I think he means the Muslim leaders of the time not he populace itself. Granted that may not greatly improve any relations between them as the 'Franks' still have gone and conquered the third holiest city in Islam. It may boost the standing of Christians as a whole though as it helps prevent the idea that all Christians were uncultured savages developing. The only real boost that I can see is in TTL's future. With no 'great' massacre modern day debates on the crusades a greatly altered. Granted the presence of a surviving Jerusalem would also change them (please let it last that long).
And All Nations Shall Gather To It - Volume I: The Abode of Peace
- Thread starter Ricard (i.e. Rdffigueira)
- Start date
I´m not sure about this, after all the Muslim side itself was just overrun and later led by "uncultured savages"(turks), was this really how muslim historians of the time viewed things?
Maybe I exaggerated but the Muslim world wouldn't really have a high opinion of dealing with the Franks either way. That's what I'm trying to emphasise.
Yeah, I think a big part of why the massacre was worse than usual(if it actually was, but I guess it must have been) is because of the extremely desperate state the whole ordeal was until then, culminating into not the romantic event pilgrims and other people would have thought.
Is like if Lord of the Rings ended with the humans pillaging innocent Orcs´ families and even other humans and friendly races that stood in their way. Not exactly what you expected.
Four months since the previous post. And I left many posts without reply, something that I avoid doing.
It's too bad, I enjoyed writing this story, but these have been very busy and complicated months. In the past few weeks, I've found some time to ressurrect and give a small revamp on my Republican Brazil TL (see my signature below, if you are interested), and now I believe I can bring some new stuff for this TL as well, even if tidbits of updates. I promise my readers that I'm committed to going forward with both of these TL's (as I have big plans for them), so I ask that you bear with me.
I'm very happy to see that the TL got the Forum's attentions back there in April, so I hope you guys continue around.
It's too bad, I enjoyed writing this story, but these have been very busy and complicated months. In the past few weeks, I've found some time to ressurrect and give a small revamp on my Republican Brazil TL (see my signature below, if you are interested), and now I believe I can bring some new stuff for this TL as well, even if tidbits of updates. I promise my readers that I'm committed to going forward with both of these TL's (as I have big plans for them), so I ask that you bear with me.
I'm very happy to see that the TL got the Forum's attentions back there in April, so I hope you guys continue around.
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7. The Death of Godfrey of Bouillon (1099)
Detail of a painting representing Duke Godfrey's funeral in 1099 A.D.
The apostolic see of Jerusalem was nominally held by Patriarch Simon II, who, however, had been exiled to Constantinople after the Turks conquered the city. Respectful of their oaths towards Basileus Alexius I Komnenos, his seat in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher remained unoccupied until the Patriarch finally decided to return, in late 1101.
This provision, however, would soon prove to be a ceremonious masquerade in order to gratify the Greeks in Constantinople, as the Latins immediately established a separate ecclesiastic jurisdiction – the so-called “Roman Church of Jerusalem” – under Bishop Ademar de Monteil, unanimously elected to fulfill the office in the stead of the Holy See. The Al-Aqsa Mosque, an impressive Islamic sanctuary that had been almost untouched by the depredations of the city’s capture, was chosen to be the headquarters of this new parallel patriarchate. According to the legend, the mosque had been built over the ruins of the legendary temple inaugurated by the Biblical King Solomon, and thus the place became known simply as the “Temple of Solomon”.
Whatever were the original intentions of Pope Urban II – who was unknowingly about to die of natural causes – or of the Crusaders, it came to happen that the realm of Jerusalem was born officially as a theocratic state. Nevertheless, even if Bishop Adhemar himself was no stranger to arms – having distinguished himself in various battles during the campaign – he knew that a lay prince would have to be appointed to serve as a military protector of the Holy Land.
The choice would necessarily be between Duke Godfrey of Lower Lotharingia and Count Raymond of Toulouse, who were the senior leaders of the expedition, with the most salient aristocratic titles and lineages, and also the wealthiest lords. In the context of the feudal society, these premises were quintessential, as a lord needed to have resources and prestige – or, as Bishop Adhemar himself called, dignitas and auctoritas – to exact obligations and rewards the vassals, even if all of them were de iure subjects of the Pope.
As it happens, Duke Godfrey had since the beginning of 1099 been struck with a recurrent and debilitating fever. The contemporary sources all describe different symptoms, that went from bouts of delirium to blood cough, but it was most likely that he had contracted malaria, a mosquito-transmitted disease that was endemic in the Levant at the time. In any event, his sickness had already manifested during the Siege of Jerusalem, and, after the victory, sapped Godfrey from his health to the point that Bishop Adhemar de Monteil and the other leaders could simply predict that the Lotharingian noble would pass away soon.
Indeed, Godfrey passed away in 1099, barely a week after the conquest of Jerusalem, in the new court he had established inside the Tower of David. A procession was conducted from there, where his veterans solemnly carried his body to a suitable burial spot in the sacred grounds of the Mount of the Olives.
According to Arnulf of Chocques (the sole eyewitness account of his deceasing) Duke Godfrey had proclaimed to be very happy to die in the place where Christ had suffered his ultimate fate and then resurrected.
Godfrey had never married, and thus was childless, but his younger brother Baldwin of Boulogne was currently ruling in Edessa as its self-proclaimed Count.
Baldwin arrived (with his mixed Lotharingian and Armenian retinue) in the next week from the fort of Turbessel to pay the respects to his deceased brother. The Count of Edessa arrived just in time to join the requiem mass, and was mildly surprised by the fact that thousands of the pilgrims participated in the funeral of the endeared Duke.
Count Raymond of Toulouse was the natural choice, then to become the secular ruler of Jerusalem. It seems, however, that he, at first, vehemently refused to accept the offer of becoming King of Jerusalem – his piety would not allow it, and he shuddered at the mere thought of wearing a crown in the place where Christ had suffered and died. Soon enough, the Provençal lord changed his mind, however, and, in the same month of April, was ceremoniously invested with the neutral honorific of “Defender of the Holy Land”, and a more tangible title as “Duke of Galilee”.
It is highly probable that Count Raymond was actually Bishop Adhemar’s prime candidate to held thislay principality – they, after all, had been the very first ones to accept Pope Urban II’s summon in Clairmont, a few years before, and were mutual friends and political allies who shared the same vision for the new nation founded in the Holy Land. In fact, it is likely that Count Raymond, even if out of genuine piety had no desire to be King of Jerusalem, as his successors would later proclaim themselves, abhorred even more the thought of having his rival Bohemond in this prestigious position. The Italo-Norman lord, despite lacking resources and being from a parvenu dynasty, was venerated by the pilgrims, knights and minor lordlings due to his military prowess, and had demonstrated the ambition of establishing for himself a kingdom in the Orient.
No sources expressly attest the underlying causes of Raymond’s change of mind, but at least one chronicle briefly mentions that the Frankish and Italian knights acclaimed Bohemond with a golden diadem that had been pillaged from an Islamic mosque, as if he was supposed to be crowned their new King. Count Raymond and Bishop Adhemar must have been alarmed by this unexpected episode, and quickly safeguarded their own interests by alienating the Italo-Norman lord from any positions of authority. This conclusion is corroborated by the fact that Bohemond was not given any meaningful position inside Jerusalem itself, and, not long afterwards, departed from the city altogether with his followers to procure a kingdom for himself.
*****
Thus, Count Raymond was officially anointed as the Defender of the Holy Land and Duke of Galilee, under the nominal suzerainty of Bishop Adhemar of Jerusalem, who himself answered directly to Pope Urban II. Before their messages communicating these episodes arrived in Rome, however, the Pontifex Maximus passed away, in July 1099. His successor, Pope Paschal II, was quickly elected to sit in the vacant throne in the next month, and happily ratified the ceremonies celebrated in Jerusalem.
Despite the resounding victories of the Crusade, however, there was still a loose end, one that might have, yet again, caused the undoing of the whole expedition: a vast Fatimid army, led by the Vizier of Egypt, al-Malik al-Afdal ibn Badr al-Jamali Shahanshah, was marching to retrieve Jerusalem and exact revenge in the name of Allah upon the Christians.
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Chapter Notes: OTL, Godfrey of Bouillon actually refused the crown of Jerusalem, when it was offered to him, claiming that he refused “to wear a crown of gold in the place where Jesus had worn a crown of thorns”. At the time, he was the most popular and most powerful leader of the First Crusade, but the crown had indeed been offered to Count Raymond, who outright refused it was well, and thus Godfrey accepted the nomination but avoided using a kingly title, preferring the more neutral “Advocate of the St. Sepulcher”. Nevertheless, he became a de facto hereditary monarch, and his younger brother, Baldwin, the self-proclaimed Count of Edessa, succeeded him in 1101 as “King of Jerusalem” and thus the De Boulogne Dynasty was established.
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I'm glad to see this is back and I definitely need to check your other timeline.
A Raymond led Kingdom of Jerusalem will have some interesting affects on the future of the Crusader States especially with Baldwin still in Edessa and Antioch under Byzantine control, the most immediate obviously being Ascalon. I am worried as to where Bohemond ends up since he is still on the warpath, but I'm guessing he will continue to be a nuisance to both Raymond and Alexius where ever he goes.
A Raymond led Kingdom of Jerusalem will have some interesting affects on the future of the Crusader States especially with Baldwin still in Edessa and Antioch under Byzantine control, the most immediate obviously being Ascalon. I am worried as to where Bohemond ends up since he is still on the warpath, but I'm guessing he will continue to be a nuisance to both Raymond and Alexius where ever he goes.
I'm glad to be back
Indeed. For now Bohemond will stay nearby, as he thinks that he has no future in "Byzantine" Syria, and his continued presence will generate rifts with the newly invested Raymond.
Baldwin, on the other hand, will tend to be a less important character in this regard, being so far of the center of power in Jerusalem, unlike IOTL, where his quick ascension to the throne made him the most powerful Christian prince in the region.
Also, Ascalon... good that you mentioned it, we'll get to Ascalon soon.
8. The Battle of Gaza (1099)
The engagement between the combined Crusader army and the Fatimids occurred in the outskirts of Gaza [Ghazzah], in the middle of May 1099, and resulted in a much-needed Christian victory. In hindsight, the Crusader triumph in that day might have been the ultimate solution to secure the survival of the First Crusade, because, had they failed there, the Fatimids would have successfully reconquered the whole of Palestine, devoid of Frankish soldiers to garrison it.The vizier of Egypt, Al-Afdal Shahanshah (Latinized “Lavendalius”), was the power-behind-the-throne in the Caliphate, with the feeble and slothful Caliph in Cairo, Abū'l-Qāsim Aḥmad al-Musta‘lī bil-Lāh, being a mere puppet to his designs, but he was not an accomplished military leader. As a result of his recklessness, the large army marched hurriedly from Cairo, traversing a particularly difficult and arid terrain in the Sinai Peninsula to reach the fortress of Ascalon [ʿAsqalān]. This course would permit the Muslims to avoid the rugged plateaus of Negev, thus preserving their health and resources, but the forced march left the soldiers tired and anxious. In their night camps, one could feel the atmosphere of fear, as tales and rumours abounded about the savage “al-Franj”, that had come like a swarm of locusts to prey on Syria and Palestine.
Foot-soldier and heavy cavalryman (Ghulam) of the Fatimid Egyptian army
From Ascalon, Al-Afdal intended to march inland and besiege Jerusalem. He did not know, though, that the Christian army, led by Raymond, Bohemond, Baldwin of Edessa – who had remained in Jerusalem after Godfrey’s funeral to join in the battle against the Caliphate –, Stephen of Blois, Robert Curthose of Normandy and Robert of Flanders, had already departed to meet him, and sought to intercept him before he reached Ascalon.
Indeed, this coastal stronghold, with its sun-bleached bricks and black-crescent banners represented a grave strategic concern for the Crusaders. Due to the intelligence collected by the Rhomaioi, the Franks were aware that after the Fatimid capture of Jerusalem from the Seljuks (in 1098), the port of Ascalon had been refortified and garrisoned, with the purpose of preserving the main land route between Jerusalem and the Mediterranean Sea, thus allowing the region of Lower Palestine to be reinforced by the Egyptian troops coming from the sea. However, excepting Ascalon and Gaza, the Fatimid hold over the region was tenuous, and they lacked useful information about the Crusaders’ movements. It is likely, in fact, that only when Al-Afdal arrived in Ascalon itself he would discover about Raymond’s whereabouts.
Thus, it came to pass that Al-Afdal was taken by surprise by a swift assault of his enemies, whose exhilarated hosts had bypassed Ascalon and arrived in Gaza in a single day. With the morale soaring due to the triumphant “liberation” of Jerusalem, the Crusaders launched an aggressive incursion, seeking to break the center of the enemy battle line and thus create a state of panic. The plan almost backfired, actually, as the numerical superiority of the Egyptians inspired them to attempt a pincer maneuver to encircle the Christian army, and, accordingly, their flanks suffered the heaviest losses, including the death of Tancred – Bohemond’s nephew – in a bloody engagement. In spite of this, the Fatimid troops were mostly raw recruits, and lost the nerve not long after the initial showdown, and before the Crusaders could be encircled. The whole army shattered when Al-Afdal himself fled from the battlefield with his Mamluk bodyguards, frightened by a charge of the Frankish shock cavalry.
Despite Raymond’s effort in persecuting the routing bands, a substantial portion of the Fatimid army succeeded in escaping to the safety of Gaza’s fortifications. Al-Afdal himself escaped back to Cairo with his entourage, realizing too late that a large part of his men had been left behind with his campaign luggage.
*****
Gaza was then submitted to a siege, but this time Raymond opted to starve the defenders into capitulation, as he had no desire to waste his already beleaguered soldiers in direct offensive.
The fortress, located on a rocky promontory, was a natural point of interest to any army crossing Africa and Asia, but, surprisingly, it had been neglected during the conflict against the Turks, because the Fatimids had grown more dependent on Ascalon to secure their control over Lower Palestine. Thus, the town inside the circuit of walls was mostly uninhabited and lacked enough resources to sustain such a large and unexpected agglomeration of refugees.
The climate helped the Franks, as the month of May inaugurated a particularly dry season, and the lack of water inside the encircled citadel accelerated the state of deprivation of the besieged soldiers. They awaited more than a month to receive any news about reinforcements coming from Egypt, and on their own almost succeeded in dislodging the besieging forces when they discovered that the Italo-Norman army under Bohemond had abandoned Raymond’s troops on the field, in the final days of May, apparently due to a petty quarrel between the Christian leaders. A night attack launched by the Saracens inflicted some losses on Raymond’s Provençals and Baldwin’s Lotharingians, but their effort was vain. The siege continued until early June, when they finally capitulated, still without any information about the coming of a relief force.
Duke Raymond, true to his reputation as a magnanimous and chivalrous warlord, even towards the “infidels” (and against the exhortations of his vassals to exterminate their foes), allowed the most aristocratic elements of the humiliated army to return peacefully to their homeland irrigated by the Nile, and forbid his soldiers to rape and kill those who had paid ransom, while hundreds of others were either enslaved or expelled from the city barefoot to suffer a long journey across the desert. The last visages of these poor souls, then, when they looked back to the Mediterranean coast, were about the white banners with red crosses upon the ramparts of Gaza.
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Chapter Notes: OTL, Tancred, the nephew of Bohemond, lived until 1112 A.D., having, after the capture of Jerusalem, being recognized as Prince of Galilee, and then forfeiting his title when Baldwin of Edessa became King of Jerusalem. Tancred went to Antioch and assumed the regency of the principality during his uncle Bohemond’s imprisonment in a Turkish dungeon. After Bohemond died, Tancred remained as regent for his son, Bohemond II.
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I'm guessing that, aside from whatever Bohemond does next, this is the effective end of the First Crusade more or less. All that's left now is to divvy up the spoils and determine who stays in the Levant and who goes back to Europe.
It really is surprising that the Crusaders didn't take Ascalon or Gaza at this point in OTL as it would have saved them a lot of headache later. Having control of Ascalon and Gaza will certainly better secure the Southern flank of the Kingdom of Jerusalem against any future Fatimid attacks.
It really is surprising that the Crusaders didn't take Ascalon or Gaza at this point in OTL as it would have saved them a lot of headache later. Having control of Ascalon and Gaza will certainly better secure the Southern flank of the Kingdom of Jerusalem against any future Fatimid attacks.
You've really got a thing against Bohemond and Tancred, don't you?
Not that I like them, exactly, but I always thought they were two of the more interesting personalities in the Crusade. Still, butterflies are merciless I suppose.
Not that I like them, exactly, but I always thought they were two of the more interesting personalities in the Crusade. Still, butterflies are merciless I suppose.
Manpower will soon become a very serious concern. After Gaza and Ascalon, many of the Crusaders will return to Europe, like OTL, leaving only some minor noblemen and a handful of subjects and vassals to keep the land. For now, they lack any capacity to invade Egypt, considering that despite the recent defeat, the Fatimids are still a formidable enemy. We can't forget, anyway, that the Crusaders have been on continuous march and conflict for almost five consecutive years by now. All of them are either exhausted and/or homesick, and not even the Crusader leaders will have the gut to undertake a conquest of Egypt.
Regarding the Alexios' role in the selection of the Jerusalemite ruler, I must confess that I didn't consider it. I'll give more thought to it in the future
. Nevertheless, I believe that Alexios might be, for now, comfortable with the circumstances. He's mostly concerned about restoring Roman dominion in Anatolia and with weakening the Turkish warlords of the Near East, and, in this regard, the "election" of Raymond makes the agreement even more favorable, because Raymond is more friendly to the Empire than, say, Bohemond or Godfrey would be.The siege of Ascalon (that we'll see in the next chapter) is considered to be the final mark of the First Crusade, but your observations are correct, of course.
IOTL, the Crusader failure to capture Ascalon happened mostly because Raymond and Godfrey, during its siege, couldn't decide about who would be the lord over the stronghold after it was submitted. A quarrel between them caused Raymond to leave with his army, followed by Robert Curthose and Robert of Flanders, leaving Godfrey alone with his reduced army. Thus, the siege was abandoned, and Ascalon remained a stone in Jerusalem's shoe for many years.
If I remember correctly, in fact, the Templar Order was created, in first place, in an effort to make the road linking Jaffa to Jerusalem more secure, due to the endemic raids launched by the Arabs/Egyptians from Ascalon.
You've really got a thing against Bohemond and Tancred, don't you?
To be honest, I really considered getting rid of both Tancred and Bohemond; not because I dislike them, mind you, but because I honestly think (having read a lot about OTL Principality of Antioch's hostility towards the "Byzantine" Empire) that having more "amicable" leaders of Jerusalem towards Constantinople (at least in this initial moments) will ensure the long-term survival of the *KoJ, and Bohemond's interests would directly conflict with those of the Empire.
Then, I decided to keep Bohemond, and, until his death, I promise that he'll play a large (perhaps protagonistic, even so) role in alt-Jerusalem, even if his "beginnings" in the Holy Land are not auspicious. In fact, that might yield a better scenario for Bohemond in his later years than OTL, in which, after his imprisonment by the Turks and, some years later, his ultimate defeat at Alexios' hands in Greece, he never gained proeminence again.
Tancred, of course, is also an interesting character in his own right, but nevertheless, he is a divisive political force in a kingdom that, in the moment, needs domestic stability. Nothing personal, I suppose.
I don't think he must go this far. There is still land in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria ripe for taking. Egypt is effectivelly off limits, and Ifriqya... well, I suppose that Bohemond will simply leave that piece of the world to his kinsmen who are about to conquer Sicily.
I've always thought it would be easy to make a choke point around the Sinai, it would be a shame if they couldn't take it eventually
Keep around then, I have an update ready to go online tomorrow. Hope you like it!
I'm not sure if I understood your point, but, indeed, Sinai is theoretically a strategic choke point. The fact that the core of the peninsula is a mostly unhospitable desert makes transport routes linking Africa to Asia to go exactly along the coast. The problem, for the Crusaders, is that they have pretty much stretched themselves too thinly, and are too exhausted to continue going forward into a dangerous arid country. Their options, after capturing Gaza and Ascalon, would be to attack the sole two permanent settlements in the region, Al-'Arish and Al-Faramah (ancient Pelusium).
But you are correct of course. In the not so far future in which the Crusaders are able to mount a campaign against Egypt itself, the acquisition of Arish and Pelusium will be top-priorities and strategic concerns, especially with the purpose of creating this continental-wide choke point.
9. The Downfall of Ascalon (1099)
Not long after the defeat of Al-Afdal and the capture of Gaza, a squadron of Genoese ships captained by Guglielmo Embriaco [Ghigærmo de ri Embrieghi] arrived in Jaffa [Yāfō], and, hearing about the capture of the stronghold, sailed to meet the Crusaders. Raymond was in a hurry to besiege Ascalon, and so the appearance of the Genoese was taken as divine providence.
Guglielmo Embriaco barely disguised his surprise when the Toulousan nobleman, after a brief exchange of compliments, offered him the lordship of Gaza (in his capacity as a steward of Archbishop Adhemar in Jerusalem), on the condition that the fort should be reinforced and its defenses restored. The offer was eagerly accepted, and thus the very first permanent Italian settlement in the Levant was founded, a pattern that would be observed in all the coastal cities of significance in the Levant, like Acre [Akka], Beirut [Bayrūt] and Tyre [Ṣūr].
Duke Raymond, together with Count Baldwin of Edessa, accompanied by the remnant armies of Stephen of Blois, Robert Curthose of Normandy and of Robert of Flanders, advanced upon Ascalon and submitted the city to siege in the same week of the capitulation of Gaza.
By then, his army was mostly comprised by Provençals (the Italo-Normans led by Bohemond had already departed back to Jerusalem) and a handful of Lotharingians that had preferred to remain in the employ of Baldwin of Edessa. After the battle of Gaza, hundreds of pilgrims returned to Europe, content with having fulfilled their vows of liberating Jerusalem, only remaining either those that held personal allegiances towards the Frankish lords, or those who had desire to build for themselves new lives in the Holy Land.
On the other hand, ever since the capture of Jerusalem, the Greek ships deployed by Tatikios under Basileus Alexios’ orders had also sailed back from Caesarea to Antioch, and from there to Constantinople, also believing that their mission of retaking Palestine from the Fatimids had been fulfilled.
Without maritime support, the siege of Ascalon might have been a vain effort, as the garrison could be resupplied and reinforced by the Egyptian fleets. Indeed, it was likely that Alexios intended, for the time being, to avoid a direct confrontation with the Fatimids, with whom the Rhomaioi had hitherto fostered a non-aggression pact of sorts. The Crusaders were not exactly aware about Alexios’ intentions towards the Shiite Caliphate, and were dismayed to see the departure of the Imperial navy under dubious excuses, but the victory in Gaza had elevated the spirits and morale of the remaining soldiers – even if their bodies were wracked by continuous years of march and battle, and their ranks thinned by Levantine diseases – and for this reason they decided to commit their force to take Ascalon, lest the stronghold might be used by the Egyptians to launch raids into the heartlands of Palestine.
The presence of the Genoese fleet nearby in Gaza, then, made the scales of the balance of war to hang in favor of the Crusaders. With the Eastern Mediterranean apparently purged from the Fatimid armada by the efforts of the Greek navy, the Genoese galleys fulfilled an easy task of blockading Ascalon’s port.
*****
Completely blockaded, by land and sea, the garrison and urban militia in Ascalon began to suffer the effects of deprivation in a matter of weeks, while the Crusaders successfully established a direct supply line with Gaza and managed to renew their resources even in a particularly dry season.
The defenders capitulated in the beginning of August 1099, after a band of daring Genoese skirmishers penetrated the defenses and opened the gates during the night, barely some days before a minor Egyptian infantry army crossed the Sinai, quickly bypassing Gaza in an effort to surprise the besieging Frankish forces and relieve the defenders of Ascalon.
About this episode, Charles of Acre (writing in the 13th Century), tells us that a certain John of Nîmes, a friar serving in Count Raymond’s retinue, architected a plan to surprise and defeat the arriving Saracens. In the week that this new Egyptian army arrived, the Christians had not yet holstered their own banners in the captured citadel of Ascalon, having left the Islamic crescent-spangled flags draping in the wind, and thus some Christian soldiers were dressed with Saracen armors and clothing and then stationed in the ramparts to greet the Muslims. Their purpose was to pretend that the siege had resulted in failure and the Christian invaders had given up and already departed to Jerusalem. The town inside the citadel had not been plundered, so there was no smoke, nor ruin, thus preserving the façade that the besiegers had given up the siege, and that the Egyptians would be received with honors by the overjoyed citizens.
Thus, it happened that the soldiers coming from the old Nile were deceived, as they entered the walled town believing to be among friends, and were subsequently entrapped like dogs and slaughtered. The sudden charge and sheer ferocity of the Frankish strike reduced their foes to a panicked mob, and few of them escaped from Raymond’s exhilarated troops, only to doom themselves to a forced trek in the sun-punished badlands of the Sinai.
*****
Before the year of 1099 ended, Count Raymond himself was given castle of Ascalon by Bishop Adhemar – who had full comprehension of the city’s strategic relevance, and the need of preserving both the military and maritime control of the region by the Provençals and Venetians, respectively. Not long thereafter, Count Raymond enfeoffed it as a barony to his nephew, William-Jordan of Cerdanya [Guilhèm Jordà], who had accompanied him on the Crusade and had become one of his most resourceful partisans.
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