ATL:-Redemption: Way of the Cross!!

Holy Lance

By the end of the day on 3 June, the crusaders controlled most of the city, except for the citadel, which remained in hands of Yaghi-Siyan's son Shams ad-Daulah. John the Oxite was reinstated as patriarch by Adhemar of Le Puy, the papal legate, who wished to keep good relations with the Byzantines, especially as Bohemond was clearly planning to claim the city for himself. However, the city was now short on food, and Kerbogha's army was still on its way. Kerbogha arrived only two days later, on 5 June. He tried, and failed, to storm the city on 7 June, and by 9 June he had established his own siege around the city.

More crusaders had deserted before Kerbogha arrived, and they joined Stephen of Blois in Tarsus. Stephen had seen Kerbogha's army encamped near Antioch and assumed all hope was lost; the deserters confirmed his fears. On the way back to Constantinople, Stephen and the other deserters met Alexios, who was on his way to assist the crusaders, and did not know they had taken the city and were now under siege themselves. Stephen convinced him that the rest of the crusaders were as good as dead, and Alexios heard from his reconnaissance that there was another Seljuk army nearby in Anatolia. He therefore decided to return to Constantinople rather than risking battle.

Meanwhile in Antioch, on 10 June an otherwise poor and insignificant monk by the name of Peter Bartholomew came forward claiming to have had visions of St. Andrew, who told him that the Holy Lance was inside the city. The starving crusaders were prone to visions and hallucinations, and another monk named Stephen of Valence reported visions of Christ and the Virgin Mary.


On 14 June a meteor was seen landing in the enemy camp, interpreted as a good omen. Although Adhemar was suspicious, as he had seen a relic of the Holy Lance in Constantinople, Raymond believed Peter. Raymond, Raymond of Aguilers, William, Bishop of Orange, and others began to dig in the cathedral of Saint Peter on 15 June, and when they came up empty, Peter went into the pit, reached down, and produced a spear point. Raymond took this as a divine sign that they would survive and thus prepared for a final fight rather than surrender. Peter then reported another vision, in which St. Andrew instructed the crusader army to fast for five days (although they were already starving), after which they would be victorious.

Bohemond was skeptical of the Holy Lance as well, but there is no question that its discovery increased the morale of the crusaders. Peter was reporting what Bohemond wanted as Bohemond knew, from spies in Kerbogha's camp, that the various factions frequently argued with each other. Kerbogha of Mosul was indeed suspected by most emirs to yearn for sovereignty in Syria and often considered as a bigger threat to their interests than the Christian invaders.


On 27 June, Peter the Hermit was sent by Bohemond to negotiate with Kerbogha, but this proved futile and battle with the Turks was thus unavoidable. Bohemond drew up six divisions: he commanded one himself, and the other five were led by Hugh of Vermandois and Robert of Flanders, Godfrey, Robert of Normandy, Adhemar, and Tancred and Gaston IV of Béarn. Raymond, who had fallen ill, remained inside to guard the citadel with 200 men, now held by Ahmed Ibn Merwan an agent of Kerbogha.


 
On Monday, 28 June, the crusaders emerged from the city gate, with Raymond of Aguilers carrying the Holy Lance before them. Kerbogha hesitated against his generals' pleadings, hoping to attack them all at once rather than one division at a time, but he underestimated their size. He pretended to retreat to draw the crusaders to rougher terrain, while his archers continuously pelted the advancing crusaders with arrows. A detachment was dispatched to the crusader left wing, which was not protected by the river, but Bohemond quickly formed a seventh division and beat them back. The Turks were inflicting many casualties, including Adhemar's standard-bearer, and Kerbogha set fire to the grass between his position and the crusaders, but this did not deter them: they had visions of three saints riding along with them, led by St. George, St. Demetrius, and St. Maurice. The battle was short.

The Milites now threw Yaghi-Siyan’s remains and shouted threats of every Muslim ruler they captured suffering the same fate. Before the crusaders reached Kerbogha's line, Duqaq and many other emirs had already betrayed Kerbogha and were taking their armies back to their own lands, this desertion considerably reduced the numerical advantage the mighty army had over its Christian opponents. Soon the remaining Muslim troops had to retreat. As in previous battles, the moment the Turks began to retreat, impoverished crusaders both knights and the poor alike charged with purpose. Loot procured after battle was a crucial blessing for these troubled crusaders. They began to kill as many Turks as possible. Every dead Turk was both a source of metal, weapons but also one less enemy to worry about later. Before Kerbogha finally left the field, 8,000 Turks gave up their lives. Many horses were captured by the Crusaders. The Turkish horses were more suited to the climate of the region being lighter and more mobile so these were vital to the Crusaders to be used as pack animals.
 
As Kerbogha fled, the citadel under command of Ahmed ibn Merwan finally surrendered, but only to Bohemond personally, rather than to Raymond; this seems to have been arranged beforehand without Raymond's knowledge. As expected, Bohemond claimed the city as his own, although Adhemar and Raymond disagreed. After the Milites helped Bohemond convince some of the minor leaders, Hugh of Vermandois and Baldwin of Hainaut were sent to Constantinople, although Baldwin disappeared after an ambush on the way. Alexios, however, was uninterested in sending an expedition to claim the city this late in the summer.

Back in Antioch, Bohemond argued that Alexios I had deserted the crusade and thus invalidated all of their oaths to him. Bohemond and Raymond occupied Yaghi-Siyan's palace, but Bohemond controlled most of the rest of the city and flew his standard from the citadel. It is a common assumption that the Franks of northern France, the Provencals of southern France, and the Normans of southern Italy considered themselves separate "nations" and that each wanted to increase its status. This may have had something to do with the disputes, but personal ambition is more likely the cause of the infighting.
 
Soon an epidemic of typhus broke out, and on 1 August Adhemar of le Puy died. In September the leaders of the crusade wrote to Pope Urban II, asking him to take personal control of Antioch, but he declined. For the rest of 1098, they took control of the countryside surrounding Antioch, although there were now even fewer horses than before, and Muslim peasants refused to give them food. The minor knights and soldiers became restless and starvation began to set in and they threatened to continue to Jerusalem without their squabbling leaders. In November, Raymond finally gave into Bohemond for the sake of continuing the crusade in peace and to calm his mutinous starving troops. At the beginning of 1099 the march was renewed, leaving Bohemond behind as the first Prince of Antioch, and in the spring the Siege of Jerusalem began under the leadership of Raymond.
 
The Milites stayed back in Antioch. The men were battle weary. Alexius and Varkey both decided it was time to take rest and to reinforce. Tancred had left along with the main crusader army as they had moved south towards Jerusalem. The Milites decided to stay back and help Prince Bohemond strengthen the new principality of Antioch. Bohemond offered a few minor baronies to Alexius and Varkey but both refused. Varkey told Bohemond that the Prince would now require as much money as he could obtain. Bohemond was grateful and his favour allowed the Milites vast freedom and powers in Antioch.

Muslims were proving to be resistant and the Milites were dispatched to sort out all the offenders. Those captured were banished from the city and all their possessions were seized by the Milites. Money was handed over to Bohemond while material possessions were kept by the Milites. The Milites soldiers slowly began to reinforce their armaments. The arrival of trade through the Silk Route greatly enhanced Bohemond's coffers and the winter of 1098 had passed without too much discomfort like in 1097. By March 1098, Antioch had been consolidated under Bohemond's rule. The Milites In Oriente now numbered 700 men. In April 1098, after the death of Peter Bartholomew the fraud, Marcus returned from Edessa with new horses, new men and supplies. Baldwin of Edessa was sent money and emissaries to bolster relations between the first two crusader states.
 
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