THE MARCH AND THE BATTLE.
Trace of Common Sense
There seems, at first, just one trace of common sense, one semblance of a plan for the movement of the hordes and mobs toward the Holy Land. Some who had had a taste of war agreed that, as the numbers were great enough for several armies, they should not start at the same time nor traverse the same route, and that the rallying-place should be Constantinople.
Peter Chosen General
A Monomaniac
Those who had followed Peter from place to place, eager to be the first to start, chose the Hermit for their general. It would seem as if Peter had seen enough of war to know that his undisciplined mob could meet but one fate. It is very probable that he had become a monomaniac before he began to preach the Crusade, and that, for the greater part of his career, he had lost whatever balance of judgment he had had. It is sometimes very hard to distinguish between the unbalanced and the enthusiast, between the enthusiast and the fanatic, and between the fanatic and the monomaniac. Men
can certainly be sane on every point but one. Peter in accepting the military command, passed the bounds of reason. A monk might well think himself called to preach on a great theme, to arouse the nations to a great duty. He might easily and properly feel himself competent to be the prophet of God in denouncing the sluggish and the time-serving. But to accept military command without experience of war except as an observer, and to lead an untrained and unprepared mob from Western Europe to Palestine through difficulties of which, as a pilgrim, he had had experience, connotes insanity, or, at the best, "zeal without knowledge."
Wore Old Cassock
Walter the Penniless
He did not assume a new uniform. He wore his old one. It was still his coarse woolen cassock, his hood, his sandals, and his rope, and he rode the same old mule with which his wanderings began. His army was not less than eighty thousand strong. But the camp followers were almost as many, made up of old men, women, and children. Peter's crazy faith promised food to all. They had joined him from Northern France, and as he approached Germany great numbers from Southern and Central France swelled his ranks. A gleam of sense appears in the division of his rabble into two bands, one to be led by himself; the other by Walter the
Penniless, who appears, from some points of view, like a twin of Peter. Historians have little to say of Walter's origin. Some say he was of gentle birth and had exchanged his all for his title of "Penniless;" others that Walter was not put in command until his uncle died. The only certain thing seems to be that his poverty and enthusiasm were equal to those of his followers.
France Helps Crusaders
All goes well while the Crusaders march through loyal and liberal France. Help was literally poured into their laps; nor did the Germans, from the earliest historic days easily touched by noble sentiments, fail to respond both to the plea for the Holy Land and for practical sympathy. The Rhine people smoothed the pilgrims' way. They were, however, to meet trouble on the banks of the Danube.
Western Christendom Disordered
Rumors of Cannibalism
The expectation that the end of the world was to come about the year 1000 was, for a century before that date, well-nigh universal and dominant. As that year approached the condition apparently confirmed the prophetic warnings of the New Testament. Western Christendom seemed to be hopelessly disordered. It was at this time that a worse invasion than that of the Turks threatened Europe. The Magyars, or Huns, were barbarous, irresponsible, undrilled, and rapacious; less responsible to authority and less moved by pity than the Turks
had ever been. In their love for indiscriminate massacre they seem to have been the wild Indians of Europe. They came, nobody anticipating them, nobody knowing from whence. Their ranks were filled up and increased, nobody knew how. Rumors of cannibalism preceded them, and they were believed to be less than human in form and mind. A Finn might have partly understood their talk, but, to the people they attacked, their speech was gibberish.
Huns in Europe
The weakness and divisions of Christendom invited their approach and palsied resistance. At almost the same date Bremen on the Baltic and Constance on the lake, felt their power. They swarmed over the Alps. They menaced Southern France, and peered from the Pyrenees at Spain. Italy felt their heaviest hand, and Rome saw their devastating flames almost under its walls. For fifty years Christendom quaked and fell before them, and halted them for the first time in A. D. 936 by the hands of Henry the Fowler. Gradually they were restrained to the limits of modern Hungary, and in the eleventh century they were Christianized and the worst enemies of Christianity became guides and caterers to the Crusaders, while not sharing largely in their enthusiasms.
The Bulgarians
It was very different with the Bulgarians south of the Danube over whose great plain of Sophia a smoother path would be found if the Crusaders could reach it. Sometimes protecting, sometimes robbing Constantinople, their chiefs drank from the gold-banded skull of a Byzantine emperor. Basil conquered them only to show himself more barbarous by putting out the eyes of fifteen thousand Bulgarian captives.
Bulgarian Allegiance
Queer Christianity
At the beginning of the Crusades Bulgaria was nominally subject to the Greek Empire, but held that authority in contempt. Heavy forests then grew to the southern edge of the Danube where now there are bare hills. This mingling of forest and hill gave to the Bulgarians a security in self-rule which was only, in general, ineffectively interrupted by the army of the empire. The Bulgarian type of Christianity did not extend the idea of brotherhood beyond its own borders. They could cheerfully make themselves, without the least trouble of conscience, the terror of their Christian brethren who were making their way to Jerusalem.
Bulgars Attack Crusaders
The march, which began in piety and was conducted for a time with due consideration for the rights of others, soon, almost of necessity, became a raid on the property of the people through whose
lands they passed. Bulgarian authority not being able to supply provisions to Walter's army, they foraged along their lines of march, and, when resisted, burned houses and slew their inmates. The Bulgars answered in kind; attacked the Crusaders when loaded down with booty; penned some scores of them in a church to which fire was promptly put, and one hundred and forty were cremated. Walter did not stop to attempt to revenge, but dragged after him a starving and diminishing army.
Crusaders Learn Something
The Governor of Nissa, moved by their condition, refreshed them with food, warmed them with clothing, and strengthened them with arms. Taught by the Bulgarian lesson, they passed through Thrace without thieving, and came at last, worn and miserable, to the walls of Constantinople, where Alexius permitted them to await the arrival of Peter and his army.
Peter's Brave Follies
A Devastated Country
Peter and his army passed safely through Germany, but behaved worse and fared worse than Walter and his following. The frontiers of Hungary were decorated with the bodies of Crusaders hanging at the gates of Semlin. Immediately Peter ordered war. The people of the city fled to a hill, with the Danube on one side and a forest on the other. They were driven into the river, four thou
sand being put to the sword. Belgrade first knew of the battle by the corpses floating past her walls. Naturally, on penetrating further into Bulgaria, the Crusaders found only abandoned cities, food carried away, and as much as was possible, the road bereft of support of any kind. At Nissa they found a well-fortified city, where Bulgarians looked down from the walls on the Crusaders, and these last did not dare to try their strength on such an obstacle.
A Great Loss
At Nissa they seemed to have obtained supplies and marched on. Some Germans paid off real or fancied scores by burning some mills on the Nissava River. The Nissans fell on Peter's rear guard, killed all who fought, captured two thousand carriages and many prisoners. Peter turned back immediately, and flamed with wrath as he saw the dead who lay near Nissa.
A Tart Answer
Peter cooled down enough to send messengers to the city and ask, on the ground of a common Christianity, for the restoration of the prisoners and spoil taken from the Crusaders. The governor of the city tartly reminded the messengers that Christian conduct alone proved men to be Christians, and that the Crusaders having made the first attack, he could only count them as enemies.
This answer fired the Crusaders to fight. Peter,
apparently growing in wisdom by experience, tried to hold the warriors back and begged them to negotiate. To wrath opposition is always treason, and Peter found himself regarded as a coward and placarded as a traitor.
Fighting and Negotiations
While Peter was parleying with the Governor of Nissa, two thousand Crusaders tried to scale the city walls and carry the city by assault. The Bulgarians drove them back. A general fight began even while the two chiefs were negotiating. Peter proved his courage by waving his crucifix between the combatants and demanding that the fighting should cease. The uproar of battle gave no heed to his voice. His army was utterly routed and cut to pieces. They had fought without command, and were beaten into death and disorder. The Bulgarians captured horses, equipages, the chest which held the offerings of the faithful, and the women and children. The greater skill and strength of the Bulgars won the fight which the unreasoning fury of Peter's followers had provoked.
Peter's Five Hundred
On the top of a hill near by Peter bemoaned his losses and, it is said, his foolhardiness. At that moment but five hundred men answered his call. The next day seven thousand who had been put to flight rejoined him at the call of his trumpet. They
came in day by day until thirty thousand were mustered. The rest had perished.
Penitent Rebels
The survivors had small stomach or ability for fighting. They made their way toward Thrace in a humble and peaceable frame, and seemed to feel the mistake of rebellion against authority. Pity came to their relief. Their thin bodies, their staggering gait, their rags, and their tears brought them the aid denied to their arms. None seemed to have turned back. The combatants who were not killed still kept their faces toward the Holy City.
A Greek Welcome
There seems good evidence that the Greeks would have met them differently had they been less helpless. The aversion of the Greeks to the Latins had grown now for centuries. The Latins were tolerable to the Greeks only when the Greeks needed their aid. The Latins had arrived. For the present they could do no harm. The emperor, Alexius, intending to complain, sent messengers to Peter. These returned with tales of weakness and suffering. They were permitted to journey on, and, with palms waving, came at last to Constantinople.
Peter Captivates Alexius
Peter, an object of universal curiosity, if not of admiration, had audience with the emperor, captivated the monarch as he captivated all, and went forth loaded with help for his army and some good
advice. This last was to the effect that Peter had better await the arrival of the military princes and generals who had pledged themselves to the Crusade. But these, perhaps with calculated delay, lingered at home while other bodies of Crusaders as ill prepared, as troublesome, and as ill-fated as those which had followed the lead of Peter, marched away.
Roving Crusaders
Two notable instances may be given. Gottschalk, a German priest, had gathered fifteen thousand Crusaders, who made him their leader. His army arrived in Hungary near the end of summer. Here they gave themselves up to every kind of wrong-doing. They left behind them daily a trail of outraged women, robbery, and arson. The Germans were good fighters and checked the punitive expeditions of the Hungarian ruler. What was not possible to valor was accomplished by trickery. The Crusaders admitted the Hungarian chiefs to their camps and fraternized with them. They yielded to promises and allowed themselves to be disarmed. Promptly they were attacked and slaughtered.
Crusaders Practice on Jews
Commerce in Jewish Hands
Incidentally the Jews suffered from the Crusading craze. One band of rascally and ungovernable Germans, who had many sins to be washed
away and who availed themselves of the hope for absolution in the promise of the pope to those who fought for the Holy Tomb, thought it ridiculous to attack the Unitarian Mussulman so far away, when the Unitarian Jew who had slain the Lord was close at hand. Then, as now, the commerce of the world was in Jewish hands, and it was felt that so much wealth ought not to be in such hands. That element which still exists in the Jewish character of being purse-proud and offensively familiar in prosperity, is reported to have twitted the Christians with the worship of a Jewish prophet as a God.
Slaughter of Jews
Whatever was the proportion of motive, it is certain that this mob fell on the Jews and robbed and killed all they found in the cities of the Rhine and the Moselle. It is said that many perished by kindling flames they felt to be more merciful than their Christian persecutors. Others, with stones tied to their necks, drowned themselves and their treasures in the adjacent rivers. Let us be thankful that there was pity somewhere and that the Bishops of Worms, Treves, Mayence, and Spires gave asylum to the persecuted race and denounced the marauding bands as beyond the pale of the Church.
A Goose for a Leader
Fear of such Maniacs
This band set out for Jerusalem in pious rap
ture that the soldiers of God had been given victory and had been supplied by the God of Battles with money for the journey! Blinded with superstition, they measure themselves to us by what they did. Albert of Aix tells us that they found a goose "filled with the Holy Ghost," which they made leader in equal authority with a goat not less filled with the same Spirit (et capellam non minus eodem repletam)! Fear of such maniacs closed the gates of Hungarian cities. The city now known among Germans as Ungarish-Altenburg, situated in the marshy embouchure of the Leytha, was attacked by them by means of a causeway made of the trunks of trees. Ladders were built, and walls, defended by darts, arrows, and boiling oil, were almost scaled and won, when the breaking of ladders caused a panic and the plain was soon covered by fugitives who had, like all panicky soldiers, thrown away their arms. Multitudes of these were butchered without resistance while others died hopelessly mired in the marshes.
Horrors of the March
Surely these are enough to show the horrors of such marches in the name of Christ. A sentence may express the fate of those who survived. The Bulgarians almost finished what the Huns began. The Greeks received the news with joy.
Forget Their Lessons
At length Peter and Walter, between them, could muster an army of one hundred thousand men, when the re-enforcements from Italian cities were counted. Still under the walls of Constantinople it was not long before they forgot the lessons of their defeats and began again to rob and murder. Alexius soon found it expedient to ferry them across the Bosporus. The subjects of Alexius suffered worse than the Turks at first. Anna Comnena, perhaps prejudiced, yet quoted by Michaud, declares that the Normans in Peter's army when near Nicea, chopped children to pieces, stuck others on spits, and harried old people. The Germans, stung by Norman gibes, took a fort in the mountain near Nicea, killed the garrison and there met the attack of the Turks only to be slain by the sword. Their commander purchased his life by apostasy and a treasonable oath.
Cruelties of Crusaders
Once again the army sets forward, against the protest of the Penniless Walter, but by his forced consent. Once again they meet the reward of ignorance and undisciplined courage.
Walter Killed at Nicea
The ruler of Nicea, concealing a part of his army in the woods, waited for the Crusaders at the foot of a hill. The Turks pretended flight, but suddenly turned, surrounded the Crusaders on all
sides, routed them, and slew them with dreadful carnage. Walter died of seven arrow wounds. The whole army found refuge in a castle close to the sea. The Chronicler says, "Their monument was a heap of bones piled upon the plain of Nicea."
Turkish Contempt for Crusaders
The two results in the East were intense prejudice among the Greeks against the whole movement and contempt of the Turks for Christian warriors.
Peter Belabors His Followers
Peter's Failure as Leader
But where was Peter? Losing all authority among the Crusaders he went back, before the battle of Nicea, to Constantinople and turned the batteries of his abusive eloquence on those he had lately commanded. He called them robbers and brigands, and said that their sins shut them out of the Holy Land. In this he follows the sad habit of all, or almost all, of those who lead their followers into trouble. It is probable that he had at this moment led three hundred thousand to death. It may be that his conscience troubled him a little, though in general the fanatic is superior to such pangs. At any rate Peter calmed himself by the consideration that his army was chiefly a rascally crowd. This was the final proof that he was not of the stuff of which leaders are made. The verdict of the historian is just: "He had neither the prudence, the coolness,
nor the firmness of the commander." He could rouse but not control. He could preach, but could not conserve the results of his preaching. Hereafter we shall see him as a preacher chiefly or in kindred work. Others supply true leadership.
Later Leadership Wiser
Those who lingered at home, when the armies of Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless started for Jerusalem, may have been of the wiser sort, and certainly seemed to have profited by the calamities of their brethren, both in the matter of preparation and in the treatment of the nations through which they passed. The first army was led by enthusiasm almost wholly. The second had true military leadership.
Christianity Coalesces With Military Spirit
Defects of Crusading Christianity
Europe Callous as to Losses
It is interesting to observe how the two great dominant forces, Christianity and the military spirit, co-operated, and even coalesced, yet allowed neither to govern in its proper sphere. The early Crusaders had piety enough to hold them to the march, notwithstanding the awful trail of death. They did not have enough to prevent their behaving on the way more like devils than Christians. They had sufficient military spirit to make them willing to fight, but not enough to make adequate preparation. The Christianity of that time had devotional but not humanizing power. It carried along faith,
obedience to ceremonial, abundant prayers, personal humility; but it had little restraint for passion whether corporal or revengeful. Its hand was powerless to restrain fury or prevent or relieve misery "The knight before the battle was as devout as the bishop; the bishop in the battle as ferocious as the knight."[5] Little better fate availed the women when Christians prevailed than when Turks won the day. Whatever mourning there was for individuals, the failure to win the Holy City appears to have given more sorrow to Europe than the death of three hundred thousand men.
Peter Ceases to be General
One might gather up at this point the remaining appearances of Peter, and call his work done. But while he ceased to be a military leader, his work continued, his spiritual influence remained. We shall see him at one time arguing with Turks, and at another praying for victory over them. His strength and his weakness can only be brought out by briefly sketching some of the men who took up leadership after his failure, and with whose victories he was identified as priest, prophet, and participant.
Godfrey of Bouillon
A Great Character
The noblest, greatest of the leaders was Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine. Born
in Brabant, the blood of Charlemagne was in his veins through his mother. He had fought for the antipope, and was the first to enter Rome when captured by the army of Henry. His sentiments changed until he was ready to expiate his sacrilege by a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and as a warrior for her deliverance. A giant in strength, a hero in bravery, his simplicity was that of a hermit. He was wise enough not to be reckless, and courageous enough never to shrink from the supreme moment of danger. The common soldier was his friend. His word to all was his bond. Men felt braver and safer under his lead. Others might seem by name to be weightier than he in leadership, but in fact he composed quarrels and compelled unity by his wisdom, and, in moments of peril, what he thought prevailed.
Accessions to His Leadership
When his leadership was known, France and the Rhine country gave him of their best in treasure, of men, arms, and money. Women denied their amiable vanities that their jewels might furnish outfit for husbands and sons. The Abbe Guibert[6] declares that what avarice and war had hidden, now came leaping in marvelous abundance into the hands of the chiefs of the army. Heaps of gold
were visible in their tents, as if fruits had been carried there instead of untold wealth. Yet some robbed their vassals that they might be ready. Godfrey sold his dominions chiefly to the bishops so that it was well said that the secular princes stripped themselves for the Crusaders while the bishops enriched themselves by the enthusiasm of the laity.
Mixed Motives Again
Godfrey Welcome
Yet here again we must see mixed motives. To regain Jerusalem was also to be enriched by Saracenic spoils. To give up a petty government or heritage in Europe might lead to dominion in Asia. These things were promised by the authority of pope and general. Many great names acceded to Godfrey's roster, and aided in leading a fairly disciplined and restrained army toward Palestine. The Huns and Bulgars who had slain the hosts of Peter welcomed the army of Godfrey, and sped them on their way with food and prayers. He sent to the East more than eighty thousand men. Their advance made it easier for the pope to put the dominion of unfriendly kings in peril by excommunications and other ecclesiastical penalties. He trimmed the talons of princes while their defenders were absent. Papal authority rose as secular authority went down. It gave the people peace at home at the expense of national independence.
Fear of Eclipse
How much science has done for humanity in relieving it of evil signs and omens we may know by this, that the reddened moon under eclipse and the waving streamers of the Aurora combined to persuade the people that the war was of God. The indifferent were stirred by these prodigies, and joined the Crusade, and Italy was moved as never before. More princes, knights, and bishops than can be recorded joined in the march. Alexius, the craven emperor, who had invited Latin help, trembled with good reason at the hundreds of thousands now headed toward his capital. He was a true Greek in sending ambassadors to greet them and in hiding his troops where they could harass them.
Confused Tracks
A Mean Emperor
No one can untangle the tracks of the many bands as described by the annalists of each expedition. Some went the ruggedest way; some the smoothest. Alexius made a prisoner of a shipwrecked count, only to have Godfrey shake him into frenzies of fear by attacking one of his provinces. He purchased allegiance from his prisoner only to make himself and his prisoner objects of contempt. He tried to starve Godfrey's army by refusing provisions, only to have that army bring the fear of famine to his capital through the energy
with which it helped itself. The approach of Christmas was used as a basis of peace. The foraging ceased, and Alexius provided food.
Christians Quarreling
The spectacle of disagreement and of growing contempt for each other is painful to any who this day bear the Christian name. The Greeks had the same contempt for the Latins which the Chinese have for the foreign devil. Unable to resist their arms, they took refuge in the futilities of philosophy as their proof of superiority, and in the trickery which, at some periods, had helped them well. But nothing could meet or restrain the skill, courage, and discipline of the forces pledged to the cross, and no complacency was proof against the contempt of the Latins for the Greeks, who, calling themselves Christians, were indifferent to the cry of the oppressed city of the Savior's passion.
Alexius Deceives Godfrey
Alexius did succeed in blinding Godfrey, and possibly Bohemond, who was coming toward Constantinople through Macedonia. He obtained pledges from both for the integrity of his empire, and apparent submission. Alexius used money because he could not use force, to create dissensions and to win over the venial. His temporary success would be astonishing were it not almost always the case that the craft of an old civilization at first be
fools the inexperience of more youthful, more rugged, and more trusting nations. Alexius finally got all to the other side of the Bosporus, but failed to wheedle all who came near his throne.
On the Track of Peter
The Crusaders' Discipline
At this point, as the army marched through Bulgaria, traces of Peter and his army begin to appear. Refugees who had hidden in the woods came to the camps in rags and emaciation. The castle where Rinaldo sought refuge was pointed out to the new comers as the tomb of all his companions. The mountain at the foot of which Walter's army had died was indicated with tears. The site of the camp where Walter had left the women and the sick, and which was captured by the Turks at the supreme moment of the mass, only that the venerable might be slain and the women and children carried into slavery, roused the indignation of the Crusaders beyond any other spot. It had one good effect. In bringing on a much needed unity, it brought also a discipline enforced by the calamities whose evident cause was the lack of it.
Arrive at Nicea
The spring brought the opportunity of battle to the Crusaders, and a strong foe met them in the person of the Turk David and his army. He had fortified Nicea, a city famous for two Councils and now the capital of David's kingdom. Nature de
fended it by high mountains and a lake, and art by walls, towers, and flooded ditches. Garrisoned by the best of David's troops, one hundred thousand more waited near by to their help. Five hundred thousand foot-soldiers and one hundred thousand horsemen came at length in sight of the city for the first real battle of their Crusade against the infidel. These, in camping before the city, divided their allotments by walls piled from the bones of the Crusaders who had fallen on that field. Nineteen languages were heard in the camp, and each nation fought as it would. Clash and clang soon came, and the Turks, routed, fled to the hills, only to return the next day and to be beaten a second time. Three thousand Turkish heads were hurled by catapults into the city by way of information.
Awful Scenes
Bodies Hurled into City
The records paint an awful picture of the siege. Whatever of mechanism or method was known to Greeks or Romans was employed by besiegers and besieged. Stones, fireballs, bunches of arrows, heavy beams were fired into the city by ballista and catapult, and were fired back with equal skill and abundance. The battering-rams breached the wall and found new walls rising just within. The besieged fished with iron hooks from the top of the walls, and hauled the captured Crusaders alive to
their death at the summit. Stripped, they were used as stones for catapults, and stark naked were fired back into the Christian camp. A Goliath among the Saracens being killed, the Crusaders were greatly heartened, and, having gained some advantages, redoubled their attack. The enemy's supplies by way of the lake were cut off, and their resistance grew feebler. A tower was undermined, and the thunder of its fall in the night alarmed both Christians and Turks.
The Trick of Alexius
After a siege of seven weeks, and when the city was ready to fall, Alexius succeeded in putting his emissary into the city, who persuaded the Turks to surrender to him, and the besiegers found the standard of Alexius floating from the walls. The indignation of some was stayed by presents, and craft brought Tancred to a slow oath of allegiance. But the mass understood the treachery, and henceforth good feeling between Latin and Greek was impossible.
Resumes March
Resting awhile near Nicea, the Crusaders in two bodies at length resumed their march through Asia Minor. One was led by Godfrey, the other by Bohemond and Tancred. Both were equally ignorant of the perils of the mountains and of the arid plains which were in their way. Bohemond's
army was surprised near a river by which they were encamped. Wave after wave of Turks rolled over them and were driven back. Their women were captured by the Turks when they did not first prefer death at their own hands.
Bravery of the Leaders
Rout of the Turks
The different leaders—Bohemond, Robert the Duke of Normandy, Tancred, Richard of Salermo, Stephen, Count of Blois—threw themselves into the fight, drove the Turks back, but yielded ground, through exhaustion, to fresh Turkish re-enforcements. All seemed lost when Raymond and Godfrey appeared with the other division of the Christian army. These chased the Turks into the mountains, flanked them on both sides, got into their rear, and met them as they fled down the mountain. The wearied ranks which had despaired had joined in the charge. The Turks were routed; twenty thousand fell on the field, and the enemy's camp fell into Crusading hands. Returning to bury their four thousand dead, they stripped off the Saracen robes and swords and seem little less than barbarians in their orgies of joy.
Pestilence and Famine
The Turks now gave up direct battle, and devastated the country through which the Christians must pass. Determined to separate no more, the Crusaders became by their numbers more exposed
to the dangers of pestilence and famine. Almost all the horses perished in the desolated country. The knights laden with armor found it impossible to march, and some rode asses and oxen when they could be found. The lowliest animals, even hogs were made burden-bearers until these, too, perished and left their loads to be wasted on the road. After unmentionable horrors of birth and death, the army was rescued by the finding of water by the dogs, who, however, exposed by their finding it many incautious drinkers to death from too quickly filling themselves with water. The fair and fertile Pisidia reached, the Crusaders were in comfort, plenty, and peace.
Victory Opens Road
The news of their victories preceding them opened the timid cities to their entrance, and brought them abundant supplies. Brought into despair by the apparent death of Raymond of Toulouse and the serious wounding of Godfrey by a bear, they rejoiced in the recovery of both as a miracle in the camp.
How childish these and other giants in warfare were, appeared by the breaking out of rivalries and quarrels even in the face of the enemy.
Baldwin Forgets the Cross
These details multiplied as they passed on until Baldwin forgot the cross entirely, and became king
in Edessa, which served as a city of help and refuge to later Crusaders.
Famine and Pestilence Again
Bad News and Desertions
A dreadful mountain passage where men must march in single file, and where pack-horses were crowded off precipices, introduces them at length to Syria, within whose bounds the Palestine of their desire was included. Antioch lay in their way, and was besieged with many difficulties and dangers; some from the presumption of a foolish faith; others from the thoroughness with which supplies had been destroyed by the Turks. Famine came on through the lack of foresight, and pestilence quickly followed. The winter rains inundated the camps, and the dead in the general distress were left unburied. The foraging parties could repulse the Turks and even capture their camps, but could not find within practicable range food enough for the army. Their communications were cut off by sea through the withdrawal of the Italian and Flemish fleets, and the army settled down to abject misery, despair, and death, as they heard that Swerro, King of Denmark, with his promised bride and fifteen hundred warriors, had been slain by the Turks while marching to join the main army. Almost for the first time soldiers began to desert, hopeless of capturing Antioch or of reaching the Holy Land.
Peter Reappears
Peter the Hermit, who appears to have marched silently with the army, now, of all men, shrinking under the criticisms of the army, flees secretly from the camp. They had lost the Duke of Normandy, Tatius, William of Melun, by temporary or permanent desertion, but the flight of Peter made the most noise and caused the greatest scandal. He was punished by Tancred and brought back in disgrace, and was compelled to swear on the Bible that he would never run away again.
A Wicked Camp
Remedy for Wickedness
Perhaps he ran from the awful wickedness of the camp as well as from the famine and pestilence. The soldiers, expecting soon to die, gave themselves up to gambling, every phase of lust, and to drunkenness, when the means thereof could be obtained. A good element of the clergy, notably the Bishop of Puy, by word and example sought to stay the full flood of wickedness. It happened then, as in every age, that a sign, something seen of the eye, had more power than words addressed to the conscience. An Aurora, a rare phenomenon to most, was claimed by the preachers to be a warning from God. Processions of penitents began to march about the camp. Penalties for drunkenness were devised, the hair being cut off in drunken sleep. Blasphemers were branded. Turks and
Syrians were spitted and roasted by Bohemond, who thus rid the camp of unfriendly mouths and dangerous spies. The good bishop who preached against sin wrought practical godliness by compelling the soldiers to plant the fields about Antioch. This provided food and persuaded the Turks of the indomitable spirit of the Crusaders. Provisions began to come in greater abundance, and pestilence was stayed by the opening of spring.
Egyptians Seek Reliance with Crusaders
It is a curious fact that at this time an alliance, wisely rejected for the most part, was sought by the Egyptians with the Christians as against the Turks. This condition would have put the Christians wholly in the hands of the Caliph of Egypt the moment the allied armies had possessed Jerusalem. The spirits of the Crusaders were greatly raised by a victory over twenty thousand Turks who came to the relief of Antioch. Two thousand men and one thousand horses were killed. The "gentleness" of the Crusaders' conception of Christianity was shown by loading two hundred Turkish heads on four camels and sending them as a present to the departing Egyptian envoys, and two hundred more Turkish heads were thrown into the city of Antioch, while many more were stuck on pikes around the walls.
Carlessness Brings Attack
But they met disaster as well, because nothing seemed to make them see the importance of discipline and of precaution against surprise. Going unarmed in great numbers to St. Simeon to bring provisions from the Italian fleets, they were dispersed by the Turks. Godfrey, whose great figure is always seen when disaster is to be retrieved, follows the Turks, heavy with their plunder, routs them, and, having made wise disposition of troops, prevents the retreating army from re-enforcing Antioch.
Slaughter of the Turks
Details of Valor
The besieged in Antioch witnessed the awful battle from their walls, and the river Orontes drowned two thousand who escaped from the Crusaders' swords. A great picture of personal valor is seen when, in hand-to-hand battle with a Saracen leader, Robert of Normandy salutes him with the words, "I devote thy impure soul to the powers of hell," and splits his skull to the shoulders with a single blow. Even a greater tale of ferocious strength is told of Godfrey, who, when his shield had been broken by a great Saracen, raised himself on his stirrups and cut with such appalling strength that one part of the Saracen remained on the horse and the other fell to the ground. The Mohammedans having buried most of their num
ber who died near their walls in their arms and robes, camp followers of Christian name dug them up, stripped off all valuables, and paraded through the Christian camps two thousand Turkish heads, which were thrown, when the procession was over, into the Orontes.
An Armenian Scoundrel
Antioch Taken by Treachery
These details are surely enough to show the diabolical cruelty with which the siege of Antioch was carried on by both sides. The wily governor of Antioch decrees a truce, and breaks it as soon as he has provisioned the city. What would possibly have been refused to arms was given, after seven months' siege to policy and stratagem. Bohemond found an Armenian, a renegade Christian, among the commanders of the army of Antioch, managed to meet him, and baited him with great promises. The project to buy the way into the city was rejected by the noble minds, but Bohemond took advantage of the approach of a great Turkish army, then only seven days distant, to fill the camp with dread of surrender and of safety only in talk. Phirous, the Armenian, had been well trained by Bohemond, and offered to surrender his corner of the city only to Bohemond. Fear of destruction brought all the leaders to Bohemond's idea except Raymond. The defenders of Antioch suspected treason through
Phirous, and almost defeated the plans of that scoundrel. But the renegade, keeping an inscrutable face under question, and being dismissed with praises, stabbed his own brother to the heart when he refused to aid the traitorous plan, and in the blackness of a night storm admitted one and another by means of a leather ladder until there were enough to take the city and put the surprised and awakened Mussulmans to the sword. The morning light showed the flag of Bohemond waving over Antioch, but at the expense of six thousand defenders dead.
Phirous received great wealth for his treachery; followed the Crusaders to Jerusalem; remained Christian for two years; then turned Mohammedan again, and died detested and abhorred by Mohammedan and Christian alike.
Attacked by Egyptian Army
Famine Once More
The fall of Antioch was quickly followed by new dangers for the Christians. The army whose approach brought them to acquiesce in the treachery of Phirous was soon at hand, and the Christians were soon besieged in front of and within the city they had just won. Famine once more was on them. Horses were eaten first, and then hogs and dogs; finally the leather of their boots and the corpses of Saracens. The usual desertions followed, and star
vation brought all the horrors of frenzy and blasphemy from those who believed God ought to correct human follies by miraculous power. Alexius, who had begun a march to the relief of Antioch, stopped when deserters told him the situation of the Latins. Perhaps he was not ill-pleased over the news.
Encouraged by Prodigies
The historians of the time say that the courage of the Crusaders was revived through their superstitions. At the moment of the greatest despair and when the infidel general had refused their terms of surrender, prodigies and visions came for their encouragement. St. Ambrose, the Virgin, Jesus Himself, were seen by some in the churches. The leaders bound themselves anew by oath not to desert the cause, and the army finally followed the example of their captains. New wonders were reported to confirm their resolve. A priest in his sleep saw St. Andrew three times, who told him to dig near the principal altar of St. Peter's church, and he would find the head of the spear which pierced the Redeemer's side. This should lead them to victory. After three days of prayer twelve of the clergy and knights dug in silence, and had gone down twelve feet without avail. At night, when the twelve witnesses were at prayers, Barthelmi
jumped into the hole and climbed out with the iron in his hands!
Peter Delivers Challenge
Peter's Boldness
Whether the Christian leaders felt that they could better spare Peter than a general we do not know, but we do know that, with the great revival of courage, challenge was sent to the Saracens for general engagement or single combat, and Peter the Hermit was the messenger. He was in his element when he could talk. Though treated contemptuously by his audience, he spoke as if he was the greatest ruler of the earth. It is a wonder that they did not promptly kill him for his insolence. He told them that Asia Minor properly belonged to Christians, that God had permitted it to fall into Turkish hands on account of Christian sins, but God was now arisen to fight on the Christian side. "Now," he says, "leave and go to your own country. We will not humble you. We will pray for your conversion to the true faith. If you will not go, and will not become Christians, let us decide all matters by battle by a few knights, or by one, or by a general fight."
Embassy Driven Away
The perilous situation of the Christians was known to Kerbogha, the Mohammedan general, and he was enraged at the impudence of Peter. "You are as good as conquered and come to me to dic
tate terms. Go back and tell them they must receive conditions, and not make them. If you will acknowledge Mohammed, I will feed and clothe you, and may leave Antioch in your hands. If not, we shall see what the sword will do!" Peter and his escort were driven off, and were several times in danger of death on the way back. Battle was ordered for the next day by the Christian captains.
During the night a hidden supply of provisions was found. The Crusaders strengthened themselves by a meal and the offices of religion, and day coming, the Christian army, representing the twelve apostles, marched out in twelve divisions.
Carrying the Lance-Head
Disposition for Battle
Raymond D'Agiles carried the lance-head and fixed their attention on it. Some of the priests chanted a warlike psalm in the front rank, while others blessed the outgoing army from the walls. The walls and the hills echoed the cry, "God wills it! God wills it!" The appearance of the army was such as to fill the Mussulmans with contempt. Ragged, thin, and weak, mounted on asses and camels, on anything which could carry them, they deployed to meet the fifteen masses of Saracens. The Crusaders soon cut to pieces the two thousand who guarded the bridge of Antioch, and ranged themselves where the mountain protected them from
surprise. The great names commanded the wings and the center, with Bohemond in reserve. The early hours were friendly to the Christians. Later they were sorely hurt by a surprise from a body of Saracens who had passed around the mountain and had attacked their rear. The grass was fired in front of the Christians by the sultan of Nicea, a fact which was near ruining the prospects of the Christians.
Prodigy of Horsemen
Hundred Thousand Turks Killed
Once again a prodigy is reported. A squadron descends from the mountains, led by three white horsemen. A bishop, perhaps himself the inventor of this pious fraud, cries out to the wavering Crusaders: "Behold, heavenly succor has come!" Instantly the Christians revive and renew the attack, and the Saracens were put to rout. Failing even to rally on the other side of the river, they left behind them their arms and their baggage. Their general had only a small body-guard as he fled toward the Euphrates. With horses captured on the field, the Christians kept up the pursuit. A hundred thousand of the infidels died, and four thousand Christians won the martyr's crown. The battle enriched the Crusaders beyond any hope or experience, and Antioch was filled with the captured booty. The historian declares, "Horrors had made the Christians invincible. This was the only miracle."
Disputes Follow Victory
With this astounding victory the march of the Crusaders almost ceased to meet armed resistance. The mass of the army clamored to march on to Jerusalem. The leaders were divided. Some said, "Let us march before the enemy recovers from the terror of our arms." The majority of the leaders forgot the Holy City in the pleasures, securities, and conquests of Syria. This gave strength to their arguments to wait for the re-enforcements of men and horses for which they asked the home authorities.
Fifty Thousand Christians die of Pestilence
Pestilence was the penalty of delay, and fifty thousand old and new warriors died in and near Antioch. Yet in such times Christians could quarrel, and Bohemond was denied by the Count of Toulouse the full possession of Antioch. They were ready to fight. Others followed their example, and all important time was wasted by quarrels and recriminations. At the very foot of the altar some of the leaders lied and quarreled to gain power. Bands roamed over Syria wherever there was a chance to loot; fighting over it when taken, and dying of starvation and thirst whenever they met unexpected resistance.
Piety and Villainy
The world has never seen a greater mixture of piety and villainy than among these Crusaders.
They could rape, rob, and murder with a good conscience, yet must be numbered among the most heroic of men. They endured uncomplainingly long marches in heat and cold, in hunger, thirst, and pestilence. They fought superior numbers with amazing courage. The one supreme virtue was valor against man and beast.
Excursions While Waiting
Careless Again
The long wait for orders to march to Jerusalem sent some leaders out to take cities over which they might rule, and others to visit the Christian leaders who had already won thrones. But most remained in a demoralizing inactivity until a prodigy of electrical balls of light, or possibly a meteoric shower, started, by various interpretations, the mass into securing their rear by the capture and subjugation of several Syrian cities. In one of these sieges the Saracens threw something like Greek fire down on the besiegers, and followed this with hives of bees. Always the Crusaders seemed to be without a proper preparation for food, and before more than one city the Christian soldiers cooked and ate the bodies of their enemies; and it is even reported that human flesh was sold in the shambles of their camp, as the flesh of dogs certainly was.
Saracens Defile the Cross
In all this horror the spirits of the Crusaders were fortified by the outrages of the Saracens on
the symbol of Christianity. They erected crosses on their walls, covered them with filth, and reviled the worshipers. It was poor policy for the besieged. It infuriated the natural passions and inflamed the religious zeal of the besiegers. Constructing engines which shattered the walls, the Crusaders made themselves masters of the fortifications. In the dusk they did not dare to enter the city. In the morning it appeared to be deserted, but the inhabitants were discovered in subterranean refuges. They were soon smoked out, and were slaughtered without regard to age or sex. Thus fell the city of Maarah, of which no stone was left. Awful as this was for men wearing the cross of Christ, it spread such terror that life may have been saved thereby, since other cities willingly opened their gates.
Soldiers Desire Attack
The common soldiers refused longer to interest themselves in the quarrels of their leaders, and, hearing that the Egyptians had taken Jerusalem, demanded to be led on, and threatened to choose new leaders unless their old ones showed the way to Jerusalem. Raymond finding that he must lead or be left behind, forsook his ambition, led in a procession of penitence, and gave the signal for departure.