Crusade

Robert had persuaded the Council of War to agree that civilians would not be harmed, but it was an empty promise. The Christian army showed no mercy.

Eight months of privation and the bloodlust of the Crusaders combined to create a frenzy of killing that lasted all night. By dawn, the streets flowed with rivers of blood and piles of bodies made them impassable.

Blinded by their indiscriminate savagery and the blackness of a moonless night, the marauding Crusaders put to the sword Syrian Orthodox Christians, Armenians, Jews and Greeks, who all perished with their Muslim neighbours.

In what should have been a moment of great elation for Sweyn, he stood on the battlements of the city and, instead of hailing the victory, let out an anguished cry.

‘ Why? ’

Stewart Binns

Crusade

30. Besiegers Besieged

Sweyn’s achievement had saved the Crusade, but only just in time. Kerbogha’s vast army appeared on the horizon in the middle of the afternoon. The entire Crusader army and all its civilian entourage hurried into Antioch and the gates were closed behind them.

We took stock of our position. It was grim; we had the city’s strong walls around us, but it had been under siege for nearly nine months and its granaries and storerooms were empty. Our supply line to the coast was gone and Kerbogha’s army was big enough to completely enclose us and gradually tighten the noose. Worst of all, the city was full of bodies and we faced a fight against time to burn them before they contaminated the wells.

Having spent nine months in Purgatory outside the walls, we now faced a living Hell within them.

The Muslim army was so huge it seemed to occupy every foot of ground around the entire city. Their war drums boomed incessantly and their cries for vengeance filled the air day and night. There were soon many desertions from our ranks, including the previously faithful Ives and Aubrey of Grandmesnil, who lowered themselves down ropes and made a cowardly dash for the ships at St Symeon.

We were already feeble and demoralized, but conditions for our army soon got worse. The only foodstuff we had found in any quantity was a store of spices. Ingenious, if hardly appetizing, methods were devised to put it to use. One of them was to make a soup of spices from leaves plus a few thin slices of animal hide and enliven it with blood bled from our precious horses. It did little for the well-being of our horses, and probably did us more harm than good.

Kerbogha’s army attacked constantly, using a seemingly inexhaustible reserve of men. They always attacked more than one wall at a time, wearing us down in an ever downward spiral of despair. Often the Turks attacked in such great numbers that they reached the top of the battlements, where the hand-to-hand fighting was ferocious. Bohemond created small groups of his best men to act as elite squads and close any breaches in our defences.

Sleep was all but impossible, except in brief respites of no more than two hours twice a day. We were fortunate that the men still standing were the elite survivors of countless battles, deprivations and diseases and thus made of the sternest stuff. Bohemond was the strongest of all and relied more and more on Hereward’s experience and military acumen. They became very close, with Sweyn acting as their main aide-de-camp, delivering orders to the other princes and senior commanders.

Raymond of Toulouse became ill and was unable to lead the Council of War, so Robert took on the role. Hereward and Sweyn had devised an astonishingly daring plan, which they had shared with Bohemond, Robert and me. Bohemond was so impressed that he wanted to present it to the Council himself — and, of course, in doing so, take all the credit.

The Council, shocked at first, soon realized the merits of the plan and readily agreed. In fact, we had little choice; another week of the onslaught we were facing would have seen our resistance collapse.

On the 28th of June 1098, the great Battle of Antioch began.

Sweyn and Hereward’s strategy was based on careful observation of the way in which the Seljuks attacked, combined with simple battlefield psychology. Kerbogha kept the greater part of his army out of harm’s way at his main camp about five miles from the city, from where small units were despatched in waves to attack the walls, before retreating for rest and rearming.

We formed ourselves into four distinct groups within the walls: Godfrey of Bouillon led the Lotharingians and Germans; the Papal Legate, Adhemar Le Puy, took charge of Raymond of Toulouse’s southern Franks; Bohemond headed his Italian Normans; and Robert, together with Robert of Flanders, commanded the northern Franks as well as the Normans and my English contingent.