A History of the Crusades-Vol 1 (18 page)

At Cologne Emich decided that his work in the
Rhineland was completed. Early in June he set out with the bulk of his forces
up the Main towards Hungary. But a large party of his followers thought that
the Moselle valley also should be purged of Jews. They broke off from his army
at Mainz and on 1 June they arrived at Trier. Most of the Jewish community
there was safely given refuge by the archbishop in his palace; but as the
Crusaders approached some Jews in panic began to fight among themselves, while
others threw themselves into the Moselle and were drowned. Their persecutors
then moved on to Metz, where twenty-two Jews perished. About the middle of June
they returned to Cologne, hoping to rejoin Emich; but, finding him gone, they
proceeded down the Rhine, spending from 24 to 27 June in massacring the Jews at
Neuss, Wevelinghofen, Eller and Xanten. Then they dispersed, some returning
home, others probably merging with the army of Godfrey of Bouillon.

News of Emich’s exploits reached the parties
that had already left Germany for the East. Volkmar and his followers arrived
at Prague at the end of May. On 30 June they began to massacre the Jews in the
city. The lay authorities were unable to curb them; and the vehement protests
of Bishop Cosmas were unheeded. From Prague Volkmar marched on into Hungary. At
Nitra, the first large town across the frontier, he probably attempted to take
similar action. But the Hungarians would not permit such behaviour. Finding the
Crusaders incorrigibly unruly they attacked and scattered them. Many were slain
and others captured. What happened to the survivors and to Volkmar himself is
unknown.

Gottschalk and his men, who had taken the road
through Bavaria, had paused at Ratisbon to massacre the Jews there. A few days
later they entered Hungary at Wiesselburg (Moson). King Coloman issued orders
that they should be given facilities for revictualling so long as they behaved
themselves. But from the outset they began to pillage the countryside, stealing
wine and com and sheep and oxen. The Hungarian peasants resisted these
exactions. There was fighting; several deaths occurred and a young Hungarian
boy was impaled by the Crusaders. Coloman brought up troops to control them and
surrounded them at the village of Stuhlweissenburg, a little further to the
east. The Crusaders were obliged to surrender all their arms and all the goods
that they had stolen. But trouble continued. Possibly they made some attempt to
resist; possibly Coloman had heard by now of the events at Nitra and would not
trust them even disarmed. As they lay at its mercy, the Hungarian army fell on
them. Gottschalk was the first to flee but was soon taken. All his men perished
in the massacre.

The End of Emich’s
Expedition

Some few weeks later Emich’s army approached
the Hungarian frontier. It was larger and more formidable than Gottschalk’s;
and King Coloman, after his recent experiences, was seriously alarmed. When
Emich sent to ask for permission to pass through his kingdom, Coloman refused
the request and sent troops to defend the bridge that led across a branch of
the Danube to Wiesselburg. But Emich was not to be deflected. For six weeks his
men fought the Hungarians in a series of petty skirmishes in front of the
bridge, while they set about building an alternative bridge for themselves. In
the meantime they pillaged the country on their side of the river. At last the
Crusaders were able to force their way across the bridge that they had built
and laid siege to the fortress of Wiesselburg itself. Their army was well
equipped and possessed siege-engines of such power that the fall of the town
seemed imminent. But, probably on the rumour that the king was coming up in
full strength, a sudden panic flung the Crusaders into disorder. The garrison
thereupon made a sortie and fell on the Crusaders’ camp. Emich was unable to
rally his men. After a short battle they were utterly routed. Most of them fell
on the field; but Emich himself and a few knights were able to escape owing to
the speed of their horses. Emich and his German companions eventually retired
to their homes. The French knights, Clarambald of Vendeuil, Thomas of La Fere
and William the Carpenter, joined other expeditions bound for Palestine.

The collapse of Emich’s Crusade, following so
soon after the collapse of Volkmar’s and Gottschalk’s Crusades, deeply
impressed western Christendom. To most good Christians it appeared as a
punishment meted out from on high to the murderers of the Jews. Others, who had
thought the whole Crusading movement to be foolish and wrong, saw in these
disasters God’s open disavowal of it all. Nothing had yet occurred to justify
the cry that echoed at Clermont, ‘Deus le volt’.

CHAPTER III

THE PRINCES AND
THE EMPEROR

‘
Will he make
many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee? Will he make
a covenant with thee?’
JOB XLI, 3, 4

The western princes that had taken the Cross
were less impatient than Peter and his friends. They were ready to abide by the
Pope’s time-table. Their troops had to be gathered and equipped. Money had to
be raised for the purpose. They must arrange for the government of their lands
during an absence that might last for years. None of them was prepared to start
out before the end of August.

The first to leave his home was Hugh, Count of
Vermandois, known as Le Maisne, the younger, a surname translated most
inappropriately by the Latin chroniclers even in his own time as Magnus. He was
the younger son of King Henry I of France and of a princess of Scandinavian
origin, Anne of Kiev; a man of some forty years of age, of greater rank than
wealth, who had acquired his small county by marriage with its heiress, and had
never played a prominent part in French politics. He was proud of his lineage
but ineffectual in action. We cannot tell what were his motives in joining the
Crusade. No doubt he inherited the restlessness of his Scandinavian ancestors.
Perhaps he felt that in the East he could acquire the power and riches that
befitted his high birth. Probably his brother, King Philip, encouraged his
decision in order to ingratiate his family with the Papacy. Leaving his lands
in the care of his countess, he set out in late August for Italy, with a small
army composed of his vassals and some knights from his brother’s domains.
Before his departure he sent a special messenger ahead of him to
Constantinople, requesting the Emperor to arrange for his reception with the
honours due to a prince of royal blood. As he journeyed southward he was joined
by Drogo of Nesle and Clarambald of Vendeuil and William the Carpenter and
other French knights returning from Emich’s disastrous expedition.

The Balkan
Peninsula at the time of the First Crusade

Hugh and his company passed by Rome and arrived
at Bari early in October. In southern Italy they found the Norman princes
themselves preparing for the Crusade; and Bohemond’s nephew William decided not
to wait for his relatives but to cross the sea with Hugh. From Bari Hugh sent
an embassy of twenty-four knights, led by William the Carpenter, across to
Dyrrhachium to inform the governor that he was about to arrive and to repeat
his demand for a suitable reception. The governor, John Comnenus, was thus able
to warn the Emperor of his approach and himself prepared to welcome him. But
Hugh’s actual arrival was not as dignified as he had hoped. A storm wrecked the
small flotilla that he had hired for the crossing. Some of his ships foundered
with all their passengers. Hugh himself was cast ashore on Cape Palli, a few
miles to the north of Dyrrhachium. John’s envoys found him there bewildered and
bedraggled, and escorted him to their master; who at once re-equipped him and
feasted him and showed him every attention, but kept him under strict
surveillance. Hugh was pleased with the flattering regard shown to him; but to
some of his followers it seemed that he was being kept a prisoner. He remained
at Dyrrhachium till a high official, the admiral Manuel Butumites, arrived from
the Emperor to escort him to Constantinople. His journey thither was achieved
in comfort, though he was obliged to take a roundabout route through
Philippopolis, as the Emperor did not wish to let him make contact with the
Italian pilgrims that were crowding along the Via Egnatia. At Constantinople
Alexius greeted him warmly and showered presents on him but continued to
restrict his liberty.

Godfrey of
Lorraine

Hugh’s arrival forced Alexius to declare his
policy towards the western princes. The information that he had acquired and
his memory of the career of Roussel of Bailleul convinced him that, whatever
might be the official reasons for the Crusade, the real object of the Franks
was to secure for themselves principalities in the East. He did not object to
this. So long as the Empire recovered all the lands that it had held before the
Turkish invasions, there was much to be said in favour of the creation of
Christian buffer-states on its perimeter. That small states could be
independent was unthought-of at the time. But Alexius wished to be sure that he
would be clearly regarded as overlord of any that might be erected. Knowing
that in the West allegiance was established by a solemn oath, he decided to
demand such an oath from all the western leaders to cover their future
conquests. To win their compliance he was ready to pour gifts and subsidies on
them, while he would emphasize his own wealth and glory, that they might not
feel their dignity lowered in becoming his men. Hugh, dazzled by the
magnificence and the generosity of the Emperor, fell in willingly with his
plans. But the next to arrive from the West was not so easily persuaded.

Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine,
appears in later legend as the perfect Christian knight, the peerless hero of
the whole Crusading epic. A scrupulous study of history must modify the
verdict. He was born about the year 1060, the second son of Count Eustace II of
Boulogne and of Ida, daughter of Godfrey II, Duke of Lower Lorraine, who was
descended in the female line from Charlemagne. He had been designated as the
heir to the possessions of his mother’s family; but on her father’s death the
emperor Henry IV confiscated the duchy, leaving Godfrey only the county of
Antwerp and the lordship of Bouillon in the Ardennes. Godfrey, however, served
Henry so loyally in his German and Italian campaigns that in 1082 he was
invested with the duchy, but as an office, not as a hereditary fief. Lorraine
was impregnated with Cluniac influences; and, though Godfrey remained loyal to
the emperor, it is possible that Cluniac teaching, with its strong papal
sympathies, began to trouble his conscience. His administration of Lorraine was
not very efficient. There seems to have been some doubt whether Henry would
continue to employ him. It was therefore partly from despondency about his
future in Lorraine, partly from uneasiness over his religious loyalties, and
partly from genuine enthusiasm that he answered the call to the Crusade. He
made his preparations very thoroughly. After raising money by blackmailing the
Jews, he sold his estates of Rosay and Stenay on the Meuse, and pledged his
castle of Bouillon to the Bishop of Liege, and was thus able to equip an army
of considerable size. The number of his troops and his former high office gave
Godfrey a prestige that was enhanced by his pleasant manners and his handsome
appearance. For he was tall, well-built and fair, with a yellow beard and hair,
the ideal picture of a northern knight. But he was indifferent as a soldier,
and as a personality he was overshadowed by his younger brother, Baldwin.

Godfrey in
Hungary

Godfrey’s two brothers had also taken the
Cross. The elder, Eustace III, Count of Boulogne, was an unenthusiastic
Crusader, always eager to return to his rich lands that lay on both sides of
the English Channel. His contribution of soldiers was far smaller than Godfrey’s,
whom he was therefore content to regard as leader. He probably travelled out
separately, going through Italy. The younger brother, Baldwin, who accompanied
Godfrey, was of a different type. He had been destined for the Church and so
had not been allotted any of the family estates. But, though his training at
the great school at Reims left him with a lasting taste for culture, his
temperament was not that of a churchman. He returned to lay life, and
apparently took service under his brother Godfrey in Lorraine. The brothers
formed a striking contrast. Baldwin was even taller than Godfrey. His hair was
as dark as the other’s was fair; but his skin was very white. While Godfrey was
gracious in manner, Baldwin was haughty and cold. Godfrey’s tastes were simple,
but Baldwin, though he could endure great hardships, loved pomp and luxury.
Godfrey’s private life was chaste, Baldwin’s given over to venery. Baldwin
welcomed the Crusade with delight. His home-land offered him no future; but in
the East he might find himself a kingdom. When he set out he took with him his
Norman wife, Godvere of Tosni, and their little children. He did not intend to
return.

Godfrey and his brothers were joined by many
leading knights from Walloon and Lotharingian territory; their cousin, Baldwin
of Rethel, lord of Le Bourg, Baldwin II, Count of Hainault, Rainald, Count of
Toul, Warner of Gray, Dudo of Konz-Saarburg, Baldwin of Stavelot, Peter of
Stenay and the brothers Henry and Geoffrey of Esch.

Perhaps because he felt some embarrassment as
an imperialist in his relations with the Papacy, Godfrey decided not to travel
through Italy by the route that the other crusading leaders were planning to
take. Instead, he would go through Hungary, following not only the popular
Crusades but also, according to the legend that was now spreading through the
West, his ancestor Charlemagne himself on his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He left
Lorraine at the end of August, and after a few weeks’ marching up the Rhine and
down the Danube he arrived at the beginning of October at the Hungarian
frontier on the river Leitha. From there he sent an embassy, headed by Geoffrey
of Esch, who had previous experience of the Hungarian court, to King Coloman to
ask for permission to cross his territory.

Coloman had recently suffered too severely at
the hands of Crusaders to welcome a new invasion. He kept the embassy for eight
days, then announced that he would meet Godfrey at Oedenburg for an interview.
Godfrey came with a few of his knights and was invited to spend some days at
the Hungarian court. The impression that Coloman received from this visit
decided him to allow the passage of Godfrey’s army through Hungary, provided
that Baldwin, whom he guessed to be its most dangerous member, was left with
him as a hostage, together with his wife and children. When Godfrey returned to
his army, Baldwin at first refused to give himself up; but he later consented;
and Godfrey and his troops entered the kingdom at Oedenburg. Coloman promised
to provide them with provisions at reasonable prices; while Godfrey sent
heralds round his army to announce that any act of violence would be punished
by death. After these precautions had been taken the Crusaders marched
peaceably through Hungary, the king and his army keeping close watch on them
all the way. After spending three days revictualling at Mangjeloz, close to the
Byzantine frontier, Godfrey reached Semlin towards the end of November and took
his troops in an orderly manner across the Save to Belgrade. As soon as they
were all across, the hostages were returned to him.

Godfrey s
Arrival at Constantinople

The imperial authorities, probably forewarned
by the Hungarians, were ready to welcome him. Belgrade itself had lain deserted
since its pillage by Peter, five months before. But a frontier guard hurried to
Nish, where the governor Nicetas was residing and where an escort for Godfrey
was waiting. The escort set out at once and met him in the Serbian forest,
half-way between Nish and Belgrade. Arrangements for provisioning the army had
already been made; and it moved on without trouble through the Balkan peninsula.
At Philippopolis news reached it of the arrival of Hugh of Vermandois at
Constantinople and of the wonderful gifts that he and his comrades had
received. Baldwin of Hainault and Henry of Esch were so deeply impressed that
they decided to hasten on ahead of the army to the capital in order to secure
their share in the gifts before the others came. But rumour also reported, not entirely
without foundation, that Hugh was being kept a prisoner, Godfrey was somewhat
disquieted.

On about 12 December Godfrey’s army halted at
Selymbria, on the Sea of Marmora. There its discipline, which had hitherto been
excellent, suddenly broke down; and for eight days it ravaged the countryside.
The reason for this disorder is unknown; but Godfrey sought to excuse it as
reprisals for Hugh’s imprisonment. The Emperor Alexius promptly sent two
Frenchmen in his service, Radulph Peeldelau and Roger, son of Dagobert, to
remonstrate with Godfrey and to persuade him to continue his march in peace.
They succeeded; and on 23 December Godfrey’s army arrived at Constantinople and
encamped, at the request of the Emperor, outside the city along the upper
waters of the Golden Horn.

Godfrey’s arrival with a large and
well-equipped army presented a difficult problem to the imperial government. In
pursuit of his policy, Alexius wished to make sure of Godfrey’s allegiance and
then to send him on as soon as possible out of the dangerous neighbourhood of
the capital. It is doubtful whether he really suspected, as his daughter Anna
suggests, that Godfrey had designs on Constantinople. But the suburbs of the
city had already suffered severely from the ravages of Peter the Hermit’s
followers. It was dangerous to expose them to the attentions of an army that
had proved itself equally lawless and was far better armed. But he had first to
secure Godfrey’s oath of homage. Accordingly, as soon as Godfrey was settled in
his camp, Hugh of Vermandois was sent to visit him, to persuade him to come to
see the Emperor. Hugh, so far from resenting his treatment at the Emperor’s
hands, willingly undertook the mission.

Godfrey refused the Emperor’s invitation. He
felt out of his depth. Hugh’s attitude puzzled him. His troops had already made
contact with the remnants of Peter’s forces, most of whom justified their recent
disaster by attributing it to imperial treachery; and he was affected by their
propaganda. As Duke of Lower Lorraine he had taken a personal oath of
allegiance to the emperor Henry IV, and may have thought that this precluded an
oath to the rival eastern Emperor. Moreover, he did not wish to take any
important step till he could consult the other Crusading leaders whom he knew
to be soon arriving. Hugh returned to the palace without an answer for Alexius.

Alexius was angry, and unwisely thought to
bring Godfrey to reason by shutting off the supplies that he had promised to
provide for his troops. While Godfrey hesitated, Baldwin at once began to raid
the suburbs, till Alexius promised to lift the blockade. At the same time
Godfrey agreed to move his camp down the Golden Horn to Pera, where it would be
better sheltered from the winter winds, and where the imperial police could
watch it more closely. For some time neither side took further action. The
Emperor supplied the western troops with sufficient provisions; and Godfrey for
his part saw that discipline was maintained. At the end of January Alexius
again invited Godfrey to visit him; but Godfrey was still unwilling to commit
himself till other Crusading leaders should join him. He sent his cousin, Baldwin
of Le Bourg, Conon of Montaigu and Geoffrey of Esch to the palace to hear the
Emperor’s proposals, but on their return gave no answer. Alexius was unwilling
to provoke Godfrey lest he should again ravage the suburbs. After ensuring that
the Lorrainers had no communication with the outside world, he waited till
Godfrey should grow impatient and come to terms.

The Battle in
Holy Week

At the end of March Alexius learnt that other
Crusading armies would soon arrive at Constantinople. He felt obliged to bring
matters to a head, and began to reduce the supplies sent to the Crusaders’
camp. First he withheld fodder for their horses, then, as Holy Week approached,
their fish and finally bread. The Crusaders responded by making daily raids on
the neighbouring villages and eventually came into conflict with the Petcheneg
troops that acted as police in the districts. In revenge Baldwin set an ambush
for the police. Sixty were captured and many of them were put to death.
Encouraged by the small success and feeling that he was now committed to fight,
Godfrey decided to move his camp and to attack the city itself. After carefully
plundering and burning the houses in Pera in which his men had been lodged, he
led them across a bridge over the head waters of the Golden Horn, drew them up
outside the city walls and began to attack the gate that led to the palace
quarter of Blachernae. It is doubtful whether he meant to do more than put
pressure on the Emperor; but the Greeks suspected that he aimed at seizing the
Empire.

It was the Thursday in Holy Week, 2 April; and
Constantinople was quite unprepared for such an onslaught. There were signs of
a panic in the city, which was only stilled by the presence and the cool
behaviour of the Emperor. He was genuinely shocked by the necessity for
fighting on so holy a day. He ordered his troops to make a demonstration
outside the gates without coming to blows with the enemy, while his archers on
the walls were told to fire over their heads. The Crusaders did not press their
attack and soon retired, having slain only seven of the Byzantines. Next day
Hugh of Vermandois again went out to remonstrate with Godfrey, who retorted by
taunting him with slavishness for having so readily accepted vassaldom. When
envoys were sent by Alexius to the camp later in the day to suggest that
Godfrey’s troops should cross over to Asia even before Godfrey took the oath,
the Crusaders advanced to attack them without waiting to hear what they might
say. Thereupon Alexius decided to finish the affair, and flung in more of his
men to meet the attack. The Crusaders were no match for the seasoned imperial
soldiers. After a brief contest they turned and fled. His defeat brought
Godfrey at last to recognize his weakness. He consented both to take the oath
of allegiance and to have his army transported across the Bosphorus.

The ceremony of the oath-taking was held
probably two days later, on Easter Sunday. Godfrey, Baldwin and their leading
lords swore to acknowledge the Emperor as overlord of any conquests that they might
make and to hand over to the Emperor’s officials any reconquered land that had
previously belonged to the Emperor. They then received huge gifts of money and
were entertained by the Emperor at a banquet. As soon as the ceremonies were
over, Godfrey and his troops were shipped across to Chalcedon and marched on to
an encampment at Pelecanum, on the road to Nicomedia.

The Ceremony of
Homage

Alexius had very little time to spare. Already
a miscellaneous army, probably composed of various vassals of Godfrey who had
preferred to travel through Italy and were probably led by the Count of Toul,
had arrived at the outer suburbs of the city and were waiting on the shores of
the Marmora, near Sosthenium. They showed the same truculence as Godfrey, and
were anxious to wait for Bohemond and the Normans, whom they knew to be close
behind; while the Emperor was determined to prevent their junction with
Godfrey. It was only after some fighting that he could keep control over their
movements; and as soon as Godfrey was safely across the Bosphorus he conveyed
them by sea to the capital, where they joined other small groups of Crusaders
that had straggled across the Balkans. All the Emperor’s tact and many gifts
were needed to persuade their leaders to take the oath of allegiance. When at
last they consented, Alexius enhanced the solemnity of the occasion by bringing
over Godfrey and Baldwin to witness the ceremony. The western lords were
grudging and unruly. One of them sat himself down on the Emperor’s throne;
whereupon Baldwin sharply reproved him, reminding him that he had just become
the Emperor’s vassal and telling him to observe the customs of the country. The
westerner angrily muttered that it was boorish of the Emperor to sit when so
many valiant captains were standing. Alexius, who overheard the remark and had
it translated for him, asked to speak with the knight; and when the latter
began to boast of his unbeaten prowess in single combat, Alexius gently advised
him to try other tactics when fighting the Turks.

The incident typified the relations between the
Emperor and the Franks. The crude knights from the West were inevitably
impressed by the splendour of the palace and by its smooth, careful ceremonial
and the quiet, polished manners of the courtiers. But they resented it all.
Their wounded pride made them obstreperous and rude, like naughty children.

When their oaths were taken the knights and
their men were transported across the straits to join Godfrey’s army on the
coast of Asia. The Emperor had acted just in time. On 9 April Bohemond of
Taranto arrived at Constantinople.