Crusade of 1101 The Crusade of 1101 was a minor crusade of three separate movements , organized in 1100 and 1101 in the successful aftermath of the First Crusade . It is also called the Crusade of the Faint - Hearted due to the number of participants who joined this crusade after having turned back from the First Crusade . Calls for reinforcements from the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem , and Pope Paschal II , successor to Pope 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 . Some of these people were already scorned at home and faced enormous pressure to return to the east ; Adela of Blois , wife of Stephen , Count of Blois , who had fled from the Siege of Antioch in 1098 , was so ashamed of her husband that she would not permit him to stay at home . Lombards . As in the first crusade , the pilgrims and soldiers did not leave as a part of one large army , but rather in several groups from various different regions from across Western Europe . In September 1100 , a large group of Lombards left from Milan . These were mostly untrained peasants , led by Anselm IV , Archbishop of Milan . When they reached the territory of the Byzantine Empire , they pillaged it recklessly , and Byzantine emperor Alexius I escorted them to a camp outside Constantinople . This did not satisfy them , and they made their way inside the city where they pillaged the Blachernae palace , even killing Alexius ' pet lion . The Lombards were quickly ferried across the Bosporus and made their camp at Nicomedia , to wait for reinforcements . At Nicomedia they were joined in May 1101 by a smaller but stronger contingent of French , Burgundians , and Germans , under Stephen of Blois , Stephen I , Count of Burgundy , Eudes I , Duke of Burgundy , and Conrad , constable of Henry IV , Holy Roman Emperor . Joining them at Nicomedia was Raymond IV of Toulouse , one of the leaders of the First Crusade who was now in the service of the emperor . He was appointed overall leader , and a Byzantine force of Pecheneg mercenaries was sent out with them under the command of General Tzitas . This group marched out at the end of May , towards Dorylaeum , following the route taken by Raymond and Stephen in 1097 during the First Crusade . They planned to continue towards Konya , but the Lombards , whose rabble outnumbered all the other contingents , were determined to march north to Niksar where Bohemond I of Antioch was being held captive by the Danishmends . After capturing Ancyra on June 23 , 1101 , and returning it to Alexius , the crusaders turned north . They briefly besieged the heavily garrisoned city of Gangra , and then continued north to attempt to capture the Turkish - controlled city of Kastamonu . However , they came under attack from the Seljuq 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 Black Sea coast and again moved east , toward Danishmend territory and the rescue of Bohemond . However , the Seljuqs , under Kilij Arslan I , realizing that disunity was the cause of their inability to stop the First Crusade , had now allied with both the Danishmends and Ridwan of Aleppo . In early August the crusaders met this combined Muslim army at Mersivan . Battle of Mersivan . The crusaders organized into five divisions : the Burgundians , Raymond and the Byzantines , the Germans , the French , and the Lombards . The Turks nearly destroyed the crusaders ’ army near the mountains of Paphlagonia at Mersivan . The land was well - suited to the Turks — dry and inhospitable for their enemy , it was open , with plenty of space for their cavalry units . The Turks had been troublesome to the Latins for some days , at last making certain that they went where Kilij Arslan I wanted them to be and making sure that they only found a small amount of supplies . The battle took place over several days . On the first day , the Turks cut off the crusading armies ’ advances and surrounded them . The next day , Duke Conrad led his Germans in a raid that failed miserably . Not only did they fail to open the Turkish lines , they were unable to return to the main crusader army and had to take refuge in a nearby stronghold . This meant that they were cut off from supplies , aid , and communication for an attack that may have taken place had the Germans been able to provide their own military strength . The third day was somewhat quiet , with little or no serious fighting taking place , but on the fourth day , the crusaders made an intensive effort to free themselves from the trap that they were in . The crusaders inflicted heavy losses on the Turks , but the attack was a failure by the end of the day . Kilij Arslan was joined by Ridwan of Aleppo and other powerful Danishmend princes . The Lombards , in the vanguard , were defeated , the Pechenegs deserted , and the French and Germans were also 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 . Most of the Lombards , who had no horses , were soon found and killed or enslaved by the Turks . Raymond , Stephen of Blois , and Stephen of Burgundy fled north to Sinope , and returned to Constantinople by ship . The Nivernois . Soon after the Lombard contingent had left Nicomedia , a separate force under William II of Nevers arrived at Constantinople . He had crossed into Byzantine territory over the Adriatic Sea from Bari , and the march to Constantinople was free of incident , an unusual occurrence for a crusade army . He quickly marched out to meet the others , but in fact never caught up with them , although the two armies must have been close to each other on numerous occasions . William briefly besieged Iconium ( Konya ) but could not take it , and he was soon ambushed at Heraclea Cybistra by Kilij Arslan , who had just defeated the Lombards at Mersivan and was eager to stamp out these new armies as soon as possible . At Heraclea almost the entire contingent from Nevers was wiped out , except for the count himself and a few of his men . The French and Bavarians . As soon as William II left Constantinople , a third army arrived , led by William IX of Aquitaine , Hugh of Vermandois ( one of those who had not fulfilled his vow on the First Crusade ) , and Welf I , Duke of Bavaria ; accompanying them was Ida of Austria , mother of Leopold III of Austria . They had pillaged Byzantine territory on the way to Constantinople and had almost come into conflict with the Pecheneg mercenaries sent to stop them , until William and Welf intervened . From Constantinople , the Aquitanian - Bavarian army split in two , with one half travelling directly to Jaffa by ship ; among them was the chronicler Ekkehard of Aura . The rest , travelling by land , reached Heraclea in September , and , like the previous army , 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 October 18 . Ida 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 . Aftermath . William of Nevers also escaped to Tarsus and joined the rest of the survivors there as did Raymond of Toulouse . Under Raymond ' s command they captured Tortosa ( Tartous ) , with help from a Genoese fleet . By now the crusade was more of a pilgrimage . The survivors arrived at Antioch at the end of 1101 , and at Easter in 1102 arrived in Jerusalem . Afterwards , many of them simply went home , their vow having been fulfilled , although some remained behind to help King Baldwin I defend against an Egypt ian invasion at Ramla . Stephen of Blois 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 Konya , 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 Crusade s suffered similar difficulties when attempting to cross Anatolia .