#siege of nicaea

[illustratus]

Byzantine Soldiers Sneaking Into Walled City Of Nicaea

by Tom Lovell

[whencyclopedia]

The Siege of Damascus, 1148 CE

The siege of Damascus in 1148 CE was the final act of the Second Crusade (1147-1149 CE). Lasting a mere four days from 24 to 28 July, the siege by a combined western European army was not successful, and the Crusade petered out with its leaders returning home more bitter and angry with each other than the Muslim enemy. Additional crusades would follow, but the myth of invincibility of the western knights was shattered forever at the debacle of Damascus.

Background: The Second Crusade

The Second Crusade was a military campaign organised by the Pope and European nobles to recapture the city of Edessa in Mesopotamia, which had fallen in 1144 CE to the Muslim Seljuk Turks. Edessa was an important commercial and cultural centre and had been in Christian hands since the First Crusade (1095-1102 CE). However, when Pope Eugenius III (r. 1145-1153 CE) formally called for a crusade on 1 December 1145 CE, the goals of the campaign were put somewhat vaguely as a broad appeal for the achievements of the First Crusade and Christians and holy relics in the Levant to be protected.

The Second Crusade included successful campaigns in the Iberian peninsula and the Baltic against Muslim Moors and pagan Europeans respectively, but it was the Levant that remained the focus of Christianity's holy war. The Crusader army in the Middle East, numbering some 60,000 men, was led by the German king Conrad III (r. 1138-1152 CE) and Louis VII, the king of France (r. 1137-1180 CE). Just as in the First Crusade, the bulk of the army travelled via Constantinople where they were met with misgivings by the Byzantines and their emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143 - 1180 CE). Manuel's primary concern was that the Crusaders were really only after the choice parts of the Byzantine Empire. Accordingly, Manuel insisted the leaders of the Crusade, on arrival in September and October 1147 CE, swear personal allegiance to him. At the same time, the western powers considered the Byzantines rather too preoccupied with their own affairs and unhelpful in the noble opportunities they thought a crusade presented. The old divisions between the eastern and western churches had not gone away either. It was significant that Manuel, despite the diplomacy, strengthened the fortifications of Constantinople and provided a military escort to see the Crusaders on their way as quickly as possible.

The German contingent of the crusader army, already having suffered significant losses during a terrible flash flood at their camp near Constantinople, ignored Manuel's advice to stick to the safety of the coast once in Asia Minor and so met another, even worse disaster. At Dorylaion, a force of Muslim Seljuk Turks caused havoc with the slow-moving westerners on 25 October 1147 CE, and, forced to retreat to Nicaea, Conrad himself was wounded but did eventually make it back to Constantinople.

Meanwhile, the army led by Louis VII, although shocked to hear of the Germans' failure, pressed on and managed to defeat a Seljuk army in December 1147 CE. The success was short-lived, though, for on 7 January 1148 CE the French were beaten badly in battle as they crossed the Cadmus Mountains. It was a disastrous opening to a campaign which had not even reached its target of northern Syria and a sorry tale of bad planning, poor logistics, and unheeded local advice.

Louis VII and his ravaged army finally arrived at Antioch in March 1148 CE. From there, he ignored Raymond of Antioch's proposal to fight in northern Syria and marched on to the south. In any case, a council of western leaders was convened at Acre, and the target of the Crusade was now selected, not at the already destroyed Edessa, but Muslim-held Damascus, the closest threat to Jerusalem and a prestigious prize given the city's history and wealth.

Continue reading...

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.14

1027 – Robert II of France names his son Henry I as junior King of the Franks. 1097 – The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade. 1264 – Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the effective ruler of England. 1509 – Battle of Agnadello: In northern Italy, French forces defeat the Republic of Venice. 1607 – English colonists establish "James Fort," which would become Jamestown, Virginia, the earliest permanent English settlement in the Americas. 1608 – The Protestant Union, a coalition of Protestant German states, is founded to defend the rights, land and safety of each member against the Catholic Church and Catholic German states. 1610 – Henry IV of France is assassinated by Catholic zealot François Ravaillac, and Louis XIII ascends the throne. 1643 – Four-year-old Louis XIV becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Louis XIII. 1747 – War of the Austrian Succession: A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre. 1796 – Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox inoculation. 1800 – The 6th United States Congress recesses, and the process of moving the Federal government of the United States from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., begins the following day. 1804 – William Clark and 42 men depart from Camp Dubois to join Meriwether Lewis at St Charles, Missouri, marking the beginning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition's historic journey up the Missouri River. 1811 – Paraguay: Pedro Juan Caballero, Fulgencio Yegros and José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia start actions to depose the Spanish governor. 1836 – The Treaties of Velasco are signed in Velasco, Texas. 1857 – Mindon Min was crowned as King of Burma in Mandalay, Burma. 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Jackson takes place. 1868 – Boshin War: The Battle of Utsunomiya Castle ends as former Tokugawa shogunate forces withdraw northward. 1870 – The first game of rugby in New Zealand is played in Nelson between Nelson College and the Nelson Rugby Football Club. 1878 – The last witchcraft trial held in the United States begins in Salem, Massachusetts, after Lucretia Brown, an adherent of Christian Science, accused Daniel Spofford of attempting to harm her through his mental powers. 1879 – The first group of 463 Indian indentured laborers arrives in Fiji aboard the Leonidas. 1900 – Opening of World Amateur championship at the Paris Exposition Universelle, also known as Olympic Games. 1913 – Governor of New York William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100 million donation from John D. Rockefeller. 1915 – The May 14 Revolt takes place in Lisbon, Portugal. 1918 – Cape Town Mayor, Sir Harry Hands, inaugurates the Two-minute silence. 1931 – Five unarmed civilians are killed in the Ådalen shootings, as the Swedish military is called in to deal with protesting workers. 1935 – The Constitution of the Philippines is ratified by a popular vote. 1939 – Lina Medina becomes the youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five. 1940 – World War II: Rotterdam, Netherlands is bombed by the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany despite a ceasefire, killing about 900 people and destroying the historic city center. 1943 – World War II: A Japanese submarine sinks AHS Centaur off the coast of Queensland. 1948 – Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. 1951 – Trains run on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales for the first time since preservation, making it the first railway in the world to be operated by volunteers. 1953 – Approximately 7,100 brewery workers in Milwaukee perform a walkout, marking the start of the 1953 Milwaukee brewery strike. 1955 – Cold War: Eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact. 1961 – Civil rights movement: A white mob twice attacks a Freedom Riders bus near Anniston, Alabama, before fire-bombing the bus and attacking the civil rights protesters who flee the burning vehicle. 1970 – Andreas Baader is freed from custody by Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin and others, a pivotal moment in the formation of the Red Army Faction. 1973 – Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched. 1977 – A Dan-Air Boeing 707 leased to IAS Cargo Airlines crashes on approach to Lusaka International Airport in Lusaka, Zambia, killing six people. 1980 – Salvadoran Civil War: the Sumpul River massacre occurs in Chalatenango, El Salvador. 1987 – Fijian Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Lieutenant colonel Sitiveni Rabuka. 1988 – Carrollton bus collision: A drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. Twenty-seven die in the crash and ensuing fire. 2004 – The Constitutional Court of South Korea overturns the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun. 2004 – Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4815 crashes into the Amazon rainforest during approach to Eduardo Gomes International Airport in Manaus, Brazil, killing 33 people. 2008 – Battle of Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre between Zenit supporters and Rangers supporters and the Greater Manchester Police, 39 policemen injured, one police-dog injured and 39 arrested. 2010 – Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on the STS-132 mission to deliver the first shuttle-launched Russian ISS component — Rassvet. This was originally slated to be the final launch of Atlantis, before Congress approved STS-135. 2012 – Agni Air Flight CHT crashes in Nepal after a failed go-around, killing 15 people. 2022 – Ten people are killed in a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.

[clancarruthers]

4 SIEGES THAT BATTLES CRUSADES - CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS

4 SIEGES THAT THE CRUSADERS BATTLED   The siege of Nicaea   There were four main Crusader armies that marched towards Jerusalem in 1096; they numbered 70,000-80,000. In 1097, they reached Asia Minor and were joined by Peter the Hermit and the remainder of his army. Emperor Alexios also sent two of his generals, Manuel Boutiumites and Tatikios to assist in the fight. Their first objective was to…

[city-of-ladies]

(An imaginative depiction of Florine of Burgundy by Gustave Doré. According to Albert of Aix, Florine was killed during the First crusade while trying to escape the enemy mounted on a mule. She isn’t said to have fought, unlike what is stated on Wikipedia and other websites.)

Crusading women 

Women formed an integral part of the crusading movement. Noblewomen traveled with their husbands, women went with the army and performed support functions. Some of them even took arms.

Mentions of fighting women start from the First crusade (1096-1099). During the Battle of Droylaeum in 1097, women risked their lives to bring water to the soldiers. William of Tyre reports that, during the siege of Jerusalem in 1099, “women, forgetful of their sex and unmindful of their inherent fragility, were presuming to take arms and fought manfully beyond their strength”. He wasn’t, however, an eyewitness and provides the only mention of these women. William of Tyre furthermore notes the presence of 6000 footmen of “both sexes” gathered in front of Nicaea. Dodequin, abbot of saint Disybode, gives a similar testimony, writing that among the people who left for the crusade in 1096 were armed women wearing male clothing. Some of them even brandished their own banners. 

The Austrian margravine Ida of Cham (c.1055-1101) also led troops in battle during the crusade of 1101. Ida, who was reportedly one of the most beautiful women of her time, joined the crusaders at the head of her vassals. According to the monk Ekkehard of Aura, who took part in the expedition and interrogated survivors of the battle, Ida fell during an enemy attack. 

Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, provided troops for the Second crusade (1147-1149). Byzantine chronicler Michael Choniates, though not a first-hand observer, notes the presence of a troop of women armed with lances and axes in the army of Conrad III of Germany. They were allegedly led by a richly adorned woman nicknamed “goldfoot”.

The Third crusade (1189–1192) provides an interesting case due to the contrast between the Muslim and Christian reports. In Christian accounts, women play a mostly supportive role. A woman was, for instance, struck by a dart while working to fill in a ditch at Acre and asked for her body to be added to the fill. Other women were said to have performed this role. Others were also said to have slaughtered enemy prisoners. 

The Muslim accounts are somewhat different since they describe Christian women participating actively in the battle. Imad al-Din recorded for instance, that there were many female knights among the Christians, who were found out to be women only when stripped of their armor after their death. After an attack of the Christian army of Saladin’s camp on July 25 1190, Imad al-Din and Baha al-Din went together to examine the dead. Baha al-Din wrote: “I noticed the body of two women. Someone told me that he had seen four women engaged in the fight, of whom two were made prisoners”. Baha al-Din also notes the presence of women among the dead. They both mention a female archer among the Christian army at Acre in July 1191. The woman was said to have worn a green coat and killed a number of enemies. She nonetheless fell in battle and her bow was reportedly brought to Saladin who was greatly astonished. Ibn Al-Athîr reports that an anonymous woman distinguished herself during the siege of Bourzey castle in 1188, where she operated a mangonel and destroyed several enemy engines.

There is thus a stark contrast between the numerous Muslim testimonies and the silence of the Christian ones. The truth lies probably somewhere in between. The Muslim chroniclers highlight the presence of women to point out the unnaturalness of their foes while the Christians wanted first of all to enhance the virtue of the crusaders and regarded women’s presence as a threat to said virtue. Archeological discoveries nonetheless provide evidence of armored women. In 1982, the Joint Expedition to Caesarea Maritima unearthed the skeleton of a crusader wearing remnants of an armor comprised of bronze plates on a leather backing. The skeleton was afterward found to be the one of a woman and was thus dubbed the “Joan of Caesarea”.

A woman who found herself fighting in a desperate situation was sister Margaret of Beverley (c.1150- c.1215). Her story was recounted by her brother, the monk Thomas of Froidmont. In 1187, Margaret found herself on the walls of the besieged Jerusalem: “like a fierce virago, I tried to play the role of a man”. Wearing a breastplate and using a cauldron as a helmet, she went armed and brought water to the soldiers until she was hit by a flying stone. After the fall of the city, Margaret bought her freedom, but was ultimately captured and sold as slave until her freedom was finally bought by a Christian of Tyre.

Reports of the Fifth crusade (1217-1222), tell that during the siege of Damietta 1219, a woman gave the alert when the enemy tried to send troops and supplies to the city through the siege camp. The enemy soldiers were thus routed and killed. This woman was probably armed and on guard duty since everyone in the camp, including women and merchants, had to perform guard duty and had to carry weapons while doing so. An additional account tells that the fugitives were killed by the women of the camp.

Finally, it’s worth noting that French queen Margaret of Provence (1221-1295) assumed military command during the Seventh crusade (1248-1254) in 1250 after her husband was captured. Just after giving birth, she managed to prevent desertions and successfully negotiated her husband’s ransom. 

At the end of the 17th century, French traveler and writer Maximilien Misson traveled in Italy and visited a Genoese arsenal. He saw there 32 suits of armor that were said to have been made for some ladies of the city who wished to go on a crusade in 1301. Finding the story hard to believe, he researched the archives and found three letters from Pope Boniface VIII that confirmed the story. Some women were of high-ranking families, others came from lesser nobility. The pope encouraged them and praised their incentives, saying that they “strengthened their arms with male actions”. A whole female battalion was supposed to take part in the expedition. The crusade didn’t take place due to the lack of participants and the sets of armor were sold in 1815.

 Bibliography:

Cassagnes-Brouquet Sophie, Chevaleresses, une chevalerie au féminin

Eads Valerie, “Means, Motive, Opportunity: Medieval Women and the Recourse to Arms”

Faucherre Nicolas, Mesqui Jean, Prouteau Nicolas, “La fortification au temps des croisades”

Gay Louise, “Des commandements militaires féminins en guerre sainte: Marguerite de Provence et Sagar al-Durr lors de la septième croisade”

Hodgson Natasha S., Women, crusading and the holy land historical narrative

Nicholson Helen, “Women on the third crusade”

Rose Hager Katherine, Endowed with Manly Courage: Medieval Perceptions of Women in Combat

Sténuit Marie-Eve, Femmes en armes, les guerrières de l’histoire

[warsofasoiaf]

The existence of a "no quarter" order implies that at some point folks started granting quarter, and that it didn't used to be considered a war crime for that order to be issued. What happened?

This came from a convention of siege warfare. It was considered to be a breach of a defender’s duty to capitulate immediately in the event of a siege, professional honor demanded that some defense be mounted. When a breach that could be exploited would happen, convention dictated that the defenders be then given the chance to surrender. That usually meant that they would be permitted to march out carrying weapons and under their own flag; this was giving quarter, as opposed to a full surrender where weapons had to be turned over and flags unfurled or struck. By contrast, continuing onward in the defense, and forcing the attacker to storm the breach (a daunting proposition that frequently resulted in many casualties - it was not called the forlorn hope without cause), then no quarter would be given. The city would be sacked and the people within could expect no mercy, this was the idea of “no quarter,” there is no safe haven for someone to retreat.

This convention of conditional surrender following a breach was to the attacker’s benefit as well, as losing men during the storming of a fortification, even if successful, would dramatically undercut the army’s strategic depth and ability to sustain a longer campaign. However, sacking rights were also a convenient way to avoid paying your soldiers, and as such plenty of mercenaries had conditional sacking rights within their contract, usually on condition of pay going a certain number of days overdue. So there was always a give and take, however, by the later centuries it was an expected part of behavior, with all the social connotations that such a label invokes.

Conditional surrender and this practice became well-codified by the 17th century, but there are examples of conditional surrender dating back even earlier. For example, during the Siege of Nicaea in the First Crusade in 1097, the Seljuk garrison surrendered to the Byzantine forces, and Kilij Arslan’s family was released without ransom although many Turks were expelled from the city. It would have to be determined by the commanders who would weigh the options and the trustworthiness of their enemy in accepting such conduct. In times before professionalization of armies, army conduct would often depend on the ability of the leader to enforce discipline, but this did not stop organizations from attempting to establish some form of laws of war, probably most famously in European medieval history by the Catholic Church and their Peace and Truce of God in the 10th and 11th Century. The rise in nation-states and professionalization of army led to the professionalization of conduct as well, which included standardization of conduct as we see with this regularization of siege warfare.

Thanks for the question, Publius.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[qqueenofhades]

Nicky as an archer, rather than a swordsman? I saw someone suggest this due to the expense of being an actual knight not necessarily aligning with him having been a priest (plus the whole first crusade not having Templars etc) - and apparently the Genoese were known for their archers?

Ahaha, oh dear. Fair warning, you are going to make me roll out my grouchy “I realize it’s graphic novel canon but It’s Just Not Realistic for Nicky to actually fight in the First Crusade if he’s a priest” medieval historian Complaints again, but alas?

I talked in this ask about the medieval relationship between clerics, violence, and weapons, and how they were forbidden from dealing with/bearing swords or even any kind of weapon at all, at least in very strong theory. This would be the same with crossbowmen, which is indeed what the Genoese were known for (in this ask, I discussed Nicky having/using a crossbow as part of his weaponry if he was a regular Genoese soldier, especially since we see him using a long rifle in the present, and crossbows were the assault rifles of their day). While yes, Nicky could technically have gone on crusade as a priest and broken the rules in order to handle weapons, there’s almost no chance he could have gotten up to combat speed with them in two-ish years, especially since so much of the First Crusade involved politics, sieges, laboriously painful travels, and infighting as much or more than any actual fighting. (We’re assuming he left with the main Genoese contingent in 1097, but he could have also arrived in 1099 with the Genoese reinforcements, hence seen almost no fighting before the battle/siege/sack of Jerusalem.) There were the sieges of Nicaea, Antioch, and Jerusalem, and the battle of Dorylaeum, as well as skirmishes and clashes along the way, but a pervasive and major problem on the First Crusade (and then later on the Second Crusade as well) was the involvement of untrained commoners who simply did not know how to fight.

This was why Pope Urban seems to have envisioned the crusade as a professional military undertaking for trained soldiers, rather than a popular religious expedition which many laypeople joined up and then caused major logistical difficulties for the army as a result. The People’s Crusade of 1096 ended in disaster at the Battle of Civetot for this very reason; it’s simply not possible to pick up a sword or a crossbow or anything else and be an effective fighter with it on the spot (especially if you’re facing trained soldiers on the other side, you will get ANNIHILATED). Boys had to train from the age of seven to master weapons, arms, armour (and later, as it developed, the code of chivalry). If you’re interested in reading more about this:

Graham A. Loud, ‘Some Reflections on the Failure of the Second Crusade’, Crusades 4 (2005), 1–15. (This article discusses the Second Crusade’s failure overall, including the fact that Bernard of Clairvaux’s populist preaching caused a number of untrained commoners to take the cross and that there was no improved notion of how the army would have expected to use them.)

Conor Kostick, ‘God’s Bounty, Pauperes and the Crusades of 1096 and 1147’, Studies in Church History 46 (2010), 66–77. (This explores the phenomenon of ‘populist crusading’ among laypeople in the early crusades and how, yes, it went very badly wrong both times.)

Marcus Bull, ‘The Roots of Lay Enthusiasm for the First Crusade,’ History 78 (1993), 353-72. (This discusses how the crusading message was spread beyond Urban’s initial call for military recruits and how that was taken up among medieval society.)

Albert of Aachen, in the Historia Ierosolimitana, was scathing about the efforts of the everyday/untrained crusaders; he called them “a stupid and insanely irresponsible mob of pilgrims” (congregatione pedestris populi stulti et vesane levitates) and this view was shared to some degree among the other First Crusade chroniclers as well, especially in their treatments of Peter the Hermit (the populist leader of the People’s Crusade; they admired his personal religiosity but weren’t all that sure of the actual value of his overall efforts). Obviously yes, some of it is elitism and wanting to make their noble patrons look better and come out as the “real” crusaders, but there’s no reason not to think that the soldiers on the crusade regarded their untrained counterparts as an active liability, because... this would generally be the case if you’re trying to fight and the guy next to you wants to come along and wave a sword he does not know how to use. So while yes, many priests and monks did travel on the crusade in defiance of ecclesiastical orders, if Nicky wanted to even live long enough to get to Jerusalem and meet Yusuf and get killed there for only the first time, he either already knew how to fight (and thus wasn’t a priest) or had been trained for a while before he became a priest (and that’s confusing on its own, but let’s just say that this is me being pedantic and leave it at that).

ANYWAY. Long story short: yes, Nicky could definitely be (and probably was) a crossbowman, since it fits both with the well-attested presence of Genoese crossbowmen in the crusades and the fact that we see him with an assault/sniper rifle later. However, since he also has a broadsword (which is very explicitly a knight’s weapon), the fact of him using both or either of these weapons in active combat on the crusade still doesn’t fit with the supposed graphic novel backstory of him being a priest. He also couldn’t have (or at least is quite unlikely) learned on the journey, because as noted, it doesn’t work like that and would have been against the rules for clerics anyway. So if Nicky was a fighting priest, he was clearly less observant of the spiritual aspects of the role/the church’s strict proscriptions on violence for clerics, and would be more similar to the secular bishops who served in the church as a career. But then it makes less sense to paint him as exceptionally devoted to any of the religious premises of the crusades. Of course, you can break the rules in the name of doing the Right Thing, but eh... it just still doesn’t make sense without a lot of caveats and explanations and headcanoning and work-arounds, and it’s easier just to see him as a regular Genoese soldier at least for the purposes of film-verse backstory. So yes.

[avelera]

Another author note I’m tempted to put in the Amnesiac Nicky fic (but probably shouldn’t) is the reasoning behind my choice to have him come to Jerusalem with the larger Frankish army, rather than arrive in Jaffa just before the siege with the other Genoese, which historically would probably make more sense.

I have a few reasons for the choice:

1) Quite frankly, I didn’t know about the Genoese arrival just before the siege when I began outlining the fic, and by the time I learned about it I’d already written quite a few passages that referenced Nicky arriving by land along with the rest of the princes’ army. 

2) A LOT of my take on Nicky and Joe is formed by the panels we get of their meeting from the comic. Yes, they’re rife with historical inaccuracy  (Nicky would not have been wearing essentially a Templar’s surcoat with the red cross on a white tabard, the Crusader crosses were stitched into the shoulders of their garments. Also, Joe having a scimitar is premature for that time and place) BUT they show Nicky having a horse and being essentially a mounted knight, which I took to mean that he arrived with the overland army. (Yes, yes, the Genoese could have brought horses too, at massive expense, or purchased them when they arrived but when I saw the horse it stuck in my head that he arrived by land.)

2) After a bit of back and forth with people better informed on the period than I am, we determined that it’s certainly not impossible that Nicky even as a  person from Genoa could have been so moved to join the Crusade that he set out with the initial force. Especially combined with the anecdote that he was a priest, and therefore most likely quite devout at some point, he might not have waited up for the Genoese Navy but set out right away. 

Mostly though, I’m just more partial to the mental journey I perceive taking place for Nicky if he took the 3 year long overland journey. I think someone in their late 20s could do a lot of growing up during that time, taking on some of the world-weariness and cynicism of a soldier, while recognizing in himself how he had changed from the devout and perhaps naive man who first set out, full of religious fervor, into someone who is accustomed to death and to suffering daily from heat, hunger, and thirst.

Three years on the road gives a good period of time to turn Nicky from an average, if wealthy Genoese citizen (at least, wealthy enough to afford armor, a horse, and a sword) into a really experienced fighter by the time he fights Joe, since he would have taken part in at least two sieges, one in Nicaea and one at Antioch, and fought in numerous battles and raids by the Turks along the way. It also gives him three years to build up that dream of one day seeing Jerusalem, so it really becomes one of the most important moments of his life (and not just his death, heh) to finally be there. 

So, there’s some laziness in the choice in not wanting to re-write or reimagine the biography that was forming in my head before I learned about the Genoese fleet, but there is a writerly reason too, of just preferring the hardship and transformation Nicky would have gone through as a person if he went on foot.

[amuseoffyre]

Crossing Paths - Updated Timeline

Since I’ve added a few more scenes/chapters, time to update the ol’ timeline again. You should see the state of my spreadsheet.

Show canon in bold. Events mentioned in fic but not yet written in italic. Everything in fic in normal font. (Events surrounding each encounter in brackets) Tis all on AO3 in chronological order as well as under this the fic: crossing paths tag.

4004BC - Eden

3000BC - Mesopotamia

2197BC - Shinar (The Tower of Babel)

2000BC - Canaan (Shortly after Sodom and Gomorrah)

1840BC - Imet, Egypt (The Wadjet incident)

1766BC - Peniel (Jacob wrestles with ‘God’)

1450BC - Red Sea (Exodus)

1448BC - Sinai (10 Commandments)

1188BC - Ilium, Turkey (The Trojan War)

994BC - Jerusalem (David & Bathsheba)

534BC - Kapilavastu, Nepal (Buddha)

480BC - Yangzhou, China (The Great Canal)

240BC - Nanzheng, China (Halley’s Comet)

112BC - Noricum, Eastern Alps (Siege of Noricum)

30AD The Wilderness, Judea (The Temptations of Jesus)

33AD - Crucifixion + post-Crucifixion in Jerusalem

33AD - The Garden Tomb, Jerusalem (The Empty Tomb)

41AD - Rome

377 - Teotihuacan (The Quetzacoatl Incident)

473 - Kingdom of Wessex

565 - Loch Ness, Scotland (St. Columba versus Nessie)

793 - Lindisfarne, England (Vikings)

879 - Burgundy, France (Arrangement #1)

894 - Baroli, India (Arrangement #2)

902 - Mercia, England (Arrangement #3)

909 - Mercia England (The Blessing of Cynethryth)

917 - Priesca, Spain (Arrangement #4)

947 - Glastonbury, England (St. Dunstan)

978 - Lake Chad, Chad (Arrangement #5)

1020 - Southwark, London (Arrangement #6)

1097 - Nicaea, Greece (Crusades)

1222 - Karabakh, Armenia (The Mongol Horde)

1304 - Dunfermline & Glasgow, Scotland (Robert the Bruce)

1324 - Gao, Mali (Mansu Musa’s Hajj)

1345 - Sarai Buta, Azerbaijan (The Great Mortality #1)

1347 - Messina, Sicily (The Great Mortality #2)

1349 - Near Toledo, Spain (The Great Mortality #3)

1350 - Kutná Hora, Czech Republic (The Great Mortality #4)

1351 - Smolensk, Russia - (The Great Mortality #5)

1421 - Heaven (Hussite Wars)

1427 - Lavais, Switzerland (Swiss Witch Hunts)

1431 - Rouen, France (100 Years War/Joan of Arc)

1437 - Dunbar, Scotland & Samarkand, Uzbekistan (Scots royalty & Ulugh Beg)

1440 - Baghdad, Iraq (Aziraphale robs a library)

1442 - Zurich, Switzerland (Old Zurich War)

1456 - Belgrade, then-Hungary (Pope Callixtus excommunicates a comet)

1503 - Florence, Italy (Da Vinci)

1531 - Ingolstadt, Germany (Halley’s Comet again)

1532 - The Pacific, near Peru (England breaks with Rome)

1568 - Caerwys, Wales (Eisteddfod)

1570 - Novgorod, Russia (Siege of Novgorod - Ivan the Terrible)

1583 - Istanbul, Turkey (Harem Intrigue)

1601 - The Globe

1655 - Częstochowa, Poland (Siege of Częstochowa)

1658 - The Caribbean (Buccaneer era)

1675/1676 - London (Charles II’s Coffee Ban)

1676 - Border of the Ottoman Empire (Zaporozhian Cossacks)

1677 - London (Crowley’s initial reaction to 1676)

1725 - London (Crowley’s actual reaction when he finds out what Aziraphale actually did in 1676 :D)

1773 - Boston, USA (Boston Tea Party)

1790 - Southwark, London (Chevalier Saint-Georges)

1793 - Paris

1816 - London, England (Year Without Summer)

1846 - London, England (Prophecies of the Apocalypse)

1859 - Rome, Italy (Crowley’s on-going panic-attack)

1862 - London, England

1868 - London, England (Estrangement #1)

1871 - London, England ( Estrangement #2)

1876 - Oxford, England (Estrangement #3 - A Wilde Oscar appears)

1882 - London, England (Estrangement #4 - The 100 Guineas Club)

1900 - Paris, France (Estrangement # 5 - Oscar Wilde’s death)

1916 - Verdun-sur-Meuse, France (Estrangement #6 - The Battle of Verdun)

1941 - London (Church and Nazis with pre- and post-canon scenes)

1946 - The Third Circle of Hell (Repercussions from the Estrangement)

1952 - Soho, London (A Magic Act)

1967 - London

1969 - New York City, America (The Moon Landing)

1972 - London, England (First Pride Parade)

1974 - Santiago, Chile (Repercussions of the Coup)

1975 - Hyde Park, London (Pride & Epiphanies)

No, you’ve got carried away. I’m fine.

[militant-holy-knight]

Just How Violent Arianism Was?

Many Christians know the hilarious episode of Saint Nicholas slapping the heretic Arius in the Council of Nicaea. Not so hilarious is what Arius’ followers did later...

Towards the end of Saint Augustine of Hippo’s life, the Vandals led by King Genseric crossed into North Africa with a force believed to be 80,000 and laid siege to his city of Hippo. Augustine and his priests prayed for relief from the invaders, knowing full well that the fall of the city would spell conversion or death for many Roman Christians. On 28 August 430, three months into the siege, St. Augustine died at 75 - perhaps from starvation or stress, as the wheat fields outside the city lay dormant and unharvested. After 14 months, hunger and diseases were ravaging both the city's inhabitants and the Vandals outside the city walls. The city eventually fell to the Vandals and they made it their first capital.

The Vandals – who were predominantly followers of Arianism (a heretical Christian denomination) – persecuted the Nicene Church (the forerunner of Roman Catholicism/Eastern Orthodoxy). This persecution began with the unfettered violence inflicted against the church during Genseric's invasion but, with the legitimization of the Vandal kingdom, the oppression became entrenched in ‘more coherent religious policies’. Victor of Vita's History of the Vandal Persecution details the ‘wicked ferocity’ inflicted against church property and attacks against ‘many… distinguished bishops and noble priests’ in the first years of the conquest; similarly, Bishop Honoratus writes that “before our eyes men are murdered, women raped and we are ourselves collapse under torture”.

Once Genseric secured his hold over Numidia and Mauretania with the treaty of 435 he worked to destroy the power of the Nicene Church in his new territories by seizing the basilicas of three of the most intransigent bishops and expelling them from their cities. Similar policies continued with the capture of Carthage in 439 as the Vandal king made efforts to simultaneously advance the Arian Church whilst oppressing Nicene practices. Peter Heather highlights that four major churches within the city walls were confiscated for the Arians and a ban was imposed on all Nicene services in areas in which Vandals settled; Genseric also had Quodvultdeus (the city's bishop) and many of his clergy exiled from Africa and refused ‘to allow replacements to be ordained so that the total number of Nicene bishops within the Vandal kingdom suffered a decline.

Huneric, Genseric's son and successor, continued and intensified the repression of the Nicene church and attempted to make Arianism the primary religion in North Africa; Priests were forbidden to practice the liturgy, books were destroyed, and almost 5000 bishops were forced to suffer exile in the desert. Violence continued with ‘men and women subjected to a series of torments including scalping, forced labour and execution by sword and fire. In 483, Huneric commanded all Catholic bishops in Africa, with a royal edict, to attend a debate with Arian representatives and in the aftermath of this conference Huneric forbade the Nicene clergy from assembling, carrying out baptisms or ordinations, and ordered all Nicene churches and property to be closed. Churches were then confiscated for the Royal Fisc or for Arian use.

Generally most Vandal kings, except Hilderic, persecuted the Nicene Christians (as well as Donatists) to a greater or lesser extent, banning conversion for Vandals and exiling bishops.  

[illustratus]

Byzantine soldiers sneaking into the walled city of Nicaea

by Tom Lovell

[creepingsharia]

June 1389: Islam Enters and Conquers Eastern Europe

“The collective memory of Eastern Europeans’ not too distant experiences with and under Islam should never be underestimated...”

Source: June 15, 1389: Islam Enters and Conquers Eastern Europe | Homeland Security

By Raymond Ibrahim

Editor’s note: The following account is partially excerpted from the author’s new book, Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West (with a foreword by Victor Davis Hanson). 

—————————-

Why Eastern Europeans are much more reluctant to accept Muslim migrants than their Western counterparts can be traced back to circumstances surrounding a pivotal battle that took place today, June 15, in the year 1389. The Battle of Kosovo raged between Muslim invaders and Eastern European defenders, or the ancestors of those many Eastern Europeans today vociferously hostile to Islam.

Because the jihad is as old as Islam, it has been championed by diverse peoples (Arabs in the Middle East, Moors -- Berbers and Africans -- in Spain and Western Europe, etc.). Islam’s successful entry into Eastern Europe was spearheaded by the Turks, specifically that tribe centered in westernmost Anatolia (or Asia Minor) and thus nearest to Europe -- the Ottoman Turks, so-named after their founder Osman Bey. As he lay dying in 1323, his parting words to his son and successor, Orhan, were for him “to propagate Islam by yours arms.”

This his son certainly did; the traveler Ibn Batutua, who once met Orhan in Bursa, observed that, although the jihadi had captured some one hundred Byzantine fortresses, “he had never stayed for a whole month in any one town,” because he “fights with the infidels continually and keeps them under siege.” Christian cities fell like dominos: Smyrna in 1329, Nicaea in 1331, and Nicomedia in 1337. By 1340, the whole of northwest Anatolia was under Turkic control. By now, and to quote a European contemporary:

[T]he foes of the cross, and the killers of the Christian people, that is, the Turks, [were] separated from Constantinople by a channel of three or four miles.

By 1354, the Ottoman Turks, under Orhan’s son, Suleiman, managed to cross over the Dardanelles and into the abandoned fortress town of Gallipoli, thereby establishing their first foothold in Europe: “Where there were churches he destroyed them or converted them to mosques,” writes an Ottoman chronicler. “Where there were bells, Suleiman broke them up and cast them into fires. Thus, in place of bells there were now muezzins.”

Cleansed of all Christian “filth,” Gallipoli became, as a later Ottoman bey boasted, “the Muslim throat that gulps down every Christian nation -- that chokes and destroys the Christians.” From this dilapidated but strategically situated fortress town, the Ottomans launched a campaign of terror throughout the countryside, always convinced they were doing God’s work. “They live by the bow, the sword, and debauchery, finding pleasure in taking slaves, devoting themselves to murder, pillage, spoil,” explained Gregory Palamas, an Orthodox metropolitan who was taken captive in Gallipoli, adding:

[A]nd not only do they commit these crimes, but even -- what an aberration -- they believe that God approves them!

After Orhan’s death in 1360 and under his son Murad I -- the first of his line to adopt the title “Sultan” -- the westward jihad into the Balkans began in earnest and was unstoppable. By 1371 he had annexed portions of Bulgaria and Macedonia to his sultanate, which now so engulfed Constantinople that “a citizen could leave the empire simply by walking outside the city gates.”

Unsurprisingly, then, when Prince Lazar of Serbia (b. 1330) defeated Murad’s invading forces in 1387, “there was wild rejoicing among the Slavs of the Balkans. Serbians, Bosnians, Albanians, Bulgarians, Wallachians, and Hungarians from the frontier provinces all rallied around Lazar as never before, in a determination to drive the Turks out of Europe.”

Murad responded to this effrontery on June 15, 1389, in Kosovo.

There, a Serbian-majority coalition augmented by Hungarian, Polish, and Romanian contingents -- twelve thousand men under the leadership of Lazar -- fought thirty thousand Ottomans under the leadership of the sultan himself. Despite the initial downpour of Turkic arrows, the Serbian heavy cavalry plummeted through the Ottoman frontlines and broke the left wing; the Ottoman right, under Murad’s elder son Bayezid, reeled around and engulfed the Christians. The chaotic clash continued for hours.

On the night before battle, Murad had beseeched Allah “for the favour of dying for the true faith, the martyr’s death.” Sometime near the end of battle, his prayer was granted. According to tradition, Miloš Obilić, a Serbian knight, offered to defect to the Ottomans on condition that, in view of his own high rank, he be permitted to submit before the sultan himself. They brought him before Murad and, after Milos knelt in false submission, he lunged at and plunged a dagger deep into the Muslim warlord’s stomach (other sources say “with two thrusts which came out at his back”). The sultan’s otherwise slow guards responded by hacking the Serb to pieces. Drenched in and spluttering out blood, Murad lived long enough to see his archenemy, the by now captured Lazar, brought before him, tortured, and beheaded. A small conciliation, it may have put a smile on the dying martyr’s face.

Murad’s son Bayezid instantly took charge: “His first act as Sultan, over his father’s dead body, was to order the death, by strangulation with a bowstring, of his brother. This was Yaqub, his fellow-commander in the battle, who had won distinction in the field and popularity with his troops.” Next Bayezid brought the battle to a decisive end; he threw everything he had at the enemy, leading to the slaughter of every last Christian -- but even more of his own men in the process.

So many birds flocked to and feasted on the vast field of carrion that posterity remembered Kosovo as the “Field of Blackbirds.” Though essentially a draw -- or at best a Pyrrhic victory for the Ottomans -- the Serbs, with less men and resources to start with in comparison to the ascendant Muslim empire, felt the sting more.

In the years following the battle of Kosovo, the Ottoman war machine became unstoppable: the nations of the Balkans were conquered by the Muslims -- after withstanding a millennium of jihads, Constantinople itself permanently fell to Islam in 1453 -- and they remained under Ottoman rule for centuries (as documented in my new book, Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West).

The collective memory of Eastern Europeans’ not too distant experiences with and under Islam should never be underestimated when considering why they are significantly more wary of -- if not downright hostile to -- Islam and its migrants than their Western counterparts.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.14 (before 1940)

1027 – Robert II of France names his son Henry I as junior King of the Franks. 1097 – The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade. 1264 – Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the effective ruler of England. 1509 – Battle of Agnadello: In northern Italy, French forces defeat the Republic of Venice. 1607 – English colonists establish "James Fort," which would become Jamestown, Virginia, the earliest permanent English settlement in the Americas. 1608 – The Protestant Union, a coalition of Protestant German states, is founded to defend the rights, land and safety of each member against the Catholic Church and Catholic German states. 1610 – Henry IV of France is assassinated by Catholic zealot François Ravaillac, and Louis XIII ascends the throne. 1643 – Four-year-old Louis XIV becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Louis XIII. 1747 – War of the Austrian Succession: A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre. 1796 – Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox inoculation. 1800 – The 6th United States Congress recesses, and the process of moving the Federal government of the United States from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., begins the following day. 1804 – William Clark and 42 men depart from Camp Dubois to join Meriwether Lewis at St Charles, Missouri, marking the beginning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition's historic journey up the Missouri River. 1811 – Paraguay: Pedro Juan Caballero, Fulgencio Yegros and José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia start actions to depose the Spanish governor. 1836 – The Treaties of Velasco are signed in Velasco, Texas. 1857 – Mindon Min was crowned as King of Burma in Mandalay, Burma. 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Jackson takes place. 1868 – Boshin War: The Battle of Utsunomiya Castle ends as former Tokugawa shogunate forces withdraw northward. 1870 – The first game of rugby in New Zealand is played in Nelson between Nelson College and the Nelson Rugby Football Club. 1878 – The last witchcraft trial held in the United States begins in Salem, Massachusetts, after Lucretia Brown, an adherent of Christian Science, accused Daniel Spofford of attempting to harm her through his mental powers. 1879 – The first group of 463 Indian indentured laborers arrives in Fiji aboard the Leonidas. 1900 – Opening of World Amateur championship at the Paris Exposition Universelle, also known as Olympic Games. 1913 – Governor of New York William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100 million donation from John D. Rockefeller. 1915 – The May 14 Revolt takes place in Lisbon, Portugal. 1918 – Cape Town Mayor, Sir Harry Hands, inaugurates the Two-minute silence. 1931 – Five unarmed civilians are killed in the Ådalen shootings, as the Swedish military is called in to deal with protesting workers. 1935 – The Constitution of the Philippines is ratified by a popular vote. 1939 – Lina Medina becomes the youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.

[trekkingbulgaria]

Numbers of Crusaders were overwhelming

Kilidji Arslan had left his family within the besieged city. The sultan himself had remained outside to harass the besiegers. The neighboring hills enabled him to do this with safety to himself, but with terrible loss to the besiegers. After a siege of six or seven weeks it became evident that the numbers of Crusaders were overwhelming. The city was attacked on three sides. The enthusiasm of the besiegers was fired by the renown of Nicaea, the birthplace of their creed.

The sultan soon found that he had an enemy to deal with far different from the undisciplined hordes which Peter the Hermit had accompanied. The religious zeal of the Crusaders was at its best. Priests went daily through the host, urging the warriors to obedience, to prayer, and to courage. “ This mass of warriors,” says Baudri, “ was the image of the Church of God, and Solomon could have said on seeing them, ‘IIow beautiful art thou, O my well beloved! how like to a tabernacle of cedar!’ ”

Attacked with equal fury

“ The two armies,” says wittier of Matthew of Edessa, “ attacked with equal fury; the horses shrank from the clash of arms, from the whizzing of arrows; the plain was covered with javelins and the debris of war.” As the siege progressed both parties became more bitter in their hostility. The Crusaders imitated the Moslems in barbarism. Christian knights cut off the heads of their enemies, and tied them to their saddles. A thousand of these heads were hurled by the besieging machinery of the Crusaders into the city. Another thousand were sent as a trophy to Alexis in Constantinople. On the other side, the besieged threw down boiling oil on the besiegers, and defeated many attempts made to destroy the walls. The breaches made during the day were repaired during the night.

To prevent the Turks from receiving provisions by the lake, the Crusaders, in the seventh week of the siege, transported a considerable number of boats overland from Civitot, the modern Guemlik, into the lake tours bulgaria. The besieged were at once astonished and discouraged by this manoeuvre, while the besiegers pressed on the siege with renewed vigor. Xo part of the walls was left unassailed. A breach was at length effected, and one of the strongest towers was undermined and fell. The day after, the wife of the sultan, with her two children, in endeavoring to escape by the lake, fell into the hands of the Christians. On every side were indications that the city must shortly surrender. The surprise of the Crusaders was therefore great when, one morning at dawn, they saw the standard of Alexis, the Emperor of Rome, flying triumphantly above the walls.

Alexis

The first thought among the soldiers of the Cross was that they had been betrayed ; but the better informed among them were aware that Alexis had come upon the invitation of their own leaders. He had been asked to send his own troops to take possession of the city in order that the Crusaders might be left free to pursue their march towards the Holy Land, and might not be exposed to the delay and demoralization of plundering a hostile city. They were not there to plunder imperial cities, but to fight the infidel. Alexis had reached the, city on its water side by taking his boats overland from the Gulf of Moudania into the lake.

The loss of the Crusaders is put down at 13,000 men, that of the Turks at 200,000. When the victorious army began its advance into the country its troubles recommenced, and the men of the West learned by experience with what an obstinate enemy the empire had had to contend. Stragglers from the army were cut off; and before it advanced one tenth of the distance to Antioch it was met by the sultan at Doryleon.

After a battle obstinately fought on both sides, the Crusaders were again victorious, and the sultan had to beat a hasty retreat, in order to seek the aid of his fellow-countrymen in the east of the kingdom of Houm. Had the emperor been in a position to have followed up the victory of the Crusaders, Asia Minor might again, with the aid of this great army from the West, have been replaced under the rule of Constantinople.

[tasteoftravel]

Numbers of Crusaders were overwhelming

Kilidji Arslan had left his family within the besieged city. The sultan himself had remained outside to harass the besiegers. The neighboring hills enabled him to do this with safety to himself, but with terrible loss to the besiegers. After a siege of six or seven weeks it became evident that the numbers of Crusaders were overwhelming. The city was attacked on three sides. The enthusiasm of the besiegers was fired by the renown of Nicaea, the birthplace of their creed.

The sultan soon found that he had an enemy to deal with far different from the undisciplined hordes which Peter the Hermit had accompanied. The religious zeal of the Crusaders was at its best. Priests went daily through the host, urging the warriors to obedience, to prayer, and to courage. “ This mass of warriors,” says Baudri, “ was the image of the Church of God, and Solomon could have said on seeing them, ‘IIow beautiful art thou, O my well beloved! how like to a tabernacle of cedar!’ ”

Attacked with equal fury

“ The two armies,” says wittier of Matthew of Edessa, “ attacked with equal fury; the horses shrank from the clash of arms, from the whizzing of arrows; the plain was covered with javelins and the debris of war.” As the siege progressed both parties became more bitter in their hostility. The Crusaders imitated the Moslems in barbarism. Christian knights cut off the heads of their enemies, and tied them to their saddles. A thousand of these heads were hurled by the besieging machinery of the Crusaders into the city. Another thousand were sent as a trophy to Alexis in Constantinople. On the other side, the besieged threw down boiling oil on the besiegers, and defeated many attempts made to destroy the walls. The breaches made during the day were repaired during the night.

To prevent the Turks from receiving provisions by the lake, the Crusaders, in the seventh week of the siege, transported a considerable number of boats overland from Civitot, the modern Guemlik, into the lake tours bulgaria. The besieged were at once astonished and discouraged by this manoeuvre, while the besiegers pressed on the siege with renewed vigor. Xo part of the walls was left unassailed. A breach was at length effected, and one of the strongest towers was undermined and fell. The day after, the wife of the sultan, with her two children, in endeavoring to escape by the lake, fell into the hands of the Christians. On every side were indications that the city must shortly surrender. The surprise of the Crusaders was therefore great when, one morning at dawn, they saw the standard of Alexis, the Emperor of Rome, flying triumphantly above the walls.

Alexis

The first thought among the soldiers of the Cross was that they had been betrayed ; but the better informed among them were aware that Alexis had come upon the invitation of their own leaders. He had been asked to send his own troops to take possession of the city in order that the Crusaders might be left free to pursue their march towards the Holy Land, and might not be exposed to the delay and demoralization of plundering a hostile city. They were not there to plunder imperial cities, but to fight the infidel. Alexis had reached the, city on its water side by taking his boats overland from the Gulf of Moudania into the lake.

The loss of the Crusaders is put down at 13,000 men, that of the Turks at 200,000. When the victorious army began its advance into the country its troubles recommenced, and the men of the West learned by experience with what an obstinate enemy the empire had had to contend. Stragglers from the army were cut off; and before it advanced one tenth of the distance to Antioch it was met by the sultan at Doryleon.

After a battle obstinately fought on both sides, the Crusaders were again victorious, and the sultan had to beat a hasty retreat, in order to seek the aid of his fellow-countrymen in the east of the kingdom of Houm. Had the emperor been in a position to have followed up the victory of the Crusaders, Asia Minor might again, with the aid of this great army from the West, have been replaced under the rule of Constantinople.

[travelsyhe]

Numbers of Crusaders were overwhelming

Kilidji Arslan had left his family within the besieged city. The sultan himself had remained outside to harass the besiegers. The neighboring hills enabled him to do this with safety to himself, but with terrible loss to the besiegers. After a siege of six or seven weeks it became evident that the numbers of Crusaders were overwhelming. The city was attacked on three sides. The enthusiasm of the besiegers was fired by the renown of Nicaea, the birthplace of their creed.

The sultan soon found that he had an enemy to deal with far different from the undisciplined hordes which Peter the Hermit had accompanied. The religious zeal of the Crusaders was at its best. Priests went daily through the host, urging the warriors to obedience, to prayer, and to courage. “ This mass of warriors,” says Baudri, “ was the image of the Church of God, and Solomon could have said on seeing them, ‘IIow beautiful art thou, O my well beloved! how like to a tabernacle of cedar!’ ”

Attacked with equal fury

“ The two armies,” says wittier of Matthew of Edessa, “ attacked with equal fury; the horses shrank from the clash of arms, from the whizzing of arrows; the plain was covered with javelins and the debris of war.” As the siege progressed both parties became more bitter in their hostility. The Crusaders imitated the Moslems in barbarism. Christian knights cut off the heads of their enemies, and tied them to their saddles. A thousand of these heads were hurled by the besieging machinery of the Crusaders into the city. Another thousand were sent as a trophy to Alexis in Constantinople. On the other side, the besieged threw down boiling oil on the besiegers, and defeated many attempts made to destroy the walls. The breaches made during the day were repaired during the night.

To prevent the Turks from receiving provisions by the lake, the Crusaders, in the seventh week of the siege, transported a considerable number of boats overland from Civitot, the modern Guemlik, into the lake tours bulgaria. The besieged were at once astonished and discouraged by this manoeuvre, while the besiegers pressed on the siege with renewed vigor. Xo part of the walls was left unassailed. A breach was at length effected, and one of the strongest towers was undermined and fell. The day after, the wife of the sultan, with her two children, in endeavoring to escape by the lake, fell into the hands of the Christians. On every side were indications that the city must shortly surrender. The surprise of the Crusaders was therefore great when, one morning at dawn, they saw the standard of Alexis, the Emperor of Rome, flying triumphantly above the walls.

Alexis

The first thought among the soldiers of the Cross was that they had been betrayed ; but the better informed among them were aware that Alexis had come upon the invitation of their own leaders. He had been asked to send his own troops to take possession of the city in order that the Crusaders might be left free to pursue their march towards the Holy Land, and might not be exposed to the delay and demoralization of plundering a hostile city. They were not there to plunder imperial cities, but to fight the infidel. Alexis had reached the, city on its water side by taking his boats overland from the Gulf of Moudania into the lake.

The loss of the Crusaders is put down at 13,000 men, that of the Turks at 200,000. When the victorious army began its advance into the country its troubles recommenced, and the men of the West learned by experience with what an obstinate enemy the empire had had to contend. Stragglers from the army were cut off; and before it advanced one tenth of the distance to Antioch it was met by the sultan at Doryleon.

After a battle obstinately fought on both sides, the Crusaders were again victorious, and the sultan had to beat a hasty retreat, in order to seek the aid of his fellow-countrymen in the east of the kingdom of Houm. Had the emperor been in a position to have followed up the victory of the Crusaders, Asia Minor might again, with the aid of this great army from the West, have been replaced under the rule of Constantinople.