THE MARCH AND THE BATTLE.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _Peter Chosen General_]
[Sidenote: _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."
[Sidenote: _Wore Old Cassock_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _Western Christendom Disordered_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _Bulgarian Allegiance_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _Peter's Brave Follies_]
[Sidenote: _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 thousand 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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _Crusaders Practice on Jews_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _A Goose for a Leader_]
[Sidenote: _Fear of such Maniacs_]
This band set out for Jerusalem in pious rapture 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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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."
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _Peter Belabors His Followers_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _Christianity Coalesces With Military Spirit_]
[Sidenote: _Defects of Crusading Christianity_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _Godfrey of Bouillon_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _Mixed Motives Again_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _Confused Tracks_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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 befools 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.
[Sidenote: _On the Track of Peter_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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 defended 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.
[Sidenote: _Awful Scenes_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _Bravery of the Leaders_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _Famine and Pestilence Again_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _A Wicked Camp_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _Slaughter of the Turks_]
[Sidenote: _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 number 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.
[Sidenote: _An Armenian Scoundrel_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _Attacked by Egyptian Army_]
[Sidenote: _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 starvation 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.
[Sidenote: _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!
[Sidenote: _Peter Delivers Challenge_]
[Sidenote: _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."
[Sidenote: _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 dictate 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.
[Sidenote: _Carrying the Lance-Head_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _Prodigy of Horsemen_]
[Sidenote: _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."
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _Excursions While Waiting_]
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.
[Sidenote: _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.