Siege of Antioch Persona
The Sun hung heavy in the sky, and it was not even mid-day yet. We had been marching since the first few rays of the sun emerged over the eastern horizon, just as we had been doing for the past several weeks. We were told that our destination was Antioch, a coastal stronghold that was a vital area which we needed to control in order to solidify our pilgrimage in the pagan east. I am a minor cousin of Bohemond the leader of the mighty Normans. I joined in this first crusade to the east because I saw it as an opportunity for work in this dying profession of knighthood. That and my family decided that it was imperative that I undergo the journey.
I finally heard the horn call for a cease to the marching for the day. As tired as I was I knew that sitting down to rest would only make matters worse, because my work was not quite done. I was tasked with walking through the camp to oversee the work. Every time that we stopped for the day, a perimeter had to be set up, and the camp properly set up and defended. Thankfully the footmen were there to do much of the physical labor, be it digging defensive ditches, or pits away from the main camp for the latrines. I looked out over the camp, much smaller now that a portion of our forces, headed by Baldwin and Tancred, broke off into the Cilician region. No one is sure if it was because of an argument or plans within plans. My gaze however kept snapping back to the terrifying mountain range, Anti-Taurus, whose peaks were colossal edifices thrust into the sky. Crossing that range was going to be a trial that would push all of us pilgrims to our limits both mentally and physically. Those of us that survived this arduous trek would be lucky enough to bottle up Antioch and lay siege to one of the top three most prominent cities in the whole of the East.
The days began to flow into one another, marching soon became almost a lifestyle for us. All I knew was that there may very well have been some treacherous footing, and a long road ahead of us, but anything beat the accursed desert. I looked down at my hands, and could still see the burns on the back of them, one of them most assuredly in the shape of the buckle from my belt. The heat had been brutal on us all, in fact, looking around it was easy to tell that our cavalry force was piteous compared to our foot contingents. Such was the lack of water that we had to sacrifice horses so that men could drink. We would have to wait and see to see how great an impact this would have on our military tactics. In fact while looking around I noticed the sorry state in which some peoples’ arms were in. There were dented and peeling kite shields, shaped much like the older Norman model, though not quite as large. Mail coifs, hauberks, and leggings that had an abundance of damaged or missing metal rings. However, most frightening of all was the sorry state that the weapons were in. I could spot patches of rust, notches in blades, and a lackluster sheen at ten paces. A dull weapon could be the death of a soldier, which in turn endangers your nearest allies who are relying upon you to stay alive. Though I knew the Lord to be with us on our pilgrimage, I couldn’t help but worry, and we had yet to even reach Antioch. One loses any fear of heights when day in day out they must walk across narrow mountain paths, where a fall would surely spell out ones’ end. You could see it in the eyes of everyone amongst us, people we just tired; tired of being on edge all the time, of worrying whether or not they would make it through each passing day. It was a blessing unto itself to leave those wretched peaks at our backs as we made our way to Antioch.
Antioch was growing nearer and nearer with each subsequent day. We couldn’t lay siege to the city quite yet, that was a process that would take time, in the meantime it was vital that we secure the surrounding area. Antioch was a vital city, a strong point in the area; this meant that there were other strong points nearby that would need to be secured before the city would be entirely in our hands. There were three points near the city that we would require control of first, Jisr al-Hadid to the east, the town of Aregh further east, and the port of St. Simeon to the west. Seeing that Jisr al-Hadid, the Iron Bridge, was closest and most directly in our path, we took control of it on our way toward Antioch. The Lord must have been smiling upon us that day, because there was an unruly mass of Turks gathered here. With the siege upon city finally nearing, and our hearts bursting with joy, we rode down the barbarians and delivered our righteous fury upon them to devastating effect. There was a good haul of treasure and supplies that we were able to take from the defeated Turks. It was good to finally be able to do anything other than march and ride. Now we had a clear purpose, to take Antioch in the name of Christianity. Over the next several days, there was lots of work to be done and strategy to be finazlized. In order to properly lay siege to a city, it must first be cut off from the outside to prevent any way for information or supplies to reach the inhabitants. The encirclement of the city was proving to be more difficult than first imagined. Not only was the city’s massive size spreading our forces thin, but due to it being situated next to streams, rivers, and the mountains we would only be able to attack it from a handful of directions at once. In addition to the natural defenses provided by strategic placement, the walls of Antioch were like nothing seen before, unimaginably thick, and toughened to withstand any attack we could launch. This would make the taking of the city so much more difficult. We arrived with about 50,000 troops total, whereas the defending Turks could not have had more able bodied defenders than about 5,000 total. When we first arrived here, we thought that our superior forces and control of the surrounding area would lead us to a quick resounding victory. I don’t know if we could have been any more wrong, we were spread far too thin, and supplies were beginning to run low. We never really saw much of the defending Turks, they purposely hid from our view. However, as the months dragged on, they began ambushing small contingents of our soldiers. There were never any large pitched battles, but the incessant harassment soon began to wear on us all. We were able to eventually hit their minor raiding parties, and crush them into the dust. The victory was warming, and caused joy within our own camp, but it was a relatively minor achievement in the whole scope of events.
People in the camp soon began to see that this siege, which everyone had assumed would take no more time than any previous set of defenses, was going to be a long drawn out nightmare. No matter how many minor victories we had, until we got inside of the walls nothing would be changed. There was still the looming fact that as time dragged on we got no closer to taking control of the city, but our resources continued to dwindle.
It was late in December, and we were still stuck outside of the walls of the city of Antioch. Things were beginning to turn bleak, the weather was getting cold, and there was more precipitation this time of year. The weather was also the least of our worries, the lack of food was beginning to become a serious issue in the camps. The birthday of Christ was fast approaching, and famine in the army was starting to claim lives by the dozen. It was decided by the leaders of the crusade that after Christmas Robert of Flanders and Bohemond would venture out with a portion of the army to scavenge for food. Looking back, we should not have allowed our food stores to diminish so far without restocking them. In our desire to end the raid as fast as possible, we had scoured the countryside of anything edible, and now had to travel further distances to secure more nourishment.
The Count and Bohemond took a very sizeable portion of our army with them, even though it further minimized our bottling of Antioch, it was necessary. They were making a journey into unknown enemy territory, and if they were eliminated, not only would we be down more fighters, but we would probably all end up starving in this foreign land. The Turks inside the city had yet to make any moves since our army had split, but we all knew that would only last so long. It was nighttime when I awoke to screams, and the sound of clashing weaponry. The Turks had finally decided to come out of their shell and attack our besieging army at vulnerable points on our line. It was astonishing, the defenders of Antioch, whom had been holed up for months had not only come out from behind their walls, but they were in pitched battle with our forces. The cowardly Turks were becoming a true irritant to all, they would come and kill us at night. Robert and Bohemond returned, but without any major profit to show for their scavenging venture into enemy lands. The only positive thing that happened during the entirety of winter was that Bohemond and The Count of Flanders were able to defeat the army of Turks led by Daqaq of Damascus. The Turks probably would have won the day if not for Bohemond’s quick thinking, and military expertise. In the end though, they were able to maul the Turks enough to delay any sort of relief from reaching Antioch. This was only a short reprieve for us though, we knew there would be more to come, and unless we could break the defenses of Antioch things were going to just get uglier. The rest of the winter was spent fortifying defenses and preparing for when the weather got warmer. The entire crusader army might very well have perished if not for the supplies brought by ships from Cyprus. Though it wasn’t much, it was what kept us alive after the failed attempts at scavenging the surrounding area for any kind of nourishment. Even with supplies though, inflation was getting dangerous in the camps as food prices went through the roof with “ox-heads being sold for three gold starters.” There were very few if any of the wealthier pilgrims would be able to afford these extravagant prices, and the majority of our army had essentially nothing left except for the clothes on their back, and their arms and armor. It was this lack of food, money, and moral that led to the increasing number of people deserting from this holy pilgrimage. As winter dragged on there were more deserters, and more deaths from starvation and disease. Just when it seemed that we were growing accustomed to the harsh weather, coupled with constant fighting, and lack of support or supplies we learned otherwise. The day came when we got wind of the news that Ridwan of Aleppo was marching toward Antioch with an enormous army. The kicker was that he was only a few days out, and we were still stuck outside of Antioch. We were right in the middle of becoming a classic example of the piece of metal that the hammer, Ridwan, was going to smash on the anvil, the walls of Antioch. The leaders, or rather the most important nobles, of the army finally decided that a singular leader would be necessary if there was to be any hope at survival, and they elected Bohemond. He was chosen as that leader due to the fact that he outshone all the other nobles when it came to military strategy, and field command. One night, all of us knights were told to assemble, and to be ready to move out during the night, we didn’t have a clue as to what was going on but what could we do but follow the orders. Bohemond’s master plan was to bring every knight and mounted warrior we could muster, and to take the fight to the encroaching Turkish army. With a wavelike battle tactic, Bohemond led his mounted warriors in an assault against the unprepared Turks. The Turk’s had no idea what was happening, and our much smaller force of knights were able to rout the entire Turkish army. We hit them and we hit them hard, and thankfully due to Bohemond’s planning they didn’t have any idea as to what was going on. For a while, it was all clashing metal, grunts of pain from combatants, the piteous screams made by injured horses, and screams of the dying and wounded. Above all else rose the metallic and nauseating stench of spilled blood and voided bowels by the dead that were piling up on all sides of this slaughter. Their forces panicked, and we were able to harry them all across the land until they turned tail, and were running full tilt for the hills. Praise the Lord! What a glorious victory in the face of insurmountable odds, may Bohemond’s name be on the lips of every prayer offered up to the lord tonight for doing the impossible and routing the Turks completely. Now only one task remained to us, and that was to breach those damn walls, and take Antioch in the name of the Lord our Savior. This victory allowed us to gain a desperately needed respite from all the chaos that we had been mixed up in since the start of this siege, some time to build fortifications to cordon off the city. There was one man who would not rest though, Bohemond he wanted the city taken, and now rather than later. He proposed a challenge to all of the other lords at Antioch, the first man to gain control of the walls sectioned to him would become the ruler of Antioch until it was time to give the power up. Little did any of us know that the man had been playing ten steps ahead of every other member of the pilgrimage the entire time. At dawn, Bohemond walked up to the walls, and had his helper on the inside allow them access to the sections of wall under his command. It was such a monumental moment when the first knights ascended the crest of the wall, that it shall forever be frozen in time as the day Antioch fell. It was so flawlessly executed that portions of the army didn’t even know what was occurring. The pilgrims still at camp had not a clue, “When dawn broke, those who were still inside their tents heard the great clamor which arose from the city. As they ran out, they saw Bohemond’s banner on the hill, and they dashed as fast as they could and entered the city through the gates and killed the Turks.” It was a wondrous feeling, rampaging through those streets hewing any enemy that I could reach with my sword. There was so much death that the city was so filled with the dead and dying that the stench prevented anyone from staying there. What a glorious demonstration of the power of the Lord. Word had just come in, it was a cruel twist of fate, the Lord must have been displeased with us. We went from victors to defenders of a city under siege by the very same barbarians whom we had spent a year besieging in the blink of an eye. The Insult to injury was that this monumental army was being led by Kerbogha himself. Things had never looked worse, even during the roughest part of winter. I wasn’t sure if I would survive the next week. Kerbogha’s army was so massive we couldn’t even stop their forward movement; things were starting to seem eerily familiar stuck in between this horde, and the rest of the Turks still inside the citadel. I was with some of the other knights up by the citadel when we got the news, the Lord had visited a dream upon a priest in the city, he would be sending us help. The Spear that pierced Christ was here, in Antioch. There was hope, a sliver, but if Christ was aiding us, then how could we possibly fail. The next day, there was battle all through the city with the Turks, they were everywhere every street, every corner, it didn’t appear as if we would be able to hold the city much longer. Those thirteen men had been digging for the spear morning until evening until they found the holy relic. There was a brief cessation of hostility while we tried to reason with the pagans. Now that we had the relic, there was now more reason to fear the barbarian horde that stretched horizon to horizon. It was time to send the Turks running back home with their tails between their legs. All of our able bodied soldiers mounted up and formed up for one last charge, except this time we would be riding into battle alongside the power of Christ. The Turks were scared, slowly edging away from our massed force. By the time we were in full charge of their lines, with our Lord’s name on our lips they were in full retreat. It is one thing to be charged by a contingent of knights, but quite another to be charged with the backing of God the Almighty, only a fool would attempt to stop such a display of power. The Emir in the citadel saw our power unleashed in the face of Kerbogha, and how his whole army ran. He surrendered on the spot, and was so awed with the power of Christianity he, along with his followers, wished to be baptized into a new life devoted to the one true God. This pilgrimage began with a belief in our Lord, and even through trying times we stood at his side, no matter the cost or difficulties that arose. He is such a pure soul that in our time of most desperate need, He was there to stand next to us, and keep us safe from the pagans that disgrace themselves by failing to recognize Him as Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

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[ 1 ]. Asbridge, Thomas S., The creation of the principality of Antioch: 1098-1130 (Suffolk, UK: Boydell Press, 2000), 16.
[ 2 ]. Nirmal Dass, The Deeds of Franks and Other Jerusalem-Bound Pilgrims: The Earliest Chroicle of the First Crusade (Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2011), 49.
[ 3 ]. Slack, Corliss Konwiser, Historical dictionary of the crusades (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press Inc., 2013), 25.
[ 4 ]. Nirmal Dass, The Deeds of Franks and Other Jerusalem-Bound Pilgrims: The Earliest Chroicle of the First Crusade (Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2011), 46.
[ 5 ]. Oakeshott, R. Ewart, A Knight and His Armor (Chester Springs, PA.: Dufour Editions, 1999), 79-80.
[ 6 ]. Asbridge, Thomas S., The creation of the principality of Antioch: 1098-1130 (Suffolk, UK: Boydell Press, 2000), 25-26.
[ 7 ]. Nirmal Dass, The Deeds of Franks and Other Jerusalem-Bound Pilgrims: The Earliest Chroicle of the First Crusade (Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2011), 51-52.
[ 8 ]. Tudebodus Petrus, John Hugh Hill, and Laurita Lyttleton Hill, Historia de Hierosolymitano itinere (Philadelphia: American philosophical society, 1974), 42-43.
[ 9 ]. France, John. Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades:1100-1300 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998), 109.
[ 10 ]. Krey August C., The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses and Participants (Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing, 2012), 127-128.
[ 11 ]. Krey August C., The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses and Participants (Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing, 2012), 134.
[ 12 ]. Nirmal Dass, The Deeds of Franks and Other Jerusalem-Bound Pilgrims: The Earliest Chroicle of the First Crusade (Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2011), 55.
[ 13 ]. France, John. Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades:1100-1300 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998) , 237.
[ 14 ]. Asbridge, Thomas S., The creation of the principality of Antioch: 1098-1130 (Suffolk, UK: Boydell Press, 2000), 32-33.
[ 15 ]. Dawes, Elizabeth A., The Alexiad ( London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1928), 197.
[ 16 ]. France, John., Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades:1100-1300 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998), 246.
[ 17 ]. Krey August C., The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses and Participants (Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing, 2012), 134.
[ 18 ]. Nirmal Dass, The Deeds of Franks and Other Jerusalem-Bound Pilgrims: The Earliest Chroicle of the First Crusade (Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2011), 58-59.
[ 19 ]. Dawes, Elizabeth A., The Alexiad ( London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1928), 197-198.
[ 20 ]. Krey August C., The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses and Participants (Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing, 2012), 154-155.
[ 21 ]. Nirmal Dass, The Deeds of Franks and Other Jerusalem-Bound Pilgrims: The Earliest Chroicle of the First Crusade (Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2011), 68.
[ 22 ]. Nirmal Dass, The Deeds of Franks and Other Jerusalem-Bound Pilgrims: The Earliest Chroicle of the First Crusade (Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2011), 69.
[ 23 ]. Krey August C., The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eyewitnesses and Participants (Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing, 2012), 168.
[ 24 ]. Nirmal Dass, The Deeds of Franks and Other Jerusalem-Bound Pilgrims: The Earliest Chroicle of the First Crusade (Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2011), 78-79.
[ 25 ]. Nirmal Dass, The Deeds of Franks and Other Jerusalem-Bound Pilgrims: The Earliest Chroicle of the First Crusade (Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2011), 84-85.
[ 26 ]. Dawes, Elizabeth A., The Alexiad ( London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1928), 202.
[ 27 ]. Nirmal Dass, The Deeds of Franks and Other Jerusalem-Bound Pilgrims: The Earliest Chroicle of the First Crusade (Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2011), 87.