The First Crusade: date, year and the call from a pope
The First Crusade took place in 1096–1099. The preparation started a year earlier. In 1095, Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos asked the West for military help against the Seljuk Turks. That request was one of the main triggers of the whole campaign.
The pope who answered was Urban II. On 27 November 1095, at the Council of Clermont, he called for the crusade. The religious goal was to bring the Holy Land, including Jerusalem, under Christian rule.
This article follows one stretch of the story: the road across Anatolia. It runs from Nicaea to Dorylaeum and on to Antioch.
Who fought whom: the leaders
The main crusader leaders were Godefroy de Bouillon, Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, Bohemond of Taranto, Tancred and Baudouin de Boulogne.
On the other side stood the Anatolian Seljuk ruler, Sultan Kılıç Arslan I. Alexios I Komnenos ruled Byzantium. Over the course of the campaign, the crusaders and Byzantine forces met the Anatolian Seljuks, the Danishmendids, Turkish emirs in Syria and the Fatimids.
Alexios also made demands. He asked the crusader leaders who reached Constantinople to return to the empire any former Byzantine land they took back from the Turks. Remember this request. It matters again at Antioch.
First Crusade map: where the route ran
If you open a map of Türkiye, you can trace the army with your finger. The route is easy to follow in order:
- İznik (Nicaea), the first big target.
- Osmaneli, then Dorylaeum near Eskişehir.
- Akşehir and Konya.
- Ereğli.
- Kayseri and Maraş.
- Antioch, the city we know today as Antakya.
A second, smaller route split off at Ereğli. Tancred and Baudouin took separate forces through the Gülek Pass and down into Cilicia.
So the answer to “first crusade where” is wide. The war crossed western and central Anatolia, then Syria, and ended at Jerusalem.
Before the main armies: the People’s Crusade
The first group to cross into Anatolia was not the main army. It was the People’s Crusade. On 21 October 1096, Kılıç Arslan I defeated it in the Drakon Valley, which runs from Kibotos to İznik.
The main armies came after this. They arrived at Constantinople, met the emperor and then crossed into Anatolia in 1097.
Nicaea: the first big target
Nicaea is today’s İznik. In 1097 it was the capital of Kılıç Arslan I. It was the crusaders’ first major goal in Anatolia.
The siege began on 14 May 1097. It ended on the night of 18–19 June, when the city was handed over to the Byzantines, not to the crusaders.
The Byzantines did one clever thing. To cut off supplies reaching the city across the water, they carried boats overland. On 17 June 1097, those boats reached Lake İznik.
The handover had a strict rule. The Byzantine commander who took the city, Manuel Boutoumites, allowed the crusaders to enter only in groups of no more than ten.
The result was clear. İznik went back to Byzantium, and so did a good part of western Anatolia.
Dorylaeum: the battle of 1 July 1097
After Nicaea, the crusaders moved on under the guidance of the Byzantine commander Tatikios. They went by way of Osmaneli to Dorylaeum, near Eskişehir.
To make food supply easier, the army had split into two columns. That choice nearly cost them. Bohemond’s vanguard came under Turkish attack. Then the troops behind it caught up, and their arrival changed the outcome.
On 1 July 1097, the Battle of Dorylaeum ended in a crusader victory over the forces of Kılıç Arslan I.
The hard road to Konya and beyond
Dorylaeum opened the way into the interior. It did not make the march easy.
According to Ebru Altan’s study of the routes, Kılıç Arslan I had crops burned and wells filled in along the regions the crusaders were about to cross. That made supply very hard.
Think of a long road trip where the fuel stations and water stops are all closed. That was the crusaders’ summer.
The army searched for food and water. After Bolvadin it turned aside to Yalvaç. It then went by way of Akşehir and reached Konya in the middle of August 1097.
The route also avoided a danger. The crusaders did not take the shorter line through Ankara, Kulu and Cihanbeyli. That direction meant crossing the waterless Salt Lake basin in summer. They chose Akşehir and Konya instead.
After Ereğli, the main army followed the Kayseri–Maraş road. Tancred and Baudouin went into Cilicia through the Gülek Pass with their own forces.
Antioch: eight months of siege
The siege of Antioch began on 20 October 1097. The city was defended by Yağı-Sayan. The siege lasted about eight months, and the crusader army suffered deaths from hunger, disease and thirst.
The city fell on 3 June 1098. The key was a link Bohemond made with a guard of the walls named Firuz. On the night of 2–3 June 1098, the crusaders climbed the walls and entered the city.
The victory did not bring relief for long. Soon the crusaders were themselves besieged in Antioch, this time by the army of Kürboğa, the ruler of Mosul.
On 28 June 1098 they marched out of the city and defeated Kürboğa’s army. That victory made it possible to continue toward Jerusalem.
Details you won’t find in guidebooks
- Boats over land. The Byzantines hauled boats overland to Lake İznik, reaching it on 17 June 1097, to cut the city’s supply by water.
- Ten at a time. When Nicaea was handed over, Manuel Boutoumites let crusaders in only in groups of ten at most.
- The Salt Lake detour. The crusaders avoided the short route through Ankara, Kulu and Cihanbeyli because it crossed the waterless Salt Lake basin in summer.
- A detour for water. While looking for food and water, the army turned to Yalvaç after Bolvadin, then reached Konya through Akşehir.
- A disputed relic. In June 1098, Pierre Bartholomée claimed to have found the Holy Lance at Antioch, the spear said to have pierced the side of Jesus. Raymond believed him. The papal representative Adhémar and Bohemond doubted him.
First Crusade armor
A Metropolitan Museum of Art publication describes body armor of the crusading period as mail: a fabric of metal rings linked together.
That is the detail to keep in mind when you picture the march. Soldiers wore this through the Anatolian summer, on roads where wells had been filled in.
The road to Jerusalem
At Antioch, the story of Byzantium and the crusaders took a sharp turn. Alexios had asked for former Byzantine lands to be returned. Antioch was not given back. It became the center of Bohemond’s principality.
In the same year, 1098, the County of Urfa came into being under Baudouin.
On 15 July 1099 the crusaders took Jerusalem, then under Fatimid rule. They carried out a large massacre there, targeting Muslims and Jews.
The crusade ended as a crusader victory. It helped bring about the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It also returned İznik and an important part of western Anatolia to Byzantium.
Timeline
- 1095: Alexios I asks the West for military help against the Seljuk Turks.
- 27 November 1095: Urban II makes the call for the crusade at Clermont.
- 1096: The People’s Crusade, then the main crusader armies, set out to the east.
- 21 October 1096: Kılıç Arslan I defeats the People’s Crusade in the Drakon Valley.
- 14 May 1097: The siege of Nicaea begins.
- 18–19 June 1097: Nicaea is handed over to the Byzantines.
- 1 July 1097: The Battle of Dorylaeum ends in a crusader victory.
- Mid-August 1097: The main army reaches Konya.
- 20 October 1097: The siege of Antioch begins.
- 1098: The County of Urfa is founded under Baudouin.
- 3 June 1098: Antioch falls to the crusaders.
- 28 June 1098: The crusaders defeat Kürboğa’s army outside Antioch.
- 15 July 1099: Jerusalem is taken and a massacre follows.
FAQ
When did the First Crusade take place?
The First Crusade took place in 1096–1099. Preparation began in 1095, when Pope Urban II made his call at the Council of Clermont on 27 November 1095.
Who led the First Crusade?
The main leaders included Godefroy de Bouillon, Raymond IV of Toulouse, Bohemond of Taranto, Tancred and Baudouin de Boulogne. In Anatolia they faced Sultan Kılıç Arslan I, while Alexios I Komnenos ruled Byzantium.
Where did the First Crusade go through Anatolia?
The crusaders reached Nicaea (İznik), moved on to Dorylaeum near Eskişehir, then crossed to Konya and Ereğli. After that, the main army went by way of Kayseri and Maraş to Antioch, while Tancred and Baudouin went down into Cilicia.
What happened at Dorylaeum?
On 1 July 1097, near Eskişehir, the crusaders won against the forces of Kılıç Arslan I. Bohemond’s vanguard was attacked first, and the arrival of the troops behind it changed the result.
What did crusader armor look like?
A Metropolitan Museum publication describes body armor of the crusading period as mail: a fabric of metal rings linked together.
Sources
- Wikipedia — First Crusade en.wikipedia.org
- Historical Association — The First Crusade, 1095–99 Timeline history.org.uk
- Vikipedi — Birinci Haçlı Seferi tr.wikipedia.org
- Ebru Altan — Haçlı Ordularının Anadolu’da Geçtiği Yollar, Belleten belleten.gov.tr
- Wikipedia — Siege of Nicaea en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia — Battle of Dorylaeum (1097) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia — Siege of Antioch en.wikipedia.org
- Andrew Buck — Crusade in crisis: the Siege and Battle of Antioch, 1097–98, Cardiff University orca.cardiff.ac.uk
- Historical Association — The First Crusade history.org.uk
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art — Arms and Armor, Bulletin 32/4 resources.metmuseum.org
Image: Map of First Crusade – Roads of main armies-ar.png — Original: QWerk
Derivative work: باسم, CC BY-SA 3.0
