The+Holy+Land

This will be one of the largest pages as it covers several of the most important events. It should cover the siege of Antioch, including details of the difficulties which the Crusaders faced, the splits which developed within the camp, the Muslim attempts to relieve the city as well as how they eventually won. This page should also deal with the journey south, including the siege of Arqa and the canibalism witnessed at Maraat an Numan. After that there should also be information relating to the siege of Jerusalem, including how they won and also how they behaved once they had entered the city. Quite a lengthy one which should also include quotes!

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Introduction 1. The city Of Antioch 2. The Siege Of Antioch 3. Kerbogha's attempt to relieve Antioch. 4. Relationships of the Crusaders during and in Antioch 5. Raymond's success and diplomacy further South 6. The Reaction of the Muslims towns towards Raymond. 7. The Siege or Failure at Arqa and the consequences. 8. Maraat an Numan- city,events,significance,etc 9. Why did Bohemund leave Antioch to aid Jerusalem. 10. The city Of Jerusalem- was there a large christians population? defensive structure? etc 11. The Siege Of jerusalem. 12. How the crusaders behaved once they had enetered the city. 13. Problems and events which led to a leader of Jerusalem 14. What happened to the Crusading princes after Jerusalem? JT The Holy Land is considered the region around Antioch and Jerusalem. The Holy land holds particular significance to many religions. The Torah refers to the holy land as the promised land for the Jews, whilst in the bible, the Holy Land was the place where jesus was born crucified and resurrected. Islam believes Jerusalem is the home to the Mosque Al-Aqsa, where was where Mohammed performed Salah. The Purpose of the crusade was to journey to the Holy land, most notably Jerusalem and recapture the holy sepulchre, and ridding the Holy land of as many non-believes, pagans, Muslims as possible. The Journey through the Holy Land was the last stage of the journey for the Crusaders, but also the part of the journey which they found the most troubles. JT

The city of Antioch was a very difficult city to attack. Its walls had been built by Justinian and curved out from Mount Silpius. Natural barriers also hindered the progress of a possible attack from the Crusaders. These included the River Orontes and the mountain ridges which the walls of the city climbed.

At the time of the seige of Antioch the muslim forces within the area launched various attempts to relief the seige as the crusaders mercilessly beseiged the city. The strongest of these forces was the one led by Kerbogha of Mosul, a superior military tactian who owed much of his sucess to his own military talent. Upon hearing of the crusader seige of Antioch Kerbogha hastily rode out to crush the crusader force. If Kerbogha had made it to the city before the crisaders could capture it, without doubt the Kerbogha would've relieved the seige due to his superior numbers. However fortunatly for the crusade Kerbogha's forces where held up on their way from Mosul by Baldwin at Edessa. Baldwin's distraction proved vital for the for the crusaders as it allowed the crusader enough time to implament their plan and capture the city. Kerbogha eventually arrived at Antioch on the 5th off the June but the crusaders had been in control for two days. The crusader had a problem on their hands, now without vital supplies the crusader came under seige by Kerbogha. The crusader tried desperatly to make a deal with Kerbogha even sending Peter the Hermit asan emissary to see if the two parties could settle the dispute with a duel however the the propersition was declined. The crusader forces had one hope and that was the disunity among Kerboghas' ranks. The local Emirs feared that if Kerbogha caputed Antioch that we would be unstoppable and could take all their lands. The disunity proved vital in the crusader's victory in which on the 28th of June Bohemond led a counter attack, the Emirs deserted and Kerbogha was caught off guard and his army was was cut down, Kerbogha was forced to call of the seige and return to Mosul. [GB]

Relationships between the crusaders during the nine month period at Antioch varied throughout the siege. It would be unfair to say that the franks were complely disunited because the siege resulted in a decisive Crusader victory. However, there were periods of fragile relationships, the first of which arised during the first few months. Supplies began running low by the end of December and when Bohemond and Robert of Flanders set out in search of fresh supplies, both parties were attacked. Despite this though, the franks remained stong and united, counter-attacking and inflicting heavy casualties. This also meant however, fewer supplies were gathered than previously thought, which led to a grim January filled with famine and starvation. This is when relationships dwindled between the Crusaders as people started to desert, including Peter the Hermit, who was a fiery preacher of the mission and also one of the leaders of the people's crusade. Although he was brought back by Tancred, this was not the case for Alexius' advisor, Taticious. Bohemond declared treachery and cowardice as the sole causes of his departure, and used the incident to break his obligations to Alexius. It can be considered though, that Bohemond had an alterior motive for doing this. Bohemond wanted the city for himself, and this appeared to be well-known to Godfrey and Raymond, causing rifts between them. On top of this, Stephen of Blois and other crusaders deserted the army on the 2nd June after hearing of Kerbogha's approach towards the city. They assumed that all hope was lost and this was the mistaken message conveyed to Alexius, who as a result decided to return to Constantinople rather than help the doomed warriors. This misunderstanding caused enmity between the crusaders and Alexius. Despite all this however, the discovery of the holy lance provided hope for the crusaders and they went on, as a united front, and eventually besieged the city successfully. Therefore, as you can see, relationships between the crusaders were somewhat hesitant and reluctant, but in order to siege the city of Antioch, rivalries and desertion problems had to be put aside in order to win the Battle of Antioch.

Raymond's failure to become the leader of Antioch meant that he began to search for principalities to take control of. He wanted to take Tripoli, one of the major cities in the region. His aim was perhaps not simply to get more power, but to limit Bohemond's influence in the South by founding a new territory. Raymond had taken a gamble when he had marched south from Maarat. He hoped that this would galvanise the other princes in Antioch and force them to join an expedition under his control. The crusading princes did not choose to join Raymond and so he was unable to march south with only the small force that he possessed. Unable to march safely south, he chose to bide his time in the region around tripoli. [MB]