Siege of Jerusalem ( 1099 ) The Siege of Jerusalem took place from June 7 to July 15 , 1099 during the First Crusade . During it , the Crusaders stormed and captured the city from Fatimid Egypt . The Siege is notable for the massacre that followed , during which much of Jerusalem ' s population was slaughtered . Background . After the successful siege of Antioch in June 1098 , the crusade rs remained in the area for the rest of the year . The papal legate Adhemar of Le Puy had died , and Bohemund of Taranto had claimed Antioch for himself . Baldwin of Boulogne remained in Edessa , captured earlier in 1098 . There was dissent among the princes over what to do next ; Raymond of Toulouse , frustrated , left Antioch to capture the fortress at Ma ' arrat al - Numan in the Siege of Maarat . By the end of the year the minor knights and infantry were threatening to march to Jerusalem without them . Eventually , on January 13 , 1099 Raymond began the , followed by Robert of Normandy and Bohemond ' s nephew Tancred , who agreed to become his vassals . On their way , the Crusaders besieged Arqa , however the Crusaders failed to capture it , abandoning the siege on May 13 . Fatimids had attempted to make peace , on the condition that the crusaders not continue towards Jerusalem , but this was ignored ; Iftikhar ad - Daula , the Fatimid governor of Jerusalem , was aware of the Crusaders ' intentions . Therefore , he expelled all of Jerusalem ' s Christian inhabitants . He also poisoned most of the wells in the area . Further march towards Jerusalem met no resistance . The siege of Jerusalem . Arrival . 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 . As with Antioch the crusaders put the city to a siege , in which the crusaders themselves probably suffered more than the citizens of the city , due to the lack of food and water around Jerusalem . The city was well - prepared for the siege , and the Fatimid governor Iftikhar ad - Daula had expelled most of the Christians . Of the estimated 5 , 000 knights who took part in the Princes ' Crusade , only about 1 , 500 remained , along with another 12 , 000 healthy foot - soldiers ( out of perhaps as many as 30 , 000 ) . Godfrey , Robert of Flanders , and Robert of Normandy ( who had now also left Raymond to join Godfrey ) besieged the north walls as far south as the Tower of David , while Raymond set up his camp on the western side , from the Tower of David to Mount Zion . A direct assault on the walls on June 13 was a failure . Without water or food , both men and animals were quickly dying of thirst and starvation and the crusaders knew time was not on their side . Coincidentally , soon after the first assault , 2 Genoese galleys sailed into the port at Jaffa , and the crusaders were able to re - supply themselves for a short time . The crusaders also began to gather wood from Samaria in order to build siege engines . They were still short on food and water , and by the end of June there was news that a Fatimid army was marching north from Egypt . The barefoot procession . Faced with a seemingly impossible task , their spirits were raised when a priest by the name of Peter Desiderius claimed to have a divine vision in which the ghost of Adhemar instructed them to fast for three days and then march in a barefoot procession around the city walls , after which the city would fall in nine days , following the Biblical example of Joshua at the siege of Jericho . Although they were already starving , they fasted , and on July 8 they made the procession , with the clergy blowing trumpets and singing psalms , being mocked by the defenders of Jerusalem all the while . The procession stopped on the Mount of Olives and sermons were delivered by Peter the Hermit , Arnulf of Chocques , and Raymond of Aguilers . The final assault . Throughout the siege , attacks were made on the walls , but each one was repulsed . The Genoese troops , led by commander Guglielmo Embriaco , had previously dismantled the ships in which the Genoese came to the Holy Land ; Embriaco , using the ships ' wood , made some siege towers . These were rolled up to the walls on the night of July 14 much to the surprise and concern of the garrison . On the morning of July 15 , Godfrey ' s tower reached his section of the walls near the northeast corner gate , and according to the " Gesta " two Flemish knights from Tournai named Lethalde and Engelbert were the first to cross into the city , followed by Godfrey , his brother Eustace , Tancred , and their men . Raymond ' s tower was at first stopped by a ditch , but as the other crusaders had already entered , the Muslim guarding the gate surrendered to Raymond . Massacre . Muslims . Many Muslims sought shelter in the Al - Aqsa Mosque , the Dome of the Rock , and the Temple Mount area generally . According to the Gesta Francorum , speaking only of the Temple Mount area , " . . . [ our men ] were killing and slaying even to the Temple of Solomon , where the slaughter was so great that our men waded in blood up to their ankles . . . " According to Raymond of Aguilers , also writing solely of the Temple Mount area , " in the Temple and porch of Solomon men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins . " However , this imagery should not be taken literally ; it was taken directly from biblical passage . Writing about the Temple Mount area alone Fulcher of Chartres , who was not an eyewitness to the Jerusalem siege because he had stayed with Baldwin in Edessa at the time , says : " In this temple 10 , 000 were killed . Indeed , if you had been there you would have seen our feet coloured to our ankles with the blood of the slain . But what more shall I relate ? None of them were left alive ; neither women nor children were spared " . The eyewitness Gesta Francorum states that some people were spared . Its anonymous author wrote , " When the pagans had been overcome , our men seized great numbers , both men and women , either killing them or keeping them captive , as they wished . " Later the same source writes , " [ Our leaders ] also ordered all the Saracen dead to be cast outside because of the great stench , since the whole city was filled with their corpses ; and so the living Saracens dragged the dead before the exits of the gates and arranged them in heaps , as if they were houses . No one ever saw or heard of such slaughter of pagan people , for funeral pyres were formed from them like pyramids , and no one knows their number except God alone . But Raymond caused the Emir and the others who were with him to be conducted to Ascalon , whole and unhurt . " Another eyewitness source , Raymond of Aguilers , reports that some Muslims survived . After recounting the slaughter on the Temple Mount he reports of some who " took refuge in the Tower of David , and , petitioning Count Raymond for protection , surrendered the Tower into his hands . " These Muslims left with the Fatimid governor for Ascalon . A version of this tradition is also known to the later Muslim historian Ibn al - Athir ( 10 , 193 – 95 ) , who recounts that after the city was taken and pillaged : " A band of Muslims barricaded themselves into the Oratory of David ( Mihrab Dawud ) and fought on for several days . They were granted their lives in return for surrendering . The Franks honoured their word , and the group left by night for Ascalon . " One Cairo Geniza letter also refers to some Jewish residents who left with the Fatimid governor . Tancred claimed the Temple quarter for himself and offered protection to some of the Muslims there , but he was unable to prevent their deaths at the hands of his fellow Crusaders . Although the Crusaders killed many of the Muslim and Jewish residents , eyewitness accounts ( Gesta Francorum , Raymond of Aguilers , and the Cairo Geniza documents ) demonstrate that some Muslim and Jewish residents were allowed to live , as long as they left Jerusalem . Jews . Jews had fought side - by - side with Muslim soldiers to defend the city , and as the Crusaders breached the outer walls , the Jews of the city retreated to their synagogue to " prepare for death " . According to the Muslim chronicle of Ibn al - Qalanisi , " The Jews assembled in their synagogue , and the Franks burned it over their heads . " However , a contemporary Jewish communication does not corroborate the report that Jews were actually inside of the synagogue when it was set fire . This letter was discovered among the Cairo Geniza collection in 1975 by historian Shelomo Dov Goitein . Historians believe that it was written just two weeks after the siege , making it " the earliest account on the conquest in any language . " Eastern Christians . Contrary to what is sometimes alleged , no eyewitness source refers to Crusaders killing Eastern Christians in Jerusalem , and early Eastern Christian sources ( Matthew of Edessa , Anna Comnena , Michael the Syrian , etc . ) make no such allegation about the Crusaders in Jerusalem . According to the Syriac Chronicle , all the Christians had already been expelled from Jerusalem before the Crusaders arrived . Presumably this would have been done by the Fatimid governor to prevent their possible collusion with the Crusaders . The Gesta Francorum claims that on Wednesday August 9 , two and a half weeks after the siege , Peter the Hermit encouraged all the " Greek and Latin priests and clerics " to make a thanksgiving procession to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre . This indicates that some Eastern Christian clergy remained in or near Jerusalem during the siege . In November 1100 , when Fulcher of Chartres personally accompanied Baldwin on a visit to Jerusalem , they were greeted by both Greek and Syrian clerics and laity ( Book II , 3 ) , indicating an Eastern Christian presence in the city a year later . Aftermath . Following the battle , Godfrey of Bouillon was made " Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri " ( " advocate " or " defender of the Holy Sepulchre " ) on July 22 , refusing to be named king in the city where Christ had died , saying that he refused to wear a crown of gold in the city where Christ wore a crown of thorns . Raymond had refused any title at all , and Godfrey convinced him to give up the Tower of David as well . Raymond then went on a pilgrimage , and in his absence Arnulf of Chocques , whom Raymond had opposed due to his own support for Peter Bartholomew , was elected the first Latin Patriarch on August 1 ( the claims of the Greek Patriarch were ignored ) . On August 5 , Arnulf , after consulting the surviving inhabitants of the city , discovered the relic of the True Cross . On August 12 , Godfrey led an army , with the True Cross carried in the vanguard , against the Fatimid army at the Battle of Ascalon on August 12 . The crusaders were successful , but following the victory , the majority of them considered their crusading vows to have been fulfilled , and all but a few hundred knights returned home . Nevertheless , their victory paved the way for the establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem . The siege quickly became legendary and in the 12th century it was the subject of the Chanson de Jérusalem , a major " chanson de geste " in the Crusade cycle .