In our previous episode on the First Crusade, the holy city of Jerusalem fell spectacularly,
with the crusaders showcasing their cunning, military technology, bravery, and sheer brutality.
Tens of thousands of people were brutally murdered while the city was viciously ransacked.
The siege was over, but now a new battle would be fought within the city’s walls, as the
final act in a popularity contest, where candidates had to impress with their piety, holy relics,
leadership, bravery, and intelligence, and now all of the work they put in would finally
pay off in the greatest reward of all: Who gets to rule Jerusalem.
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On July 17th, as bodies still littered the streets, the crusader council convened and
discussed urgent matters such as how to dispose of all the corpses, where to house the soldiers
and pilgrims as well as how to prepare for the expected Egyptian retaliation.
But the biggest agenda in the meeting was who to elect as the city’s ruler.
From the very start, this was what Raymond of Toulouse wanted more than anything else,
but his lackluster performance in the siege, as well as his previous failed attempts, fake
relics, and old age, put him in a bad position.
Godfrey of Bouillon had a much better claim, but the clergy continued to resist the idea
that a layman could rule the city of God.
Raymond of Aguilers recounts: “ About this time a public assembly was held, for the leaders
of the army were quarreling with each other.
There was dissatisfaction because Tancred had occupied Bethlehem and had placed his
standard over the church of the Nativity.
An effort was also made to elect one of the princes king to have custody of the city.
The bishops and clergy replied "You ought not to choose a king where the Lord suffered
and was crowned.”
But with the last patriarch Simon, only recently deceased, they had no candidate of their own.
5 days later, a compromise was reached: Godfrey was chosen as the city’s ruler but styled
as Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri or Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre,’ a title meant to
distinguish him more as a protector, subordinate to the church.
Raymond was furious and even refused to vacate the Tower of David, which lost him the little
respect the rest of the crusaders had for him.
Even his own followers began leaving him in droves and started making plans for their
journey home.
To ease the tension a little, Raymond gave the tower to his trusted ally Peter of Narbonne,
the recently elevated bishop of Albara, who then quickly solved the dispute by betraying
Raymond and opening the citadel to Godfrey.
Raymond’s dreams had been crushed, so he left the city and made camp in Jericho.
While he was away, the new patriarch of Jerusalem was elected: exactly a year after the death
of bishop Adhemar, on August 1st, 1099, a Norman crusader by the name of Arnulf took
his place.
This was an open attack against the rights of Byzantium, which had kept a Greek patriarch
in the city for a long time.
The new patriarch left the Orthodox Christians alone, but violently persecuted Armenians,
Copts, Nestorians, and Jacobites, who were prohibited from entering the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre.
To strengthen his position, Arnulf then started a cult around a new holy relic: a battered
silver and golden crucifix believed to contain a piece of the true cross.
According to one source, the patriarch tortured locals to discover its location.
When we examine how fragile the cohesion of this expedition was in its later stages, it
is easy to underestimate them at every turn, which is exactly what most of their opponents
did, including the Fatimids.
But vizier al-Afdal was not going to let this stand.
Ever since 1094, he was the de-facto ruler in Egypt, so he needed to maintain his legitimacy
by dealing with the newcomers.
Even before the city fell, a powerful force was assembled, and now it entered Palestine.
History was now repeating itself, but this time the Franks decided to avoid the near
disaster of Antioch and rode out to meet the incoming threat head-on.
Originally the crusader force had more numbers than some countries, but now out of the 150
000 people, if we count the People’s Crusade, just over 10% remained.
It was Tancred who managed to capture a few of the Fatimid scouts while patrolling the
coastline, who discovered that a large army was only days away.
Raymond and Robert of Normandy however refused the call to arms, requesting more proof of
the existence of said army.
And so with a combination of bravado and hubris, Godfrey marched out on August 9th, with his
forces, supported only by Robert of Flanders.
The soldiers left barefoot, accompanied by the Patriarch and the holy relic of the True
cross, in what must have looked like a pitiful sight.
The next day, under the pressure of their men, both Raymond and Robert joined Godfrey
and assembled with the rest at Ramleh.
Meanwhile Jerusalem was left un-garrisoned, with only Peter the Hermit and the clergy
saying prayers, hoping for a Christian victory.
This all-out strategy, once again meant that if they were to lose this battle, the city
was guaranteed to fall, making the entire journey pointless.
With all the leaders together again, the morale of the army was lifted and on the 11th of
August 1200 knights and 9000 footmen made their way towards Ascalon.
Late in the day they captured another group of Egyptian spies, who revealed the size of
the Fatimid army.
20000 Muslims, with a core of heavy cavalry, incorporating Bedouins, Berbers and fearsome
Ethiopians wielding giant flails able to kill a man and his horse in a single blow, were
camped just outside of Ascalon and were going to push for the city the very next day.
Godfrey realized he was outnumbered, so he relied on the element of surprise.
After a short nearly sleepless night a few miles north of the port, the crusaders moved
south before the dawn of 12th of August with Raymond on the right, Godfrey on the left
and the two Roberts and Tancred in the center.
The camp was not too difficult to locate on account of the massive herds of oxen, sheep,
goats and camels and once in sight the crusaders made their move.
The three groups charged at a moderate pace, catching the Muslims completely by surprise.
Al-Afdal prioritized mobility and failed to set up a parameter or send out scouts, so
most of his troops were still sleeping in their tents.
Robert of Normandy headed directly towards the camp, capturing the vizier's personal
coat of arms and most of his possessions.
Galloping alongside the coastline, Raymond pushed many Fatimids into the sea, drowning
them, while others rushed towards Ascalon, only to be crushed to death in the chokepoint
formed at the gates.
That initial shock totally broke the Egyptians and what could have been an epic battle, was
nothing more than a rout.
One eye-witness recalled: “In their great fright [the Fatimids] climbed and hid in trees,
only to plunge from boughs like falling birds when our men pierced them with arrows and
killed them with lances.
Later the Christians uselessly decapitated them with swords.
Other infidels threw themselves to the ground groveling in tenor at the Christians' feet.
Then our men cut them to pieces as one slaughters cattle for the meat market.”
Al-Afdal managed to escape into Ascalon and then sail back to Egypt, disappointed in how
easy it was for the crusaders to destroy his army.
Not only that, but they captured a wide array of treasures from his camp, reportedly those
featured: 'gold, silver, long cloaks, other clothing and [twelve kinds of] precious stones
.. . helmets decorated with gold, the finest rings, wonderful swords, grain, flour and
much else'.
His sword alone was later sold for sixty gold pieces.
The bounty was so vast, that the army couldn't carry all of it, resorting to burning what
was left behind.
As for Ascalon, the port city refused to surrender to anyone but Raymond, the only prince known
to have kept his promise of safe passage during the sack of Jerusalem.
Godfrey was insulted and didn’t intend to give his rival such a crucial exclave that
close to Jerusalem, so the Franks simply left.
The strange combination of great martial success, followed by idiotic bickering, was still present.
Because of this decision, the powerful Fatimid navy could maintain this foothold for more
than half a century and Al-Afdal would use Ascalon as staging ground from where he would
launch annual attacks.
Regardless, the mission was complete, and the few survivors were some of the luckiest
and tough people in history, with an adventurous and miraculous story so colorful that it could
rival that of Alexander.
As summer passed, many of them were ready to tell that story back home, and in September
of 1099, Robert of Normandy and Robert of Flanders, along with the majority of the crusaders,
sailed away.
Raymond lingered, and Godfrey was left with just 300 knights to hold Jerusalem.
News of Jerusalem spread, but Pope Urban II died in Rome on the 29th of July, just two
weeks before the news of his success could reach him.
For the mighty warriors who returned, their treasures were almost entirely spent by the
time they returned home.
They were exhausted, sick, and broke, but revered as heroes by anyone who crossed them.
Robert of Flanders, now known as the Jerusalemite, returned to find his homeland in a desperate
state.
While he was away, emperor Henry IV, had attempted to seize it.
He then pushed him back twice.
Another war was waged against Normandy, which he also won, and then in 1111, Robert fell
from his horse in battle.
The crusader was trampled to death, but his reputation as a pious and victorious servant
of Christ inspired many future crusaders.
A man who met the Byzantine Emperor, fought the Sultan of Rum, Vizier of the Fatimids,
rescued Jerusalem, defeated the Holy Roman Emperor and English king.
It is no wonder that Flanders, which was one of the most highly populated regions in Europe,
went on to become one of the biggest contributors to the crusades.
Either by land or sea, recruits from this region were present in nearly every crusade
that would follow.
As for Robert of Normandy, his fate was considerably worse.
To leave for the crusade, he temporarily sold Normandy's rights to his brother.
To buy it back, he had to resort to marrying a young bride, but by this point, his brother
Henry had taken the crown of England for himself, sparking a war.
Robert landed in England and started an invasion, which was terribly planned.
Lacking popular support, he was defeated and captured in 1106.
He would spend the next 28 years being moved from one prison to another, including the
Tower of London, until his death in 1134.
In his cell, he reminisced how he regretted refusing the crown of Jerusalem “not out
of reverence, but out of fear of the work involved.”.
Many historians tend to gloss over these events, but the reality is that Robert had the claim
and the supporters needed to take the English throne.
In fact, he and Geoffrey Plantagenet are the only dukes of Normandy who didn’t become
English kings, and had he done so, the history of England, France, and the crusades would
be entirely different.
Then there was Gaston of Bearn, the mastermind behind the siege weapons at Jerusalem.
He went on to assist the Reconquista in fighting the Moors.
Other warriors gave up combat for good and devoted themselves to becoming monks or priests
in monasteries they founded.
A man named Gulpher of Lastours, who was the first man on the walls of Marrat, is said
to have come back with a pet lion.
Peter the Hermit also made it home, with a piece of the Holy Sepulchre and John the Baptist.
He founded a religious cult in France, which started a trend where pilgrims would make
their journey to Jerusalem, enter the holy church and open a flask to capture its essence,
a souvenir to bring back home.
Other examples of such tourism included palm leaves, single strands of hair from Christ’s
beard, a whole ball of the Virgin Mary’s hair, pieces of the True Cross, and numerous
Holy Lances.
This would set the trend, and modern archaeologists have found thousands of these flasks, meant
to contain holy water or oil, called ampullae.
They would be worn around the necks of those who wanted a piece of divinity and something
they could show off back home.
The reverence and stories that came out of the First crusade, spawned the Christian version
of the Hajj.
There were also those who deserted the crusade, and now that it was seemingly over, they faced
the scorn of Latin society.
Among them were Hugh of Vermandois and Stephen of Blois, who fled from Antioch and were now
under the threat of excommunication.
The overwhelming public shame was so powerful that it prompted a new, third wave of Latin
armies in the Holy land, joined by numerous enthusiastic Franks who wanted either absolution,
fame, or an artifact.
However this time, the crusade was proclaimed by Pope Paschal II and featured numerous Germans
and Italians.
This campaign is now known as the crusade of 1101 or the crusade of the faint-hearted,
highlighting two problems you must have already thought of.
Wasn’t the first crusade over and why wasn’t it named the second crusade?
Those are just some of the questions we will answer in the next episode that will be released
over the next weeks and if you don’t want to miss it, make sure you have subscribed
and pressed the bell button.
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