In addition to the spiritual reward this little work of mine may
bring, my purpose in writing is to speak as I would wish someone else,
writing the same story, would speak to me. For my mind loves what
is somewhat obscure, and detests a raw, unpolished style. I savor
those things which are able to exercise my mind more than those
things which, too easily understood, are incapable of inscribing
themselves upon mind always avid for novelty. In everything that I
have written and am writing, I have driven everyone from my mind,
instead thinking only of what is good for myself, with no concern for
pleasing anyone else. Beyond worrying about the opinions of others,
calm or unconcerned about my own, I await the blows of whatever words
may fall upon me. And so let us take up what we have begun, and
calmly bear the judgements that men bark at us.
We do not think it possible for anyone to tell what happened at the
siege of Antioch, because, among those who were there, no one can be
found who could have seen everything that happened everywhere in the
city, or who could have understood it entirely in the order in which
it happened. Since we have already briefly touched upon the
privations and misfortunes of war that they suffered, it now seems
proper to pass on to how they managed to end the siege, and what the
fruits of such labor were.
One of the Turkish leaders in the city was called Pyrrus; having
become familiar with Bohemund by some means or other, he began
communicating with him by frequent messengers, and they often
informed each other about what was happening on both sides. As their
friendship grew, kindled by their steady conversations, little by
little Bohemund began to propose that the city, over which the Turk
had significant power, be surrendered to the Christians, and that he
accept Christianity. He promised him, if he did these two things,
that he would receive greater wealth, along with greater honor than
he had ever had. After these offers had been made not once, but many
times, attracted by the reward, he consented, and wrote a letter like
this, "I am in charge of three towers: I shall hand them over to you;
at whatever hour you please, or whatever time is convenient, I shall
gladly permit either you or whomever you wish to enter them." Hope
now began to lift Bohemund's spirit greatly, and while he waited to
enter the city, his handsome face shone with inward pleasure.
Fearing that, at the moment the city was being betrayed, one of our
leaders might seize control of the whole city for himself he cleverly
called the leaders of the army together.
"It is no secret," he said, "O excellent peers, what starvation, what
cold, what harsh vigils you have had to endure while besieging this
city; clearly a deadly weariness, for which there is no known remedy,
has descended equally on all of our people, the highest, the lowest,
and those in between. I ask you to hold a meeting among yourselves,
to consider whether you will give power over this city to one of us,
if he is able to obtain its surrender. It seems to me right, if
someone, whether by force, or in secret, or by bribery, manages to
gain entrance, that everyone categorically agree to grant him rule
over the city." The attitude of the leaders was very much at odds
with Bohemund's; with angry frowns they said, "It is not right that,
after the work and the fear have been shared by all, and undertaken
without seeking the honor of reward, and when danger has hung in an
equal balance over all, that rule over the city, struggled for so
long and through so much pain, by so many great men, should be
granted to any one man. For who does not think it just, that, since
the struggle raged for everyone, the rest and his own share after the
victory rightly belongs to everyone." Unhappy with these
developments, weighing in his troubled mind what he had heard,
Bohemund left. Suddenly, news came to the leaders that an
innumerable army, formed from among the barbarous nations that were
their enemies, was forming to come to the aid of Antioch. After a
swift change of mind, they called a meeting, and said to each other,
"Should Bohemund take the city by some trick, we might permit him to
possess it, with this one condition: if the emperor supplies the help
he has promised us, and carries out with matching generosity what he
has offered and sworn to give us, we must ourselves hand over the
city to the emperor's jurisdiction. Should he fail us, the entire
city will be given over to Bohemund, as he requested." When he found
out what they had said, the splendid man was reassured, and repeated
his imprecations to Pyrrus every day, seducing him with promises and
praise. "Lo," he said, "fine Pyrrus, you see that opportunity smiles
in the working out of these matters. Therefore, I say, do not delay,
lest you lose what we have labored together for, because it is
discovered, God forbid, by someone." Pleased with Bohemund's message,
Pyrrus promised that his efforts would in no way be delayed. And,
lest the effect of the daily delay create anxiety in the noble man,
Pyrrus secretly sent his own son to Bohemund, informing him that he
faithfully looked forward to the surrender of the city. "Tomorrow,"
he said, "at the first light, collect the entire force of the Franks
army, with horns blowing, and order them to proceed some distance
from the encampment, as though they were going to make one of their
usual raids on Saracen territory; but then bring them back
immediately through the mountains on the right. I shall wait inside
the city for your return, ready to admit immediately into the towers
which seem to be under my control those whom you choose to send.
Bohemund eagerly hastened to carry out the plan he had heard;
summoning one of his retainers, he ordered him to carry out the
office of herald, circulating throughout the Franks' camp, telling
them to prepare themselves with the greatest care, as though they
were proceeding into the land of the Saracens. Without delay, the
wisdom of the servant carried out the command of the leader directly,
nor did the men of France refuse to comply. At last Bohemund told
the joy in his heart to duke Godfrey, to the count of Flanders, to
the count of Saint-Gilles, and to the bishop of Puy; trusting the
promises of Pyrrus, he said that Antioch would be surrendered to him
that night. Therefore, when the army was drawn up in the order we
have described, the knights were ordered to march through the plain;
the band of foot-soldiers marched through the mountains. Throughout
the night they marched, and before dawn offered its first rays, they
stood before the towers over which the blessed traitor vigilantly
stood watch.
When Bohemund got down from his horse, he spoke to the Franks with a
tone of unusual authority, "Go forward, and breathe free of the
anxiety which you have long endured; climb the ladder built for you;
let me detain you no longer--seize the city you have been hoping for
so long. Long under subjection to the Turks, it will now surrender,
God willing, to your custody." The Franks reached the ladder, which
was attached and very firmly tied to the walls of the city, offering
a way to ascend to the sixty men who, when they reached the towers,
were given authority over them. However, because so few Franks had
climbed up, Pyrrus, waiting, and anxious, not for our men but for
himself, as became very clear later, feared that the outcome of the
betrayal he had undertaken would lead to his own destruction, and he
cried out brusquely in Greek to those near him, "We have too few
Franks." With these words he eagerly called upon Bohemund to proceed
quickly, before the inhabitants knew that the Franks were assembling.
But certain Lombard servant, understanding that Pyrrus was
complaining about the absence of Bohemund, hastened as quickly as he
could to the man who was being sought, "Why," he said, "are you
behaving so foolishly? Why do you carry out such an arduous task so
slowly? See how we now have obtained control of three towers; why do
you watch the doubtful outcome of this affair from a distance? Wake
up, move your forces, place yourself in the midst of the action."
Very swiftly now he hastened with his men to the ladder, and he
revived the hopes both of the good traitor and of those who had
already climbed the wall. Immediately those who already occupied
Pyrrus' towers, waiting for the Franks to assemble from all sides,
began to shout with great joy, "God wishes it!" Those who were
standing before the walls, about to climb up, shouted the same thing
with all their might. With great competitiveness each tried to climb
the wall first; once up the ladder, they took over the towers, and
others, as quickly as possible. Whoever stood in their way was
put to death; among those who died was Pyrrus' brother. Meanwhile a
ladder broke, and the great crowd of our men below, and those who had
preceded them, were sorely troubled; those on the top of the wall
feared that they were cut off from aid, and those at the bottom
feared that those who had climbed up could not receive support. But
great effort quickly made a way. There was a hidden gate to their
left; it was not remarkable that it could not be seen at night; even
during the day it was hardly ever seen, since it was located in a
place where there was little traffic. By tapping the wall, however,
impelled by urgent need, they found it; immediately they ran up to it,
and opened it by breaking the hinges and locks, making an entry for
the Franks, who rushed in.
You would have heard the whole city shaken with terrible roar. While
some rejoiced in the completion of such a task, others wept at the
unlooked-for destruction of their prospects. Neither the victors nor
the vanquished showed any moderation or self-control. Bohemund
ordered his standard, easily recognized by the Turks, to be placed on
top of a certain mountain, in full view of the citadel, which was
still resisting, to make the city aware of his presence. Wailing and
shrieking filled the city; while throngs pressed through the narrow
streets, the brutal, bloody shouts of the victors, eager to kill,
resounded. As they recalled the sufferings they had endured during
the siege, they thought that the blows that they were giving could
not match the starvations, more bitter than death, that they had
suffered. The same punishment inflicted upon the hordes of pagans
was justly meted out to the treacherous Armenians and Syrians, who,
with the aid of the Turks, had eagerly and diligently pursued the
destruction of our men, and our men were, in turn, unwilling to spare
them painful punishment. And yet I say that they would have spared
many of them, had they known how to make a distinction between the
natives pagans and those of our own faith. In the confusion of the
moment and of the action (it was night, and eagerness to capture the
town and impatience with delay incited everyone), perhaps nothing
permitted distinguishing foreigners by their clothing or beards. A
terrible neglect covered the thinness of the weary cheeks of our men,
who, continually prepared for battle, worn out by continual traveling,
had stopped shaving their beards in the Franks' manner. The bishop
of Puy noticed this, and to prevent mutual slaughter in case they
confronted each other in battle, (each thinking the other a Turk
because of the beard), ordered them to shave often, and to hang on
their necks crosses made of silver or of some other material, so that
no one, mistaken for a foreigner, would be struck down by a comrade.
In the morning, those who had remained in the tents heard the tumult
in the city, and came out. They saw Bohemund's standard fixed on the
lofty mountain, in front of the walls of the citadel, which had not
yet been captured. They quickly ran towards the gates of the city
and broke in, cut down the Turks and Saracens whom they found there,
while those, however, who had fled into the citadel, escaped death.
Some of the Turks, having learned that the Franks had taken control
of the city, escaped through other gates of the city. Within the
city, however, no one was spared because of sex; young children were
killed, and, since those weak with age were not spared, there can be
no doubt about the ferocity with which those who were young enough to
be fit for battle were killed.
Meanwhile, fearing capture by the Frankish forces, and wishing to
purchase his life by running away, Cassian, who was in charge of the
city of Antioch, together with several of his leaders, took refuge
not far from Antioch, in an area occupied by Tancred. Exhausting
their horses by the speed of their flight, unable to proceed any
further, they turned aside and stopped at a small house. When the
inhabitants of the mountains, Armenians and Syrians, found their
greatest enemy hidden, at the mercy of fortune, in a poor hut, they
recognized him at once, decapitated him, and brought the severed head
as a gift to Bohemund, expecting that they would obtain their freedom
from him in exchange for the unusual gift. His baldric and the
scabbard of the sword they took from him were estimated to be worth
60 besants. These events occurred on Thursday, the fifth of June.
Then you would have seen the city overflowing with bodies and with
intolerable stench. Markets, public places, the porches and
vestibules of homes, which once were adorned with beautifully
polished marble surfaces, were now completely stained with gore.
Infinite numbers of corpses heaped up everywhere, a horrible
spectacle, and the savagery of the foul air, horribly infected both
the eyes and the ears. The narrow streets were strewn with deep
piles of stinking bodies, and since there was no way to carry off so
many dead, and there was no escape from the smells, the constant
sight and stink made men used to the horror. Thus habit led to
audacity, and no one feared to walk down the streets filled with
bodies.
Therefore Kherboga, the mayor of the palace or rather the leader of
the troops of the king of the Persians, whom they were accustomed to
call Sogdianus,[168] the name of previous king of the Persians (as
the Romans are accustomed to call their leaders Caesars), while he
was still within the kingdom of Persia, in the province called
Khorasan (some say that this land derives its name by corruption from
the name of the land around the Caucasus), was summoned by frequent
messengers from Cassianus, the ruler of the city of Antioch, to bring
help to him in his beleaguered position. Cassianus promised that, if
he drove off the Franks, he would either turn over to him the
liberated city, or provide him with a gift equal to his great labor.
When the general, enticed by this promise, had put together a huge
army, and had asked for and received permission to kill the
Christians from the chief pontiff of their heresy (for even they have
their Pope, in the likeness of ours), he quickly set off to relieve
the siege of Antioch. The prefect of Jerusalem (whom they call in
their barbaric language "emir") also immediately increased the
invading forces with his own army, which was, in turn, augmented by
the considerable forces of the king of Damascus. The pagans
recruited by the infidel prince, in addition to the Turks, Saracens,
Arabs, and Persians (who are already familiar to historians), bore
new names: they were the Publicans, the Kurds, the Azimites, and the
Agulani, together with innumerable others, who were by no means human,
but monsters. Three thousand of those who were called Agulani were
said to be present, and they were afraid neither of swords, lances,
arrows, nor any kind of arms, because they and their horses were
covered with armor everywhere. In battles the only weapons they used
were their swords. Kherboga therefore, with the great arrogance of
the pagans, strove to drive the Franks from Antioch. As the prince
approached the city, the son of the dead Cassian, Sensadolus by name,
met him, and, with great sadness, said to him, "Since your strength
is widely renowned, and the victories of you and your people are
everywhere judged to be incomparable, certainly my hope for your aid
will not be disappointed, O most victorious of men. No one denies
the worth of your judgements; because of the brilliance of your deeds,
your power is worshipped everywhere; therefore I need not be ashamed
of lamenting my misfortune in your presence. I know for certain that
I am not begging in vain for the things for which I ask. Your
excellency remembers that you received ambassadors from my father
when Antioch was being besieged, and that, while you were deciding to
come to his aid, you heard that the city had been captured by the
Franks. Now my father is dead, and I am besieged in the citadel of
the city, undoubtedly awaiting the same fate that overtook my father.
If they have invaded Antioch, and have done the same to many cities
and towns of Armenia and Syria, they undoubtedly intend to do the
same thing to you and to others of our race. May your excellency
carry out with all your force what you have undertaken against these
vicious men, so that the usurpations intended by these most wretched
of men may be thwarted. For me, in this crisis, you remain the last
hope." In response to these laments, Kherbog replied, "If you want
my help in these present dangers, turn over to me the city which you
are defending and for which you are pleading, and after I have put my
men in charge of the citadel, then you will find out what I shall do
on your behalf." Sensadolus replied, "If you kill the Franks for me,
and bring me their severed heads, I shall let you into the city; then
I shall swear allegiance to you and as your liege rule the citadel."
Corboran said to him, "You will not behave like that towards me, but
will hand over the city immediately." What more? The demand of the
infidel ruler prevailed, and the young man, surrendered control of
the citadel to him who wrested it from him, but who would not long
enjoy his power.
On the third day after the Franks had broken into Antioch, the
vanguard of the Turks had appeared before the walls of the city,
while the rest of their vast army set up their tents at the Pharfar
bridge. First they attacked the tower closest to the bridge, and
after they had captured it with very great effort, they killed
everyone they found within in it, sparing only the commander of the
tower, whom our men found, after a later battle against them, chained
in irons. The next day the army hurried towards the city, chose a
spot between two rivers for their tents, and remained there for two
days. After capturing the fort whose commander, as I said, was put
in chains, Kherboga summoned one of his officers, whom he knew to be
wise and trustworthy, and gave him the following orders, " Go and
defend the fort for me, with the fidelity that you owe me, and which
I expect of you." He replied, "I shall have difficulty carrying out
your command in this matter, but I shall carry it out on the
condition that, if the Franks are victorious, you permit me to
surrender the citadel to the victors." Kherboga replied, "I trust
your discretion and your faithfulness in this matter, and shall
firmly support whatever you choose to do." After the fort had been
provisioned, the ill-fated prince returned to his camp, where some of
his Turks, having stripped a poor foot-soldier of his arms, brought
them to Kherboga to make sport of us. The sword was filthy with rust,
the bow was black as soot, the dull lance was covered with the smoke
of many years. Joking, they said to him, "Here are the weapons with
which the Frankish army will defeat us." Smiling, Kherboga said to
them, "Will they depopulate the East with with these shining,
powerful arms? Will the far reaches of the Caucasus submit to these
men? Will the unarmed Franks be able to take away from us the lands
which the Amazons once held, and which our ancestors once claimed?"
He spoke, called scribe, and said, "Write as quickly as possible the
same letters on different pieces of parchment, so that they may be
sent throughout the provinces of Persia, to our Pope, to the lord and
king of our Persians, to the governors and to our military peers in
the different areas." This is the tenor of what he wrote:
To the magnificent lord and king of the Persians, to the blessed Pope,
and to all of those sworn to fight a holy war against the Christians,
Kherboga, prince of his army, wishes health and victory. Fathers
and lords, I am grateful that the supreme divinity continually
provides us with good fortune, and offers us victory everywhere over
the enemies of the people. We are sending you three weapons which we
have taken from the Franks, so that you may see what with what
equipment those who wish to drive us from our country fight. I would
like you to know that I am besieging the Franks, who intend to
destroy us, in the very city, Antioch, which they have just captured.
I am in possession of the lofty citadel in the heart of the city.
Since I can either put to death those who are shut up there, or place
them in abject captivity, I do not want you meanwhile to be tortured
with worry out of concern for us, but I want you to know that we are
completely in control. Therefore give yourselves up to pleasures: in
greater security than that to which you are accustomed, eat the
finest foods; lie with multitudes of wives and concubines to
propagate the race, so that the increasing number of sons may oppose
the Christians, whose number now grows. I swear by the high
Thunderer, that I, protected by the blessed Mahomet, will not appear
before the eyes of your majesty until I have subdued the royal city,
that is, Antioch, as well as neighboring Syria, the Greeks and the
Epirites, whom they call the Bulgars, and I have conquered the
Apulians and Calabrians as an additional ornament to your glory.
Farewell.
Kherboga's mother, who lived in the city of Aleppo, came to him at
this time, and sadly offered him counsel: "I would like to know
whether what is said of you is true." Her son replied, "What is
that?" She said, "They say that you are going to fight the Franks."
He replied, "Absolutely true." She said, "Son, best of men, I dare
to appeal to your native nobility not to fight them, lest you mar
your reputation. Since the brilliance of your arms gleams as far as
the furthest reaches of the Indian Ocean, and remote Thule resounds
with your praise, why would you soil your weapons with the blood of
poor men, whom it does not pay to attack, and from whose defeat you
can gain no glory? Since you can compel distant kings to tremble,
why harm wretched foreigners? My son, I say that you rightly despise
them as individuals, but you should know for a fact that the
authority of the Christian religion is superior. Therefore I beg you
not to attempt something that you will later regret having undertaken."
When he heard what she had to say, he looked at her with anger in
his eyes and said, "Why do you weave these old wives' tales? You are
raving, I suggest, insanely pouring forth words without understanding.
All the men in their army do not amount even to the number of noble
leaders from the cities who are fighting under my command. And do
you, in your insanity, think that Christian presumption will obscure
my power?" She said, "Oh most dearly beloved son, I place little
value on the names of the people about whom we are speaking, but
I beg you not to shun their leader, Christ. Perhaps they themselves
do not have the power to fight you, but victory is certain for their
God, if he wishes to prevail. He customarily defends his own men,
though they be weak and ignorant, purely for his own glory, and
watches over and protects them, whose shepherd, or rather redeemer,
he says he is. Do you think that he who has looked after the empires
of his faith, who has thus far granted them victory over us, is
incapable at this very moment of easily overturning our efforts? For
it was said to him by the Father, as though to a God about to rise
again from the dead, 'Arise God, and judge the earth, for you will
inherit it among the nations of men.'[169] Therefore, if he judges
the earth, he sees and sets apart some from the mass doomed to
destruction, while others he condemns, and he takes as his
inheritance not all nations, but only a portion of the whole. May
your foresight hear, my son, how severely he punishes those whom he
permits to be ignorant of him. The prophet David says, 'Pour forth
thy wrath against the nations that have not known thee, and against
the kingdoms that have not cried out thy name.'[170] You do not
condemn these Franks because they are strangers and you are gentiles;
you do not reject them because their arms are humble or because they
are impoverished; but rather you hate in them the name of Christ.
Certainly He who is despised in them will fight for them, if
necessary, with overflowing anger. If he has promised them with
prophetic mouth that 'the name of God will be praised from east to
west,'[171] for he is said to be exalted not over the Jews, but over
all nations, and by the mouth of God himself it was said that the
people who had not been his people were now his people, and those who
had not been loved were now loved,[172] and what had been among the
Jews was transferred to all nations by the grace of adoption, and
among the rest of them the face of the God of the Jews was provided,
then who except a madman would dare attack the sons of God? I
predict that if you fight them, you will bring upon yourself great
discomfort and shame. You will undergo certain military defeat,
enrich the Christians with booty taken from you, and you yourself
will run off in ignominious flight. Even if death does not wait for
you in this battle, you may be certain that your life will end within
a year. Their God does not take immediate vengeance when a crime is
done, but defers the punishment until the crime itself has come to
full fruition. For this reason, my son, I fear that you may be
increasing the horror of your death by delaying it." Stunned by his
mother's miraculous eloquence, pale and weakened by the announcement
of his impending death, Kherboga replied, "And you, I would like to
know how you came by this knowledge, how you have discovered that the
Christian people will use its strength against us, that they are
about to triumph in battle over us, that they will despoil us,
and that I shall die a sudden death within the year." She said, "Son,
we know that nearly one hundred years have gone by since it was
discovered in certain secret books of a pagan sect that the Christian
people would rise up against us in battle and subjugate us entirely,
setting up their kingdom where we now exercise dominion, so that
pagans would be subject to those of the true faith. But our
knowledge was not clear in this respect: we did not know whether it
would come about now or after a long time. I then diligently studied
astronomy, examining innumerable possibilities, until, checking them
against each other, I learned that we would inevitably be conquered
by Christian men. For this reason I grieve for you with all my heart,
because I have no doubt that I shall soon be deprived of you." And
he replied, "mother, I would like you to explain some things about
which I am uncertain." She said, "ask, so that you will not be in
doubt. Whatever I know you will know immediately." He said, "Tell
me whether Bohemund and Tancred should be considered gods or men, and
tell me whether they will bring victory in battle to the Franks."
She replied, "Son, Bohemund and Tancred are like us, subject to
mortality, but because they fight for their faith, they have merited
glorious renown, for God helps them. They declare that God is the
Father, whose son, made into a human being, they worship in the same
manner, and they believe that both are the same in the unity of the
holy Spirit." He replied, "Since you testify, O mother, that they
are not Gods, but merely human beings like us, no more doubt remains,
and we may try our strength in battle."
Therefore, understanding that her son, intent on fighting with the
Franks, was unwilling to heed her advice, the mother collected
whatever supplies she could gather and, spurned by her son, retired
to the above-mentioned city of Aleppo. And so, three days later,
Kherboga took up arms, and a large group of Turks approached the city
with him on the side where the fort they had recently captured and
fortified was located. Our men, however, judging that they could
resist them, set up lines of defense against them, but the number of
Turks was so great that our men did not have the force or boldness to
resist. Therefore they were compelled to retreat into the city, but,
as they were entering the gate in crowded flight, the entrance proved
too narrow, and many were crushed to death. It was the fifth day of
the week, and some outside the city were attacking the gate, while
others continued to battle the inhabitants inside the city until
evening.
But because Christ knew once and knows now whom he has chosen, some
men who, so to speak, were not of the kind by means of whom salvation
would come to Israel,[173] when they saw that they were surrounded by
the Turkish army,
and that the day's battle was scarcely ended when night came, they
grew fearful and panic-stricken, aware only of their imminent death.
Petrified, each saw his own life hanging before him, and in their
frightened minds the men saw Turks already before them, about to
strike them with deadly spears. Each lost faith in his own ability
to fight, and therefore turned his mind to flight. Those who gave up
hope in God made a filthy descent into the foul sewers, a worthy
place for those who were giving such a bad example to the troops.
The crawling cowards made their way to the sea, with the skin from
their hands and feet torn away, and their bones stripped of flesh by
the sharp rocks. Like Paul the doctor, who escaped from Damascus by
means of a wall,[174] they showed that the sewers were fitting for
them.[175]
Among those who retreated were a certain William of Normandy, nobly
born, and his brother Alberic, sent to school early, who became a
cleric, and then, out of passion for fighting, dropped away from the
church and foully, like an apostate, became a knight. I would name
the towns from which they came, were I not constrained by my close
friendship with some members of their family to limit my remarks,
thereby protecting them from shame. A certain Guido Trossellus, well
known for his power and influence in cities across the Seine, and who
was considered remarkable by the whole race of Franks, was the
standard-bearer for the escape. There were other deserters from the
holy army also, who, when they came back to their native land, were
held in contempt and denounced as infamous everywhere. Some of them
we do not know; others we know very well, but we prefer not to
humiliate them.
They came to the port which is called the gate of Saint Simeon, where
they found boats and sailors, and they asked the sailors, "Why are
you waiting here, unhappy men? You should know that all those to
whom you customarily bring food are about to die, for the city and
those within it are besieged by an army of Turks, and we scarcely
escaped from their onslaught with our naked bodies." Stung by the
dire news, they hesitated, stunned for a long time, and then placed
all their hope in flight.