Intelligence and Unity, The End of the Crusades, The Crusades of 1101

The Causes of the Crusades in 1101

The counties established as a result of the First Crusade needed large armies and manpower to first maintain their positions, then expand their territories and acquire new counties. Pope II, who was elected to replace Urbanus. Pascalis (1099-1118) sent word to church headquarters in December 1099, ordering preparations for the formation of new armies. He declared that he would recognize all the privileges Urbanus had promised and that it was imperative to organize a new expedition. Thus, three armies were formed: Lombards under Milan archbishop Anselm de Buis (d. 1101), French under Count Etienne de Blois (d. 1102) and Germans under Marshal Konrad.

Departures of the Crusaders to Anatolia

The Lombards first set out on September 13, 1100. Secondly, the German Emperor IV. Konrad, the marshal of Heinrich, reached Izmit with 2,000 Germans under his command. The third group of armies, the French, crossed the Adriatic through Italy and came to Istanbul at the beginning of May and went to Izmit and joined the other two armies. With the advice of the emperor, they accepted Raymond, the count of Toulouse in Istanbul, to command the expedition.

Although he did not participate in this expedition, Albertus Aquensis, who quotes the participants in the most detailed way, writes that the gathered army was 260,000 people, and the Emperor's daughter Anna Komnena was 50,000 horsemen and 100,000 on foot. The Emperor gave a guard unit of 500 people under the command of Tzitas as guidance and support.

Kılıçarslan had lost his capital, İznik, and then most of his lands during the First Crusade. However, thanks to the wide intelligence network he established, he became aware of the incoming armies and immediately took precautions. Gümüştekin from Danishmend, Meliki Rıdvan of Aleppo, Emir of Harran Karaca and Artuklu Bey Belek asked for help and they all came to help and Anatolian union was established under the leadership of Kılıcarslan. All of them totaled 20,000 according to Albertus. It was obvious what the First Crusader Army was doing. It was clear that if these incoming armies were successful, none of them would have a chance to live in Anatolia anymore.

The purpose of this Crusade was to open the Anatolia-Syria-Jerusalem road and to ensure road safety. However, Duke Bohemond, the Count of Antakya, was captured by Gümüştekin from Danishmend on August 15, 1100, while he was going to help the Armenian prince Gabriel of Malatya. Gümüştekin also imprisoned Bohemond in the castle of Niksar. Lombarts wanted to march on Amasya and Niksar to save Bohemond. Raymond and others also had to obey the Lombarts, who made up the majority of the army.

Capture of Ankara, siege of Çankırı

The Crusader Army, which set out on 9 June 1101, arrived in Ankara on 23 June by way of Gölpazarı- Nallıhan - Ayaş Hacılar. Although the Pilgrims' Way was a very difficult road between mountains and deep valleys, Tzitas preferred this route, which was under Roman rule, as safer. They arrived in front of Ankara Castle on June 23 with a comfortable journey under the interest of the public. Kılıçarslan had emptied this place. According to the agreement, the castle was given to the representative of the Emperor.

The Crusader Army, which easily captured Ankara, set out in the direction of Çankırı on 25 June. Kılıçarslan, without interfering with the Crusaders, who were outnumbered, burned the fields in their path and rendered the water sources unusable.

Although the Crusader army besieged the Çankırı Castle on July 2, 1101, they failed to capture the castle and continued on their way to Merzifon. The harassment of the Turks continued along the way. Kılıçarslan, with the vanguard and rearguard units, hunted those who left in search of water and food, reducing their numbers and demoralizing them. Although Count Raymond wanted to take the Kastamonu castle and hand it over to the Emperor together with Ankara, the Lombards did not give up on marching to Niksar. In the army, the nobles carried food and drink for themselves in their cars, while pedestrians began to suffer from severe hunger and thirst. So they started looking for water and food in groups of 200, 300 people. A pedestrian group of 1000 people found barley ears on the borders of Kastamonu and lit a fire to cook them, and they were seen and intercepted by the Turks. Almost all of them were burned to death in the fire. When this news reached the camp, all the "princes" and the army were horrified. They set off immediately and walked for six days without taking a break. On Friday, August 2, they came to a valley near Merzifon. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, about 20,000 Turkish Horsemen, who were waiting for them on the hills of the valley, shouted war cries and attacked the Crusader Army. The crusaders gathered at once and set up a camp, arranging their wagons and loads around them. The Turks attacked by shooting arrows like rain. However, they retreated in the evening before they could do much damage to the Crusader army, which was ten times more numerous.

At sunrise on Monday, August 5th, Milan archbishop Anselm baptized the entire army, encouraging the army with the holy spear he brought with him. I. The army was divided into five parts and put into battle order. In the first group, Etienne, the Duke of Bourgogne, in the second group, the Provence and Byzantine Pechenegs under the command of Raimond, in the third group, the Germans under the command of Marshal Konrad, in the fourth group, the French under the rule of Etienne de Blouis, and in the fifth and most crowded group, the Lombards under the leadership of Albert Biandrate.

By evening, the battle had not come to a conclusion. Although they were outnumbered, the belief that they could not do anything against the Turks was overwhelming. Albertus writes that this thought turned into an escape at nightfall. Raymond escaped first. Those who fled also left their chivalry spirit, heroism, and self-sacrifice at the campsite. None of them thought of women, the old and wounded, pedestrians. Those with horses fled without looking back. Then pedestrians began to flee. When the Turks heard of the flight, they waited for the morning with drums and trumpets. They entered the camp at first light in the morning, captured some of the survivors, killed the others, and immediately pursued those who fled. Albertus says that the Turks lost 700 and that 160,000 Crusader soldiers were killed. They won a great victory, capturing enormous loot. The knights and counts who were able to escape passed from Sinop to Istanbul in a miserable state.

The Destruction of the Second Army in Konya

Earl of Nevers II. The second Crusader army, which set out in February with an army of 15,000 French cavalry under the command of Guillaume, acted with great discipline; He came to Avlona by ships and to Istanbul via Thessaloniki. When they came to Ankara on 25 July to reunite with the Crusader army in front, they could not get any news from the front army. Thereupon, the next day, they marched towards Konya, hoping to meet the first army there.

Kılıçarslan, who was in Merzifon at this time, got the news of the second army, and he quickly caught the army of Count Guillaume with his Danishmend chief before they reached Konya. When he could not get results from his attacks for three days, he withdrew and started a war of attrition. It burned the fields and rendered the wells unusable. As soon as the resistance of the Crusaders was broken, he attacked with all his might and immediately destroyed the whole army. As in Merzifon, Count Guillaume and his entourage were able to escape to Antalya with great difficulty.

The Destruction of the Third Army in Eregli

Third group Crusader army, Duke of Aquitania IX. Guillaume IV, Duke of Bavaria. They set out in the middle of March under the Welf, accompanied by Hugh de Vermandoisde, brother of the king of France. They came to Istanbul in June. Unlike the second army, it was an extremely undisciplined army. They even engaged in deadly clashes with the accompanying Cuman and Pecheneg troops. After five weeks in Istanbul, they followed the path of the 1097 Crusaders and marched towards Ereğli via Akşehir. Kılıçarslan was evacuating the cities and retreating in front of them, drying up all their water sources and burning all the grains along the way. He also hunted those who had left the army in search of water and food. The crusaders were enraged by this and proceeded by burning the emptied cities (Akşehir, Ismil) on the way. Following the developments with great attention, Kılıcarslan laid his army in ambush around Akgöl in Ereğli. Albertus narrates that Karaca and a brain named Agimith also joined the army here. The Crusaders, who rushed to the water, devastated by thirst, were immediately surrounded, and almost all of them, along with their horses and animals, were put to the sword after a heavy rain of arrows. Armenian historian Mateos from Urfa reports that the Crusader Army, which numbered 300,000, was completely destroyed. Again, the dukes and knights escaped.

Conclusion

Three separate crusader armies were completely destroyed by the measures taken by Kılıçarslan thanks to the intelligence network he established and the formation of a union with the Anatolian Beys. The armies organized by the Papacy to exterminate the Turks from Anatolia were exterminated in Anatolia. Manpower and financial aid to the kingdom of Jerusalem could not reach their place. The Seljuks gained serious booty and moral strength. The image of the invincible Crusader knight was shattered. The Anatolian Silk Road was completely under the control of the Turks. The Turkish and Islamic world in Syria also got rid of these armies and what would happen if they were successful. The blame for these defeats was placed on the Eastern Roman Emperor, and the distrust and hostility between them increased. In addition, this war taught the Seljuks how to fight the armored Crusaders. The next crusades will suffer the same fate. Many historical sources ignore these heavy defeats of the Crusaders in the campaign of 1101 and do not even include them in the list of Crusades.

The Crusades of 1101 are not included in Islamic sources in a necessary and sufficient way. After describing Bohemund's abduction in a few sentences, Ibnu'l-Esir said in a paragraph that five crusader counts came to rescue him; He tells that they invaded the Enguriyye (Ankara) castle and killed the Muslims in it. Then there was a castle where Ibn Danishmend (Gümüstekin) was located. that (Çankırı), that they besieged; He writes that Gümüştekin gathered a large number of soldiers, set up an ambush and attacked the Crusaders, and that none of the 300,000-strong Crusader army survived, except for the 3,000 people who escaped at night.

Deus Vult means "God So Willed" in Latin. It was the slogan of the Crusades.