WI Iftikhar-Al Daula had crushed Crusaders outside Jerusalem in 1099?

The Crusaders reached Jerusalem in June 7 1099 faced with a seemingly impossible task, their spirits were raised when a priest by the name of Peter Desiderius claimed to have a divine vision in which the ghost of Adhemar Le Puy instructed them to fast for three days and then march in a barefoot procession around the city walls, after which the city would fall in nine days. Although they were already starving, they fasted, and on July 8 they made the procession, with the clergy blowing trumpets and singing psalms, being mocked by the defenders of Jerusalem all the while.
WI Fatimid governor Iftikhar-Al Daula had attempted a sortie when the Crusaders were processing around the walls of Jerusalem and crushed them?
How is this altering History? Would there be (sic) another Crusade or the Nobles would give it up? Any thoughts?
 
It's hard to be sure - after all, we are talming a good bit of religioous delusion here - but this could break the back of the crusading movement, and discredit the Cluniacs to boot. No more crusades - we remember what happened the last time. Holy wars are now limited to the border of Christendom, and strictly local affairs. The church might even take this as a signal that the whole armed pilgrim thing was a bad idea, though I wouldn't bet on it.

I once went with the speculation that this failure fatally weakened the papacy's prestige at a crucial juncture, but that's definitely pushing things.
 
Crusaders.

The crusaders had recently occupied Antioch. I'm sure Alexius Comnenus could have easily taken it from them at this point. I'm not sure about Edessa, but perhaps that would have become Byzantine also.
 
The crusaders had recently occupied Antioch. I'm sure Alexius Comnenus could have easily taken it from them at this point. I'm not sure about Edessa, but perhaps that would have become Byzantine also.

A Byzantine Antioch would allow the Comnenus to complete the encirclement of the Iconium Sultanate, and could mean that under Alexius' successors the Byzantines are able to complete the never-achieved Comnenus' dream- restoring Anatolia to the Empire.

The biggest effect would probably be in Iberia though- the Crusader impulse is going to exist anyway and Iberia is now the only game in town.
 
well the nobles will still attempt to take Jerusulam... just it will slightly weaken Pope Urban II with his struggles against the HRE... Also eventualy the Papacy will regain the luster it lost as a result of this blunder
 
well the nobles will still attempt to take Jerusulam... just it will slightly weaken Pope Urban II with his struggles against the HRE... Also eventualy the Papacy will regain the luster it lost as a result of this blunder

What nobles? The peeled-off forces at Antioch and Edessa will have their hands full holding on to what they have, and everybody else just died. I don't think you'll see many more people eager to follow in the footsteps of the Pilgrimage of 1099.
 
In OTL Pope Urban II died few days before the fall of Jerusalem and before news of the Crusade reach West...
If news of the disaster reached Rome would the Cardinals elected a Pope who would support a new Crusade or a more pacifist Pope?
 
At least the citizens of Rome will care. Though they can always rally around the antipope.

I'm not sure, though, that electing a pacifist is an option at this stage. The influence of the Cluniacs is such that they would basically have to be opposed forcefully, which doesn't really sound like a pacifist position. The majority of the epicopate is involved in secular government, so they wouldn't appreciate the point. I suspect the only way you can get there is by having the emperors win the investiture contest completely.

Another question is whether a loss of confidence in the papacy might do something to Sicily. The Norman kings operated as the pope's swordarm in many respects. If they had less to win from this constellation, they could decide it's not worth it and abandon the idea. And since they won't give back the privileges they had received (lay investiture, ecclesiastical jurisdiction), chances are other kings will also claim them for themselves. That would effectively end the investiture contest with an imperial victory because the pope's supporters walk off the field.

The most frightening idea would be for the Cluniac/reformist party and the royal episcopates of Western Europe to split and cripple the credibility of any new pope. This could either put papal investiture back in the hands of Rome or leave it with the emperors.
 
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