestimating the strength of these new crusaders . Subsequently , upon the Crusaders ' arrival , the city was subjected to a lengthy siege , and when Arslan had word of it he rushed back to Nicaea and attacked the crusader army on 16 May . He was driven back by the unexpectedly large crusader force , with heavy losses being suffered on both sides in the ensuing battle . The siege continued , but the crusaders had little success as they found they could not blockade the lake , which the city was situated on , and from which it could be provisioned . To break the city , Alexios sent the Crusaders ' ships rolled over land on logs , and at the sight of them the Turkish garrison finally surrendered on 18 June . The city was handed over to the Byzantine troops , which has often been depicted as a source of conflict between the Empire and the crusaders ; Byzantine standards flew from the walls while the crusaders were forbidden from looting the city or even entering it except in small escorted bands . However , this policy was in accordance with the previous oaths made to Alexios , and the emperor ensured that the crusaders were well - paid for their efforts . As Thomas Asbridge writes , " the fall of Nicaea was a product of the successful policy of close co - operation between the crusaders and Byzantium . " After handing custody of Nicaea to the Byzantines , the crusaders resumed their march to Jerusalem . Stephen of Blois , in a letter to his wife Adela of Blois wrote that he believed the journey would take five weeks ; in reality , it took two years . Battle of Dorylaeum . At the end of June , the crusaders marched on through Anatolia . They were accompanied by some Byzantine troops under Tatikios , and still harboured the hope that Alexios would send a full Byzantine army after them . They also divided the army into two more - easily managed groups — one contingent led by the Normans , the other by the French . The two groups intended to meet again at Dorylaeum , but on 1 July the Normans , who had marched ahead of the French , were attacked by Kilij Arslan . Arslan had gathered a much larger army than he previously had after his defeat at Nicaea , and now surrounded the Normans with his fast - moving mounted archers . The Normans " deployed in a tight - knit defensive formation " , surrounding all their equipment and the non - combatants who had followed them along the journey , and sent for help from the other group . When the French arrived , Godfrey broke through the Turkish lines and the legate Adhemar outflanked the Turks from the rear ; thus the Turks , who had expected to destroy the Normans and did not anticipate the quick arrival of the French , fled rather than face the combined crusader army . The crusaders ' march through Anatolia was thereafter unopposed , but the journey was unpleasant , as Arslan had burned and destroyed everything he left behind on his retreat . It was the middle of summer , and the crusaders had very little food and water ; many men and horses died . Fellow Christians sometimes gave them gifts of food and money , but more often than not , the crusaders simply looted and pillaged whenever the opportunity presented itself . Individual leaders continued to dispute the overall leadership , although none of them were powerful enough to take command on their own , as Adhemar was always recognized as the spiritual leader . After passing through the Cilician Gates , Baldwin of Boulogne set off on his own towards the Armenia n lands around the Euphrates ; his wife , his only claim to European lands and wealth , had died after the battle , giving Baldwin no incentive to return to Europe . Thus , he resolved to seize a fiefdom for himself in the Holy Land . Early in 1098 , he was adopted as heir by Thoros of Edessa , a ruler who was disliked by his Armenian subjects for his Greek Orthodox religion . Thoros was later killed , during an uprising that Baldwin may have instigated . Then , in March 1098 , Baldwin became the new ruler , thus creating the County of Edessa , the first of the crusader states . Siege of Antioch . The crusader army , meanwhile , marched on to Antioch , which lay about halfway between Constantinople and Jerusalem . Described by Stephen of Blois as " a city great beyond belief , very strong and unassailable " , the idea of taking the city by assault was a discouraging one to the crusaders . Hoping rather to force a capitulation , or find a traitor inside the city — a tactic that had previously seen Antioch change to the control of the Byzantines and then the Seljuq Turks — the crusader army set Antioch to siege on 20 October 1097 . During the almost eight months of the siege , they were forced to defeat two large relief armies under the leadership of Duqaq and Fakhr al - Mulk Radwan . Antioch was so large that the crusaders did not have enough troops to fully surround it , and as a result it was able to stay partially supplied . On 4 March 1098 , relief arrived in the form of a Crusader fleet , the " Saxon Crusade " , bringing much needed supplies from the west . In May 1098 , Kerbogha of Mosul approached Antioch to relieve the siege . Bohemond bribed an Armenian guard named Firuz to surrender his tower , and in June the crusaders entered the city and killed most of the inhabitants . However , only a few days later the Muslims arrived , laying siege to the former besiegers . According to Raymond D ' Aguilers , it was at this point that a monk named Peter Bartholomew claimed to have discovered the Holy Lance in the city , and although some were skeptical , this was seen as a sign that they would be victorious . On 28 June 1098 , the crusaders defeated Kerbogha in a pitched battle outside the city , a victory caused by Kerbogha ' s inability to organize the different factions in his army . While the crusaders were marching towards the Muslims , the Fatimid section of the army deserted the Turkish contingent , as they feared Kerbogha would become too powerful were he able to defeat the Crusaders . According to Christian eye - witnesses , an army of Christian saints came to the aid of the crusaders during the battle and crippled Kerbogha ' s army . Stephen of Blois , a Crusade leader , was in Alexandretta when he learned of the situation in Antioch . It seemed like their situation was hopeless so he left the Middle East , warning Alexius and his army on his way back to France . Because of what looked like a massive betrayal , the leaders at Antioch , most notably Bohemond , argued that Alexios had deserted the Crusade and thus invalidated all of their oaths to him . While Bohemond asserted his claim to Antioch , not everyone agreed ( most notably Raymond of Toulouse ) , so the crusade was delayed for the rest of the year while the nobles argued amongst themselves . When discussing this period , a common historiographical viewpoint advanced by some scholars is that the Franks of northern France , the Provençals of southern France , and the Normans of southern Italy considered themselves separate " nations " , creating turmoil as each tried to increase its individual status . Others argue that while this may have had something to do with the disputes , personal ambition among the Crusader leaders might just be as easily blamed . Meanwhile , a plague broke out , killing many among the army , including the legate Adhemar , who died on 1 August . There were now even fewer horses than before , and worse , the Muslim peasants in the area refused to supply the crusaders with food . Thus , in December , after the Arab town of Ma ' arrat al - Numan was captured following a siege , history describes the first occurrence of cannibalism among the crusaders . Radulph of Caen wrote , " In Ma ' arrat our troops boiled pagan adults in cooking pots ; they impaled children on spits and devoured them grilled . " At the same time , the minor knights and soldiers had become increasingly restless and threatened to continue to Jerusalem without their squabbling leaders . Finally , at the beginning of 1099 , the march restarted , leaving Bohemond behind as the first Prince of Antioch . Continued march to Jerusalem . Proceeding down the Mediterranean coast , the crusaders encountered little resistance , as local rulers preferred to make peace with them and furnish them with supplies rather than fight , with a notable exception of the abandoned siege of Arqa . On 7 June , the crusaders reached Jerusalem , which had been recaptured from the Seljuqs by the Fatimids only the year before . Many Crusaders wept upon seeing the city they had journeyed so long to reach . Siege of Jerusalem . Crusaders ' arrival at Jerusalem revealed an arid countryside , lacking in water or food supplies . Here there was no prospect of relief , even as they feared an imminent attack by the local Fatimid rulers . There was no hope of trying to blockade the city as they had at Antioch ; the crusaders had insufficient troops , supplies , and time . Rather , they resolved to take the city by assault . They might have been left with little choice , as by the time the Crusader army reached Jerusalem , it has been estimated that only about 12 , 000 men including 1 , 500 cavalry remained . These contingents , composed of men with differing origins and varying allegiances , were also approaching another low ebb in their camaraderie ; e . g . , while Godfrey and Tancred made camp to the north of the city , Raymond made his to the south . In addition , the Provençal contingent did not take part in the initial assault on 13 June . This first assault was perhaps more speculative than determined , and after scaling the outer wall the Crusaders were repulsed from the inner one . After the failure of the initial assault , a meeting between the various leaders was organized in which it was agreed upon that a more concerted attack would be required in the future . On 17 June , a party of Genoese mariners under Guglielmo Embriaco arrived at Jaffa , and provided the Crusaders with skilled engineers , and perhaps more critically , supplies of timber ( cannibalized from the ships ) to build siege engine s . The Crusaders ' morale was raised when a priest , Peter Desiderius , claimed to have had a divine vision , of Bishop Adhemar , instructing them to fast and then march in a barefoot procession around the city walls , after which the city would fall , following the Biblical story of Joshua at the siege of Jericho . After a three days fast , on 8 July the crusaders performed the procession as they had been instructed by Desiderius , ending on the Mount of Olives where Peter the Hermit preached to them , and shortly afterward the various bickering factions arrived at a public rapprochement . News arrived shortly after that a Fatimid relief army had set off from Egypt , giving the Crusaders a very strong incentive to make another assault on the city . The final assault on Jerusalem began on 13 July ; Raymond ' s troops attacked the south gate while the other contingents attacked the northern wall . Initially the Provençals at the southern gate made little headway , but the contingents at the northern wall fared better , with a slow but steady attrition of the defence . On 15 July , a final push was launched at both ends of the city , and eventually the inner rampart of the northern wall was captured . In the ensuing panic , the defenders abandoned the walls of the city at both ends , allowing the Crusaders to finally enter . Massacre . The massacre that followed the capture of Jerusalem has attained particular notoriety , as a " juxtaposition of extreme violence and anguished faith " . The eyewitness accounts from the crusaders themselves leave little doubt that there was great slaughter in the aftermath of the siege . Nevertheless , some historians propose that the scale of the massacre has been exaggerated in later medieval sources , partly as a result of influence from Muslim sources , and partly as a result of the misinterpretation of the Crusaders ' resort to apocalyptic language to describe the scenes . Although , some scholars believe that these later medieval sources were not meant to be taken seriously and that is the fault of modern people because they cannot tell the difference . Contemporary Muslim reactions to the massacre were muted when compared to later polemics on the subject . After the successful assault on the northern wall , the defenders fled to the Temple Mount , pursued by Tancred and his men . Arriving before the defenders could secure the area , Tancred ' s men assaulted the precinct , butchering many of the defenders , with the remainder taking refuge in the Al - Aqsa Mosque . Tancred then called a halt to the slaughter , offering those in the mosque his protection . When the defenders on the southern wall heard of the fall of the northern wall , they fled to the citadel , allowing Raymond and the Provençals to enter the city . Iftikhar al - Dawla , the commander of the garrison , struck a deal with Raymond , surrendering the citadel in return for being granted safe passage to Ascalon . The slaughter continued for the rest of the day ; Muslims were indiscriminately killed , and Jews who had taken refuge in their synagogue died when it was burnt down by the Crusaders . The following day , Tancred ' s prisoners in the mosque were slaughtered . Nevertheless , it is clear that some Muslims and Jews of the city survived the massacre , either escaping or being taken prisoner to be ransomed . The Eastern Christian population of the city had been expelled before the siege by the governor , and thus escaped the massacre . Establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem . On 22 July , a council was held in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to establish a king for the newly created Kingdom of Jerusalem . Raymond of Toulouse at first refused to become king , perhaps attempting to show his piety , but probably hoping that the other nobles would insist upon his election anyway . Godfrey , who had become the more popular of the two after Raymond ' s actions at the siege of Antioch , did no damage to his own piety by accepting a position as secular leader . Raymond was incensed at this development and took his army out into the countryside . The exact nature and meaning of Godfrey ' s title is somewhat controversial . Although it is widely claimed that he took the title " Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri " ( " advocate " or " defender " of the Holy Sepulchre ) , this title is only used in a letter that was not written by Godfrey . Instead , Godfrey himself seems to have used the more ambiguous term " princeps " , or simply retained his title of " dux " from Lower Lorraine . According to William of Tyre , writing in the later 12th century when Godfrey was already a legendary hero in crusader Jerusalem , he refused to wear " a crown of gold " where Christ had worn " a crown of thorns " . Robert the Monk is the only contemporary chronicler of the crusade to report that Godfrey took the title " king " . Battle of Ascalon . The crusaders had attempted to negotiate with the Fatimids during their march to Jerusalem , but to no avail . After the crusaders captured Jerusalem from the Fatimids , they learned of a Fatimid army about to attack them . On 10 August , Godfrey of Bouillon led the remaining troops from Jerusalem to Ascalon , a day ' s march away . The Fatimids were estimated to have as many as 50 , 000 troops ( other sources estimate about 20 , 000 – 30 , 000 ) entering the battle . Their troops consisted of Seljuq Turks , Arabs , Persians , Armenians , Kurds , and Ethiopians , led by vizier al - Afdal Shahanshah . Opposing them were the crusaders , whose numbers , estimated by Raymond of Aguilers , were around 1 , 200 knights and 9 , 000 infantry . On 12 August , crusader scouts discovered the location of the Fatimid camp , which the crusaders immediately marched towards . According to most crusader and Muslim accounts , the Fatimids were caught unaware . Because of a somewhat ill - prepared Fatimid army , the battle was fairly short , although it still took some time to resolve , according to Albert of Aix . al - Afdal Shahanshah and his army retreated into the heavily guarded and fortified city of Ascalon . The next day , the crusaders learned that al - Afdal Shahanshah had retreated back to Egypt via boat , so they plundered what remained of the Fatimid camp . After returning to Jerusalem , most of the crusaders returned to their homes in Europe . Crusade of 1101 . Having captured Jerusalem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre , the crusading vow had hence been fulfilled . However , there were many who had gone home before reaching Jerusalem , and many who had never left Europe at all . When the success of the crusade became known , these people were mocked and scorned by their families and threatened with excommunication by the Pope . Many crusaders who had remained with the crusade all the way to Jerusalem also went home ; according to Fulcher of Chartres , there were only a few hundred knights left in the newfound kingdom in 1100 . Godfrey himself only ruled for one year , dying in July 1100 . He was succeeded by his brother , Baldwin of Edessa , the first person to take the title King of Jerusalem . Among the crusaders in the Crusade of 1101 were Stephen II , Count of Blois and Hugh of Vermandois , both of whom had returned home before reaching Jerusalem . This crusade was almost annihilated in Asia Minor by the Seljuqs , but the survivors helped to reinforce the kingdom upon their arrival in Jerusalem . In the following years , assistance was also provided by Italian merchants who established themselves in Syrian ports , and from the religious and military orders of the Knights Templar s and the Knights Hospitaller , which were created during Baldwin I ' s reign . Aftermath . The First Crusade succeeded in establishing the " crusader states " of Edessa , Antioch , Jerusalem , and Tripoli in Palestine and Syria ( as well as allies along the Crusaders ' route , such as the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia ) . Back at home in Western Europe , those who had survived to reach Jerusalem were treated as heroes . Robert of Flanders was nicknamed " Hierosolymitanus " thanks to his exploits . The life of Godfrey of Bouillon became legendary even within a few years of his death . In some cases , the political situation at home was greatly affected by crusader absences . For instance , while Robert Curthose was away on crusade , the throne of England had passed to his brother Henry I of England instead , and their resultant conflict led to the Battle of Tinchebray in 1106 . Meanwhile , the establishment of the crusader states in the east helped ease Seljuq pressure on the Byzantine Empire , which had regained some of its Anatolian territory with crusader help , and experienced a period of relative peace and prosperity in the 12th century . The effect on the Muslim dynasties of the east was gradual but important . In the wake of the death of Malik Shah I in 1092 the political instability and the division of Great Seljuq Empire , which had pressed the Byzantine call for aid to the pope , meant that it had prevented a coherent defence against the Latin states . Cooperation between them remained difficult for many decades , but from Egypt to Syria to Baghdad there were calls for the expulsion of the crusaders , culminating in the recapture of Jerusalem under Saladin later in the century when the Ayyubid s had united the surrounding areas . Inspiration to the future . The success of the crusade inspired the literary imagination of poets in France , who , in the 12th century , began to compose various " chansons de geste " celebrating the exploits of Godfrey of Bouillon and other crusaders . Some of these , such as the Chanson d ' Antioche , are semi - historical , while others are completely fanciful , describing battles with a dragon or connecting Godfrey ' s ancestors to the legend of the Knight of the Swan . Together , the " chansons " are known as the crusade cycle . The First Crusade was also an inspiration to artists in later centuries . In 1580 , Torquato Tasso wrote " Jerusalem Delivered " , a largely fictionalized epic poem about the capture of Jerusalem . George Frideric Handel composed music based on Tasso ' s poem in his opera " Rinaldo " . The 19th - century poet Tommaso Grossi also wrote an epic poem , which was the basis of Giuseppe Verdi ' s opera " I Lombardi alla prima crociata " .