A History of the Crusades-Vol 1 (38 page)

Daimbert and Bohemond as they travelled
southward together planned their future policy. Godfrey needed their help. He
needed the sea-power provided by the Pisan ships, whose allegiance Daimbert
commanded, and he needed as many knights as Bohemond could spare for him. The
pilgrims spent Christmas at Bethlehem. As soon as the festivities were over,
the newcomers showed their hand. The Patriarch Arnulf, who had many enemies,
and whose patron, the Duke of Normandy, was now far away, was deposed on the
grounds that his election had been uncanonical; and, on Bohemond’s instigation,
Daimbert was elected Patriarch of Jerusalem in his place. There were rumours
that gifts made both to Bohemond and to Godfrey had helped on the transaction.
Immediately after his enthronization both Godfrey and Bohemond knelt before him
and received from him the investiture of the territories of Jerusalem and
Antioch.

Bohemond and
Baldwin Return to the North

The ceremony was significant; and its meaning
was clear. Public opinion amongst the pilgrims had always considered that the
Holy Land should be the patrimony of the Church. But Arnulf had not possessed
the authority nor the personality to establish any supremacy over the lay
powers. Daimbert came out as papal legate, with a prestige derived from his
appointment by Pope Urban; and he brought with him the practical asset of a
squadron of ships and the vigorous backing of Bohemond. The average Crusader
would not deny his claims; and Godfrey, who in spite of his fits of obstinacy
was a weak man and felt himself insecure, shared this genuine respect for the
Church. He hoped that by acknowledging its suzerainty he put his own position
on a proper moral basis and would command its full support in the lay
government of the land. He did not as yet know Daimbert. Bohemond’s motives
were subtler. The recognition of Daimbert’s suzerainty cost him nothing; for
Daimbert would be too far away to interfere in Antiochene affairs. He was glad
to ignore the rights of the Patriarch of Antioch, a Greek, whom he suspected as
an agent of Byzantium. By formally basing his authority on the chief Latin
ecclesiastic in the East he gave an answer that all the Latins would welcome to
the claims put forward by the Emperor and could hope for their whole-hearted
aid should the Emperor seek to attack him. It was probably on this occasion
that he took the title of Prince of Antioch. The title of prince
(princeps
),
attached to a territory, was little known in the West, except in southern
Italy, where it was used by certain Norman rulers who had taken over Lombard
lands and who admitted no lay overlord other than the see of St Peter. It
therefore suited Bohemond perfectly. At the same time his nephew Tancred took
the title of Prince of Galilee, probably to show that his suzerain was not
Godfrey but the Patriarch. Daimbert was delighted with the homage paid to him.
Urban II had probably intended that the Holy Land should become an
ecclesiastical patrimony, though he had not wished to upset the existing ecclesiastical
arrangements. Doubtless he would have welcomed the succession of a Latin to
each of the eastern Patriarchates, if it could be brought about lawfully and
peaceably. But we may question whether he would have approved of an action in
which the Patriarchate of Jerusalem arrogated to itself authority over the
older and historically senior Patriarchate of Antioch. Daimbert was asking for
the Patriarchate claims to religious and secular sovereignty in the East as
high as any that Pope Gregory VII himself had put forward for the Papacy in the
West. The moment was well chosen; for Urban II was dead. News of the accession
of Paschal II, who was raised to the pontificate on 13 August, must have
reached Jerusalem by the winter. Daimbert was probably acquainted with Paschal,
who had preceded him as papal legate in Spain, and knew him to be a man of
mediocre ability and little force of character. He was unlikely to make trouble
so long as his nominal supremacy was recognized.

Baldwin of Edessa did not pay homage to the
Patriarch. Whether he was asked to do so and refused or whether the question
was not raised is unknown; but it seems that his relations with Daimbert were
not cordial.

When the ceremony was over, Bohemond and
Baldwin set off together on New Year’s Day, 1100, to their territories. Most of
their followers returned with them; but a number stayed behind and were
presented by Godfrey with fiefs in Palestine. Godfrey and Daimbert accompanied
the pilgrims to Jericho and the Jordan, where they passed the Feast of the
Epiphany, to celebrate the Blessing of the Waters. Then Bohemond and Baldwin
turned northward up the valley to Beisan and on to Tiberias. There they decided
not to take the coastal road home, but to go straight on, past Baniyas and the
Litani valley into Coele-Syria. They met with no opposition till they were well
into Coele-Syria, close to the ruins of Baalbek. The district owed allegiance
to Duqaq of Damascus, who planned to intercept them there. The column was
marching with Bohemond at its head and Baldwin in the rear when the Damascene
forces attacked. But Duqaq was more concerned to hurry them out of his
territory than to destroy them; and his onslaught was not very vigorous. It was
easily driven off; and the Franks continued on their way, coming down to the
sea through the Buqaia, and thence taking the coastal road past Tortosa and
Lattakieh to Antioch. Before the end of February Baldwin was back in Edessa.

The additions to his armed strength enabled
Godfrey to extend his rule over the maritime plains of Palestine. His territory
had been cut off from the sea, except for a corridor leading to Jaffa. During
the autumn he had attempted to widen this corridor by the capture of the small
port of Arsuf to the north of Jaffa. The men of Arsuf, after their offer to
surrender to Raymond of Toulouse had been rejected through Godfrey’s
interference, thought it wise when Raymond left Palestine to come to terms with
Godfrey, to whom they sent hostages. In return they admitted into their town,
partly as a resident and partly as a hostage, a knight from Hainault, Gerard of
Avesnes. But Godfrey wished for a more direct control; and in the late autumn
he marched with a small force to attack the town. His first victim was his
friend, Gerard of Avesnes, whom the men of Arsuf promptly bound and hung over
the walls fully exposed to the arrows of the assailants. In vain Gerard shouted
down to Godfrey begging him to spare him; but Godfrey replied that were it his
own brother Eustace hanging there he would still press the assault. Gerard was
soon hauled back into the town, transfixed by twelve of his compatriot’s
arrows. But his martyrdom was in vain. Godfrey’s men could make no impression
against the walls of the town; and the two towers on wheels that he constructed
were, one after the other, destroyed by the garrison’s Greek fire. On 15
December he raised the siege. But he left half of his army at Ramleh, with
orders to ravage the country round Arsuf and to make it impossible for the
citizens to till their fields.

Godfrey and the
Emirs of the Coast

With the arrival of reinforcements Godfrey
continued this policy on a larger scale. His men began to raid the hinterland
of all the Fatimid cities of the coast, Ascalon, Caesarea and Acre as well as
Arsuf, till none of them could obtain any supplies from the countryside. At the
same time, with the help of the Pisan sailors, he re-fortified Jaffa and
improved its harbour. Ships from all the Italian and Provencal ports, attracted
by the prospect of trade with the new state, came there to join the Pisans and
to share in their opportunities. With their help, Godfrey was able to blockade
the Palestinian coast. It was increasingly difficult for Fatimid ships to bring
supplies by sea to the Moslem ports. There was piracy on both sides; but on the
whole it was the citizens of these ports that suffered the most.

In mid-March the Egyptians, in answer to an
urgent appeal, sent by sea a small detachment to supplement the garrison of
Arsuf. Emboldened by this, the men of Arsuf organized a counter-raid against
the Franks only to fall into an ambush, in which the greater part of their army
was slain. In despair the town now sent an embassy to Godfrey, which arrived at
Jerusalem on 25 March, bringing to him the symbolical gift of the keys of their
towers and offering to pay an annual tribute. Godfrey accepted their submission
and gave the right to receive the tribute to one of his foremost knights,
Robert of Apulia. A few days later Godfrey was surprised and delighted when
Gerard of Avesnes suddenly appeared at Jerusalem. He had recovered from his
wounds and was now sent back by the authorities in Arsuf as a token of their
goodwill. Godfrey, whose conscience had been uneasy about him, presented him
with the fief of St Abraham, that is to say, Hebron.

Ascalon, Caesarea and Acre were not long in
following the example of Arsuf. Early in April their Emirs came together and
sent envoys to Godfrey, laden with presents of com and fruit and oil and Arab
horses. They offered him a monthly tribute of five thousand bezants if they
might be allowed to cultivate their lands in peace. Godfrey accepted their
overtures; and soon cordial relations were established between the Moslem
cities and their Christian overlord. Various petty Moslem sheikhs of the
foothills had already made their submission. While Godfrey was encamped before
Arsuf a delegation of them had visited him with gifts of food and had been
touched and pleased by the simplicity in which he lived — a simplicity dictated
as much by his poverty as his tastes. It fitted with their conceptions of a
great but modest warrior, and made their friendship easier to obtain.

The sheikhs of Transjordan were the next to
seek an understanding with him. They had been used to sending their surplus produce
to the cities of the coast; and the Frankish state cut across their routes.
They asked to be enabled to send their caravans across Judaea once more.
Godfrey gave his permission, but tried to divert the trade as much as possible
to the Christian port of Jaffa. At the same time the Italians were encouraged
to intercept, whenever they could, any trade between the Moslem coastal cities
and Egypt, to make them dependent on their trade with the Christians. Thus the
whole of Palestine began to be integrated into an economic whole, with its
overseas connections with Europe. The Frankish policy brought a quick return in
wealth and prosperity for the Crusader state.

Raids Across the
Jordan

His growing influence amongst his Moslem
neighbours encouraged Godfrey to attempt to extend his rule over lands beyond
the Jordan. In the land of Suwat, on the east of the Sea of Galilee, there
lived an Emir whom the Crusaders called the Fat Peasant. Tancred had raided his
land and had induced him to recognize Frankish suzerainty; but the Fat Peasant
had shaken off the vassalage as soon as Tancred had departed and had appealed
for help to his overlord, Duqaq of Damascus. Tancred therefore appealed to
Godfrey. A foothold there might enable the Franks to divert the rich trade of
the Jaulan and the Hauran to the ports of Palestine; while the district of
Suwat was itself famed for its fertility. Godfrey was eager to join in its
conquest. He brought up troops early in May, to combine with Tancred’s in a
raid that led them through the Fat Peasant’s territory right into the heart of
the Jaulan. As they were returning, laden with booty, Duqaq fell on the
rearguard, which Tancred commanded. Godfrey in the van moved on, ignorant of
what was happening; and Tancred only extricated himself after losing many of
his men and all his share of the loot. But Duqaq did not feel himself strong
enough to pursue the Franks. Having made sure that they had left his lands he
returned to Damascus. Godfrey went on with his booty to Jerusalem; but Tancred
burned for revenge. As soon as he had rested his army at Tiberias and had
collected reinforcements he conducted another raid into Damascene territory
which was so fierce that Duqaq sent to suggest a truce. In return Tancred
dispatched six knights to Damascus with a message that he must either become a
Christian or leave Damascus. Furious at the insult, Duqaq retorted to the
envoys that they must become Moslems or die. Only one renounced his faith; the
five others were slaughtered. Tancred at once asked Godfrey to help him avenge
their martyrdom; and Godfrey set off again to join him in a raid more
formidable than their first. For a fortnight they devastated the Jaulan, while
the Moslems cowered behind the walls of their towns. Duqaq, nervous as ever of
committing himself to a campaign, made no attempt to oppose them. The Fat
Peasant saw himself deserted by his suzerain and impoverished by the Franks,
and agreed once more to accept Tancred as his overlord and to pay him a regular
tribute.

Though Godfrey was gaining amongst his Moslem
neighbours, within his own dominions his power was declining. With Tancred, the
greatest of his vassals, his relations were cordial; but it seems that Tancred,
for all his requests for Godfrey’s help, shaped his policy according to his own
desires. But, while the Prince of Galilee acted as an independent monarch,
Godfrey found his own independence more and more restricted by the suzerain
that he had rashly accepted, the Patriarch Daimbert. Daimbert was not content
that his lordship should be nominal and theoretical; he wished it to be based
on positive power. Godfrey, always diffident before the Church and fearful of
losing the aid of the Pisans, did not like to refuse his requests. At
Candlemas, 2 February 1100, he handed over to the see of Jerusalem one quarter
of the city of Jaffa. Next, Daimbert demanded that he should be given control
not only of the whole city of Jaffa but of Jerusalem itself and its citadel,
the Tower of David. Godfrey yielded again but, urged perhaps by his outraged knights,
he insisted on delay. At a solemn ceremony on Easter Day, 1 April, he endowed
the Patriarchate with the two cities, but announced that he would remain in possession
of them till his death, or till he should conquer two great cities from the
infidel. It was an unsatisfactory solution; for it was not easy to build an
organized kingdom round a temporary capital. Godfrey seems to have had no
governmental body apart from His own household; nor could he hope to found one
now at Jerusalem. Had Daimbert been a great administrator or, like Adhemar, a
wise statesman, it is just possible that the hierarchical rule that he
envisaged might have endured; but his short-sighted attempt to drive the lay
defenders on whom the security of the Christian state was bound to depend out
of the capital city would have been disastrous. Even the respite that Godfrey
gained only added to the uncertainty of the future. But Providence showed mercy
to Jerusalem.