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Crusade of 1101
Part of the First Crusade
A map of western Anatolia, showing the routes taken by Christian armies
Date Summer of 1101 Location Anatolia Result Seljuk victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of France Duchy of Burgundy County of Blois County of Nevers County of Vermandois Duchy of Aquitaine Montlhéry Holy Roman Empire Palatine County of Burgundy Duchy of Bavaria Margraviate of Austria County of Roussillon Republic of Genoa Eastern Roman Empire Papal States	Sultanate of Rum Danishmends Seljuk emirate of Aleppo
Commanders and leaders
Anselm IV of Milan † Stephen of Blois † Stephen of Burgundy Eudes of Burgundy Constable Conrad Girard I of Roussillon Raymond IV of Toulouse General Tzitas William II of Nevers William IX of Aquitaine Hugh of Vermandois † Welf of Bavaria Ida of Austria †	Kilij Arslan
Casualties and losses
High	Relatively low

The Crusade of 1101 was a crusade of three separate movements, organized in 1100 and 1101 in the successful aftermath of the First Crusade. It is also called the Crusade of the Faint-Hearted due to the number of participants who joined this crusade after having turned back from the First Crusade.

Calls for reinforcements from the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem, and Pope Paschal II, successor to Pope Urban II (who died before learning of the outcome of the crusade that he had called), urged a new expedition. He especially urged those who had taken the crusade vow but had never departed, and those who had turned back while on the march. Some of these people were already scorned at home and faced enormous pressure to return to the east; Countess Adela of Blois was so ashamed of her husband, Count Stephen, who had fled from the siege of Antioch in 1098, that she would not permit him to stay at home.

The Formation of the Outremer

The First Crusade was over. Many Crusaders who participated in the Crusades went back home to Europe. They had just taken over the Holy City of Jerusalem and beat an enormous Fatimid counterattack to take the Holy City back at the Battle of Ascalon and they all went back to Europe in the September of 1099 with Robert Curthose of Normandy and Robert of Flanders leaving Godfrey of Bouillon to defend the Holy City of Jerusalem with only 300 men. These men would inspire others to venture out to the Holy Land too.

One of these people was the Archbishop of Pisa, Dagobert of Pisa. Realizing the need to expand Pisa’s influence east, a move already done by Republic of Venice and Genoa. After being made legate by Pope Paschal II, he set off to the Levant with a fleet of 120 ships which, on their way, made successful raids on Byzantine owned islands like Cephalonia and Corfu. After hearing about this news, Eastern Roman Emperor Alexios I Komnenos dispatched the Byzantine navy which skirmished with the Pisans who, after few skirmishes, left for the Outremer.

One of the Crusader leaders, Bohemond of Antioch, was besieging the Byzantine port of Latakia, and Dagobert and the Pisans agreed to help by blockading the port from the sea. However, the other Crusader leaders, who saw the necessity for cooperation with the Byzantine Emperor and eastern Christians, were horrified and persuaded Dagobert to call off the blockade. Bohemond was forced to abandon the siege, and accompanied Dagobert to Jerusalem, arriving on 21 December 1099.

Immediately after Christmas, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Arnulf of Chocques, was deposed on the ground that his election had been uncanonical, and with Bohemond's support, Dagobert was elected in his place. Public opinion had always held that the Holy Land should be the patrimony of the church, but Arnulf had been too weak to establish supremacy. Dagobert's position was stronger, as he was (probably) papal legate and had the support of the Pisan fleet. Immediately after his enthronement, Godfrey of Bouillon knelt before him and was invested with the territory of Jerusalem, and Bohemond did the same for Antioch. Baldwin, was at this time Count of Edessa, but he did not pay homage to Dagobert. This connection with Pisa now meant that the Crusaders had a line of communication with Western Europe and now didn’t need to rely on Eastern Roman supply shipments.

Cause of the Crusade

In the May of the year 1100, a leader of the 1st Crusade still in the Holy Land, Raymond of Toulouse, left for the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, Constantinople to ask the Byzantine Emperor, [[Alexios I Komnenos, for help to carve out his own kingdom around the Seljuk-controlled Levantine city of Tripoli. Meanwhile an Armenian warlord Gabriel of Melitene took the city of Melitene from an Anatolian Turkic Beylik called the Danishmendids. When he received reports that the Danishmendid Bey Gazi Gümüshtigin of Sebastea was preparing an expedition to recapture Melitene he sought help from Bohemond and even offered his daughter in marriage.

Before the First Crusade, Alexios, the Eastern Roman Emperor, had made Bohemond of Taranto promise to give whatever land he conquered east of Antioch to him. But after the Siege of Antioch, where the Crusaders took Antioch from the Seljuk Empire, Bohemond took the city for himself, founding the Principality of Antioch with himself the Prince of Antioch. In doing this action he had broken his oath to Alexios. For this reason, at around the same time as Bohemond received the cry of help from the Armenians of Melitene, Alexios pressured Bohemond to furfill his oath and to surrender Antioch to the Eastern Romans. But Bohemond refused so the Byzantine navy took the important Cilician ports of Seleucia Trachea and Corycos from Antioch. In response, Bohemond replaced the Greek patriarch of Antioch with a Latin one. Bohemond needed to expand his base, so he decided to help the Armenians in Melitene.

So Bohemond got his army and ventured out to Melitene to fight the Danishmendids. But at the Battle of Melitene, the Danishmendids under Gazi Gümüshtigin ambushed the expedition and "most of the Crusaders were killed." Bohemond was captured along with Richard of Salerno. Among the dead were the Armenian bishops of Marash and Antioch. Bohemond’s followers who were captured in the battle were killed and Bohemond and Richard of Salerno were imprisoned at Neocaesarea, which is modern-day Niksar. Alexios offered to pay 260,000 gold pieces as ransom,way more than the 100,000 the Danishmendids asked for, not to free him but to keep him in custody at Constantinople, but the Danishmendids refused. So while Bohemond was imprisoned at Neocaesarea, his nephew, Tancred, took control of the city, defending it from the Byzantines. The Eastern Romans meanwhile took control of the lands surrounding the port city of Latakia, lands that were immediately to the south of Antioch. Then Alexios had the Byzantines take over Cilicia, lands which were north of Antioch, Alexios did this to take over the lands around the Principality of Antioch and then to squeeze it to extinction.

Godfrey, the King of Jerusalem was busy making the Levantine cities of Acre, Jaffa, Caesarea Maritima, Ascalon, and Arsuf tributaries when he suddenly fell ill. After being ill for a month and a half, Godfrey died on 18 July 1100. He had extracted oaths from Dagobert and other leading crusaders that they "would not confer the throne on anyone except his brothers or one of his blood", according to Albert of Aix. Warner of Grez, Godfrey's most influential retainer, took possession of the Tower of David in Jerusalem to secure control of the city while others loyal to Godfrey took other towers to prevent Dagobert annexing the Holy City for the Papal States. Although Warner soon died, two other members of Godfrey's court, Geldemar Carpenel and Arnulf of Chocques, sent a delegation to Baldwin, urging him to come to Jerusalem.

To prevent Baldwin from seizing Godfrey's realm, Dagobert and Tancred sought assistance from Bohemond I of Antioch. Dagobert sent a letter to him, stating that Baldwin's rule would "bring about the downfall of the church and the destruction of Christianity itself", according to later chronicler William of Tyre even though he was captured. Baldwin hurried to Melitene and pursued the Danishmendids for three days, but he was unable to rescue Bohemond. After his return, the Armenian lord of Melitene, Gabriel of Melitene, swore fealty to him. Baldwin appointed fifty knights to defend the town.

News of Godfrey's death reached Edessa shortly after Baldwin's return from Melitene. His chaplain, Fulcher of Chartres, noticed that Baldwin "grieved somewhat over the death of his brother, but rejoiced more over his inheritance". To finance his journey to Jerusalem, Baldwin seized gold and silver from his subjects. He appointed his relative, Baldwin of Le Bourcq, his successor in the county and Le Bourcq swore fealty to him.

About 200 knights and 300–700 foot-soldiers accompanied Baldwin when he left Edessa on 2 October 1100. He spent four days in Antioch, but did not accept the local inhabitants' plea for him to administer the principality during Bohemond's captivity. After leaving Antioch, the qadi of Tripoli warned Baldwin that the Seljuk emir of Damascus, Shams al-Muluk Duqaq, wanted to ambush him on the narrow road near the mouth of the Nahr al-Kalb River. At the Battle of Nahr al-Kalb, Baldwin routed the Damascene troops. Baldwin then chased Shams al-Muluk Duqaq all the way to Damascus, where he demanded for the city to surrender to him but they didn’t.

Baldwin reached Jerusalem around 9 November. Dagobert withdrew to a monastery on Mount Zion, and the townspeople stopped Baldwin outside the walls and ceremoniously accompanied him to the Holy Sepulchre. Albert of Aix's sporadic references suggest that Baldwin adopted the title of prince. Baldwin first raided the surroundings of Ascalon, which was still held by the Fatimid Caliphate, then launched a punitive expedition against the bandits who had their headquarters in the caves near Jerusalem. He made an incursion across the River Jordan before returning to Jerusalem on 21 December.

Baldwin was reconciled with Dagobert who agreed to anoint and crown him king. The ceremony took place in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Christmas Day. Thereafter Baldwin was most frequently styled king. For instance, a charter of grant in 1104 referred to him as "Baldwin, king of Judea and Jerusalem, and defensor of the Holiest Sepulchre of our Lord, Jesus Christ". In most of his charters, he also emphasised that he was Godfrey's lawful heir. Nearby towns would then send Baldwin gifts to ensure his good will.

Lombards

As in the First Crusade, the pilgrims and soldiers did not leave as a part of one large army, but rather in several groups from various different regions from across Western Europe. In September 1100, a large group of Lombards left from Milan. These were mostly untrained peasants, led by Anselm IV, Archbishop of Milan. When they reached the territory of the Byzantine Empire, they pillaged it recklessly, and Byzantine emperor Alexios I escorted them to a camp outside Constantinople. This did not satisfy them, and they made their way inside the city where they pillaged the Blachernae palace, even killing Alexios' pet lion. The Lombards were quickly ferried across the Bosporus and made their camp at Nicomedia, to wait for reinforcements.

At Nicomedia they were joined in May 1101 by a smaller but stronger contingent of French, Burgundians, and Germans, under Stephen of Blois, Stephen I, Count of Burgundy, Eudes I, Duke of Burgundy, and Conrad, constable of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. Joining them at Nicomedia was Raymond IV of Toulouse, one of the leaders of the First Crusade who was now in the service of the emperor. He was appointed overall leader, and a Byzantine force of Pecheneg mercenaries was sent out with them under the command of General Tzitas. This group marched out at the end of May, towards Dorylaeum, following the route taken by Raymond and Stephen in 1097 during the First Crusade. They planned to continue towards Iconium but the Lombards, whose rabble outnumbered all the other contingents, were determined to march north to Neocaesarea where Bohemond I of Antioch was being held captive by the Danishmends. After capturing Ancyra on 23 June 1101 and returning it to Alexios, the crusaders turned north. They briefly besieged the heavily garrisoned city of Gangra, and then continued north to attempt to capture the Turkish-controlled city of Kastamonu (Kastamone). However, they came under attack from the Seljuq Turks who harassed them for weeks, and a foraging party was destroyed in July.

At this point, under the threats of the Lombards, the entire army turned away from the possible safety of the Black Sea coast and again moved east, toward Danishmend territory and the rescue of Bohemond. However, the Seljuqs, under Kilij Arslan I, realizing that disunity was the cause of their inability to stop the First Crusade, had now allied with both the Danishmends and Ridwan of Aleppo. In early August the crusaders met this combined Muslim army at Mersivan (Mersifon).

Battle of Mersivan

At the Battle of Mersivan, the crusaders were organized into five divisions: the Burgundians, Raymond and the Byzantines, the Germans, the French, and the Lombards. The Turks nearly destroyed the crusaders’ army near the mountains of Paphlagonia at Mersivan (Mersifon). The land was well-suited to the Turks—dry and inhospitable for their enemy, it was open, with plenty of space for their cavalry units. The Turks had been troublesome to the Latins for some days, at last making certain that they went where Kilij Arslan I wanted them to be and making sure that they only found a small amount of supplies.

The battle took place over several days. On the first day, the Turks cut off the crusading armies’ advances and surrounded them. The next day, Conrad led his Germans in a raid that failed miserably. Not only did they fail to open the Turkish lines, they were unable to return to the main crusader army and had to take refuge in a nearby stronghold. This meant that they were cut off from supplies, aid, and communication for an attack that may have taken place had the Germans been able to provide their own military strength.

The third day was somewhat quiet, with little or no serious fighting taking place, but on the fourth day, the crusaders made an intensive effort to free themselves from the trap that they were in. The crusaders inflicted heavy losses on the Turks, but the attack was a failure by the end of the day. Kilij Arslan was joined by Ridwan of Aleppo and other powerful Danishmend princes.

The Lombards, in the vanguard, were defeated, the Pechenegs deserted, and the French and Germans were also forced to fall back. Raymond was trapped on a rock and was rescued by Stephen and Conrad. The battle continued into the next day, when the crusader camp was captured and the knights fled, leaving women, children, and priests behind to be killed or enslaved. Most of the Lombards, who had no horses, were soon found and killed or enslaved by the Turks. Raymond, Stephen of Blois, and Stephen of Burgundy fled north to Sinope, and returned to Constantinople by ship.

The Nivernois

Soon after the Lombard contingent had left Nicomedia, a separate force under William II of Nevers arrived at Constantinople. He had crossed into Byzantine territory over the Adriatic Sea from Bari, and the march to Constantinople was free of incident, an unusual occurrence for a crusade army. He quickly marched out to meet the others, but in fact never caught up with them, although the two armies must have been close to each other on numerous occasions. William briefly besieged Iconium (Konya) but could not take it, and he was soon ambushed at Heraclea Cybistra by Kilij Arslan, who had just defeated the Lombards at Mersivan and was eager to stamp out these new armies as soon as possible. At Heraclea almost the entire contingent from Nevers was wiped out, except for the count himself and a few of his men.

The French and Bavarians

As soon as William II left Constantinople, a third army arrived, led by William IX of Aquitaine, Hugh of Vermandois (one of those who had not fulfilled his vow on the First Crusade), and Welf I, Duke of Bavaria; accompanying them was Ida of Austria, mother of Leopold III of Austria. They had pillaged Byzantine territory on the way to Constantinople and had almost come into conflict with the Pecheneg mercenaries sent to stop them, until William and Welf intervened.

From Constantinople, the Aquitanian-Bavarian army split in two, with one half travelling directly to Jaffa by ship; among them was the chronicler Ekkehard of Aura. The rest, travelling by land, reached Heraclea in September, and, like the previous army, were ambushed and massacred by Kilij Arslan. William and Welf escaped, but Hugh was mortally wounded; the survivors eventually arrived at Tarsus, where Hugh died on 18 October. Ida disappeared during this ambush and was presumably killed, but according to later legend she was taken into captivity and became the mother of Zengi, a great enemy of the crusaders in the 1140s, which - however - is impossible due to chronological factors.

Aftermath

William of Nevers also escaped to Tarsus and joined the rest of the survivors there as did Raymond of Toulouse. Under Raymond's command they captured Tortosa (Tartous), with help from a Genoese fleet. By now the crusade was more of a pilgrimage. The survivors arrived at Antioch at the end of 1101, and at Easter in 1102 arrived in Jerusalem. Afterwards, many of them simply went home, their vow having been fulfilled, although some remained behind to help King Baldwin I defend against an Egyptian invasion at Ramla. Stephen, Count of Blois, father of Stephen, the future King of England, was killed during this battle, as was Hugh VI of Lusignan, ancestor of the future Lusignan dynasty of Jerusalem and Cyprus. Joscelin of Courtenay also stayed behind, and survived to become Count of Edessa in 1118.

The defeat of the crusaders allowed Kilij Arslan to establish his capital at Iconium, and also proved to the Muslim world that the crusaders were not invincible, as they appeared to be during the First Crusade. The crusaders and Byzantines each blamed the other for the defeat, and neither of them were able to ensure a safe route through Anatolia now that Kilij Arslan had strengthened his position. The only open route to the Holy Land was the sea route, which benefitted the Italian maritime republics. The lack of a safe land route from Constantinople also benefitted the Principality of Antioch, where Tancred, ruling for his uncle Bohemond, was able to consolidate his power without Byzantine interference.

Both the Second and Third Crusades suffered similar difficulties when attempting to cross Anatolia.

References

1. Cate, James Lea (1969). "The Crusade of 1101". In Setton, Kenneth M.; Baldwin, Marshall W. (eds.). A History of the Crusades: I. The First Hundred Years. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 343–352.
2. Runciman (1951), pp. 299–300
3. Runciman (1951), pp. 300–303
4. Runciman (1951), pp. 305–307
5. Fink, Harold S. (1969). "Chapter XII. The Foundations of the Latin States, 1099–1118." In Setton, Kenneth M.; Baldwin, Marshall W. (eds.). A History of the Crusades: I. The First Hundred Years. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 368–409.
6. Newman 2014, p. 18.
7. Eggenberger 1975, p. 272. sfn error: no target: CITEREFEggenberger1975 (help)
8. Lock 2006, p. 25.
9. Albert of Aachen: Historia Ierosolimitana – History of the Journey to Jerusalem (ch. vii.27), p. 523.
10. Murray 2000, p. 91.
11. ^ Barber 2012, p. 61.
12. ^ Runciman 1989a, p. 322.
13. ^ Edgington 2019, p. 60.
14. ^ Barber 2012, p. 62.
15. Edgington 2019, p. 69.
16. Tyerman 2006, p. 186.
17. Maalouf 1984, p. 61.
18. Maalouf 1984, p. 63.
19. ^ Murray 2000, p. 94.
20. ^ Runciman 1989a, p. 325.
21. ^ Murray 2000, p. 95.
22. ^ Barber 2012, p. 63.
23. ^ MacEvitt 2010, p. 117.
24. Murray 2000, p. 96.
25. Murray 2000, p. 73.
26. Runciman, Steven (1987). A history of the Crusades, vol. 2: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 18–23. ISBN 052134770X. OCLC 17461930.
27. Runciman, Steven (1987). A history of the Crusades, vol. 2: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 23–25. ISBN 052134770X. OCLC 17461930.
28. Runciman, Steven (1987). A history of the Crusades, vol. 2: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 25–27. ISBN 052134770X. OCLC 17461930.
29. Alan V. Murray, Ed. (2006). The Crusades: An Encyclopedia, Vol. I, ABC-CLIO, Inc., p. 307.
30. Runciman, Steven (1987). A history of the Crusades, vol. 2: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 27–29. ISBN 052134770X. OCLC 17461930.
31. Runciman, Steven (1987). A history of the Crusades, vol. 2: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 29. ISBN 052134770X. OCLC 17461930.

Sources

• Barber, Malcolm (2012). The Crusader States. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11312-9.
• Edgington, Susan B. (2019). Baldwin I of Jerusalem, 1100-1118. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-4724-3356-5.
• Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-24913-1.
• Lock, Peter (2006). The Routledge Companion to the Crusades. Routledge. ISBN 9-78-0-415-39312-6.
• Maalouf, Amin (1984). The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. SAQI. ISBN 978-0-86356-023-1. (registration required)
• MacEvitt, Christopher (2010). The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-4050-4.
• Murray, Alan V. (2000). The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Dynastic History, 1099–1125. Prosopographica et Geneologica. ISBN 978-1-9009-3403-9.
• Newman, Sharan (April 2014). Defending the City of God: A Medieval Queen, the First Crusades and the Quest for Peace in Jerusalem. St Martin's Publishing Group. ISBN 9781137437839.
• Runciman, Steven (1951). The First Crusade. A History of the Crusades. Vol. 1. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Runciman, Steven (1989) . A History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-06161-2. (registration required)
• Tyerman, Christopher (2006). God's War: A New History of the Crusades. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-02387-1. (registration required)

Further reading

Primary sources

• Albert of Aix, Historia Hierosolymitana

Secondary sources

• Cate, James Lea (1942–1943). "A Gay Crusader". Byzantion. 16 (2): 503–526. JSTOR 44168569.

• Crusade of 1101
• Conflicts in 1101
• 1101 in Asia
• 1100s in the Kingdom of Jerusalem
• 1100s in the Byzantine Empire
• 12th-century crusades
• 12th century in the Seljuk Empire