77 Chapter 11: The Eastern Prince and the Bandit Lord

“At this time the Turks ruled, the Greeks obeyed, and the Armenians protected their liberty in the difficult conditions provided by their mountains.”

-The Gesta Tancredi

“We attacked this confused and mindless crowd and our swords did not leave a single one alive. Moreover, the deaf sword did not hear the offers of money which were offered repeatedly for mercy. From this point on, ‘[Allahu Akbar],’ which the infidels call out in prayer, was no longer heard in the city. It was replaced by the returning sounds of ‘‘Christ conquers, rules and commands’’.’”

-The Gesta Tancredi

The Battle of Dorylaeum was a costly victory for the iron men of the West. However, it was even costlier for their enemies. In one day the crusaders broke the back of the Sultanate of Rûm. The various Turkish tribes recognized that they could not overcome such overwhelming numbers. Each man returned to their home to protect their own, leaving the Sword Lion with a ghost of his former army. Western and central Anatolia was completely open for conquest. Tatikios recognized this rare turn of fortune for the Eastern Roman Empire and led his armies from city to city, reclaiming them for the Empire. Tatikios made sure to placate the Westerners by giving them positions of authority in the liberated territories. This set off something of a frenzy among the Westerners. As the armies naturally split apart to forage for food, contingents would break off to seize Byzantine territory.

No Latin lord was so ambitious as Baudoin. Recall that Baudoin was the third-born son. His eldest brother Eustache was Count of Boulogne, a territory he planned to return to in glory following the capture of Jerusalem. The second-eldest brother was Duke Godefroi, one of the seven great lords of the holy war. Both Baudoin and Godefroi had nothing left for them in Europe and so wanted to settle in Western Asia. However, Godefroi had his own army and could easily press his claim to conquered lands. Baudoin had to make up for his lack of power with daring and willingness to work with the Byzantines.

By this time, Emperor Alexios I had already chosen him as one of his favorites. He was less powerful than the seven great lords, so he would be more dependent on the Greeks than any of them. Also, Baudoin had personally demonstrated humility and respect in front of Alexios I. When one of Baudoin’s knights absent-mindedly sat on the imperial throne, Baudoin chastised him for insulting the Emperor. Of the many ambitious lords looking to settle in his domain, Alexios I guessed that Baudoin would be the most malleable and so gave him special permissions to conquer in his name.

In mid-September 1097 Baudoin secured permission to head south with a force and enter the rich coastal region of Cilicia. Here, Baudoin met fierce resistance, though not from any Muslim force. Instead, Baudoin vied with Tancred, who also dreamed of being a great Eastern lord. As Baudoin left, Tancred declared to the great lords that he would march on Antioch, the next great city en route to the Holy Land. This was a lie. Tancred’s force of one hundred knights and 200 archers shadowed Baudoin’s then raced ahead to seize the port city of Tarsus first.

When Tancred saw the high walls and squat towers of Tarsus he knew he could never take the city with force and instead resorted to cunning. Tancred waited until the citizens sent their cattle out to graze, then sent a fraction of his forces to harass them. Sure enough, the majority of the city’s defenders rushed out and chased away the bandits. As they did Tancred’s knights burst forth from their hiding places and slaughtered the Turks.

The ruse worked far better than it should have: the remaining Turks within Tarsus recognized that such a small force as Tancred’s, and without siege equipment, could not hope to besiege the city. Yet, who knew when a larger Christian army would arrive? In the dead of night the Turks fled the city. The following day the Greek inhabitants opened their doors to the armed pilgrims.

Tancred took command of Tarsus just in time for Baudoin to arrive with a larger force. Tancred explained to his fellow crusader how he had gone ahead and liberated the city without him. He then offered to split the wealth left behind by the Turks and the offerings of the Greek citizens. But Baudoin would have none of it. He argued that clearly Tancred could not have taken the city alone; it was only fear of a larger army that forced the Turks to flee. Baudoin garrisoned the city with his own men, taking it from Tancred on behalf of the Eastern Roman Empire. Along with the city, came its spoils.

Tancred raged at this turn of events. He believed it was his toil and blood that won Tarsus and Baudoin stole it from him. In his anger, Tancred considered fighting Baudoin, but he was horrendously outnumbered. Moreover, none of the lords would tolerate inter-Christian violence so long as Jerusalem was under Islamic control. The young Italo-Norman wisely decamped before allowing his emotions to lead him to ruin.

After Tancred left 300 Norman soldiers arrived at Tarsus. Yet, Baudoin refused to let them enter the city and the Normans camped outside the city walls for the night. The following morning a band of Turks found the Norman camp and slaughtered them. Some of Baudoin’s men mutinied, blaming him for the death of their fellow Christians. Yet, the young man was eventually able to convince his fellows that it was the Turks’ fault, not his. The army accepted his reasoning and slaughtered those Turks still left in the city in retribution.

Tancred marched east along Anatolia’s southern coast. With the Crusader and Byzantine forces approaching, citizens loyal to the empire decided to overthrow their Turkish lords. At Adana an Armenian lord named Ursinas secreted his soldiers inside the city by having them hide in hay wagons; clearly he had been playing Assassin’s Creed. Once inside, the Byzantine loyalists killed the Turkish garrison. Then they captured the Turkish governor, tied him to a stake, gouged out his eyes and shot him with an arrow, such was their fury at the occupiers.

From Adana, Tancred moved on Mamistra. By now all of Anatolia was aware of the Crusaders’ power and their brutality. The fearsome reputation of the armed pilgrims frightened the Turkish overlords who fled the city. For the second time Tancred claimed a major city for Christ without a fight. And again, for the second time, Tancred had to contend with Baudoin for control of his conquest.

Shortly after Tancred took Mamistra Baudoin neared, again with a larger army. When Tancred’s forces refused to open the gates to the newcomers Baudoin’s forces encamped outside. It was not yet a siege, but the threat was obvious. The only question was: which side would dare to raise arms against a fellow Christian and be the first to strike?

The first outbreak of hostilities occurred not over high matters of glory and legal rights, but food prices. During the tense standoff between Baudoin and Tancred’s forces neither side could come to an agreement on how to handle incoming trade to the city. In the uncertainty that followed, merchants being merchants, raised food prices. In outrage, a camp follower started a brawl that escalated when soldiers drew swords. One of Tancred’s lieutenants, Richard of Salerno, led a contingent of knights against Baudoin’s forces. In the chaos a spearman stabbed him. While Richard’s armor saved his life he was violently thrown from his horse, captured and held hostage.

The battle between two groups of Christians disheartened both sides. There had existed something of a balancing act between the divine mission and earthly desires that every armed pilgrim held to until this point. Of course, each man had sewn a cross onto their clothing and sworn to fight for salvation. Yet, each pilgrim also dreamed of acquiring wealth, fame and power along the way. The way that most men balanced these two goals was to pursue both in tandem. Yet, for Tancred and Baudoin their desire for personal glory came at the expense of their oath to liberate Jerusalem, to the point that Christian soldiers drew blood against fellow Christians. Following the battle, the two lords agreed to a peace. Furthermore, Baudoin left Mamistra to Tancred and moved on towards Artah.

For the first time, Baudoin was in the lead in the race to snatch up cities. Tancred followed his new rival to Artah, where he found his fellow Crusaders had successfully taken the city but were under siege by a Turkish force from Antioch. As Tancred approached the Turks fled, fearing that the main Crusader army had arrived. With the enemy in flight, Tancred approached Artah, only to find Baudoin barred the gates to his men, fearing another outbreak of violence.

The following morning a larger Turkish force arrived and attacked the Latins in the open fields before the city. Tancred and Baudoin now fought against a common foe, though not in concert as their forces were separated by the battlelines. The Turks fought fiercely, their mounted horsemen killing fleeing infantryman. As at the Battle of Dorylaeum, the heavy armor the Latins wore frustrated regular Turkish tactics; but if the bows did not kill they could still wound. Battle ended with the falling of night. The next day the Turks retreated back to Antioch as they knew they could not maintain a siege.

After Artah the two rivals went their separate ways. Baudoin traveled eastward to Edessa upon the invitation of its governor T’oros. Edessa was perhaps the greatest of the former Byzantine cities that held out against Turkish conquest, even as they were cut off from the rest of the empire. When Baudoin arrived he was welcomed by its citizens as a Byzantine envoy. They weren’t wrong to think so; by this point, Baudoin was wearing Greek-style clothes, he grew out his beard in Greek fashion. He even rode a chariot with a golden shield bearing the Roman eagle. What happens next depends on how conniving we believe Baudoin was. T’oros was an Orthodox Christian, unlike the majority Monophysite population. An armed mob broke into T’oros residence, killing him. Whether Baudoin instigated the assault against his adoptive father, or simply took advantage of the sudden loss of the governor we can only imagine. Either way, Baudoin appealed to Alexios I who named him governor of Edessa with the title of Duke.

By all accounts, Baudoin was soon rid of everything Western about him, including his English wife, who died of disease while traveling with the army. Baudoin wasted absolutely no time at all and married a local Armenian woman, something which gave him a hefty dowry and a place in the Edessan nobility. Through conquest and charm, Baudoin was very quickly establishing himself as a new major player in Eastern politics.

While Baudoin was styling himself as an Eastern prince, Tancred went into self-imposed ‘exile.’ He and his band of knights hiked up mountain passes and lived as Christ’s bandits, regularly bursting out from hiding places, attacking small groups of Muslim soldiers. After a time, larger Turkish bands hunted him and Tancred’s host engaged in on-and-off fighting. The bandit lord’s reputation spread and he attracted local Armenian Christians to his force. In this manner, Tancred and his knights skirmished with Muslim forces until the Crusader armies approached Antioch.

Baudoin and Tancred were among the most notable of the young nobles who dreamed of ruling in the east in the post-war settlement. Yet, the two had a very different relationship with the Byzantine Empire. Baudoin was conciliatory in the extreme as it concerned Alexios I. As the Emperor’s favorite, Baudoin immediately posed as a Byzantine lord. In stark contrast, none of the Western lords were as obstinate as Tancred. The determined young man refused to take the oath, finally succumbing later than any of his fellows and he only did so to appease his uncle. He opposed the Eastern Romans’ attempts to subvert the holy war for political power, and made his opinions well known. The result is that while Baudoin was hosted in palaces, Tancred camped on darkened hills. While Baudoin rode a chariot in processions, Tancred cracked skulls on dirt roads.

The difference between the two could not be clearer. It also raised a worrying prospect; what kind of lords were these Westerners who travelled so far from home? After they established their own states could they rule in harmony with their fellow Christians? This seemed unlikely, given that they fought against each other even in the midst of a holy war! Despite all their high-minded ideals of Christian brotherhood there was little keeping them from killing each other outside of their mutual hatred of the Muslims occupying Jerusalem. Without a common foe what would stop the Crusaders from killing each other?

For nearly four months the Crusaders hosts made their way through Anatolia. There were no great battles as the Turks were in full retreat. Only small skirmishes took place between the most eager knights who rode ahead of the holy war and the scant Muslim garrisons still left throughout Asia Minor. Instead, the Iron Men and their Greek compatriots moved from one city to the next as the locals opened their gates and rose Byzantine flags from their towers. The holy war was proceeding exactly as Alexios I had planned. It was so successful that Kilij Arslan sent emissaries to the emperor and brokered a peace. This truce between the Byzantines and the Turks was a godsend for the Eastern Roman Empire, yet it imperiled the holy war. The Muslim agreement not to war with the Byzantines meant that they were free to unleash their full power against the Western armies, setting up a dramatic showdown for control of the Holy Land, one which would take place at the great city of Antioch.