Background

The Crusade

Siege Warfare


General Information

The Crusades, in many ways, were a time of sweeping change in Europe. They not only ended Europe’s isolation resulting from the Dark Ages but also were the beginning of the end of Europe’s feudal system (although feudalism would still endure for another 300 years after the end of the First Crusade). This was due to the Crusades opening trade with Asia and creating towns which very gradually displaced manors as the main source of work and income for the people of Europe. The process was to start, however, not from motives of profit, but from motives of power. The Roman Catholic Church, having dominated life in 11th century Europe, sought to gain a more firm dominance over the European powers . At the time, the countries of Europe were in a state of chaos and plagued by ceaseless violent conflict over power and land. Pope Urban II, leader of the Roman Catholic Church, then made a speech at the Council of Clermont calling all upon the major European powers to unite and assemble an army to retake the Holy Land of Jerusalem from the Saracens (Fatimid Muslims) who had occupied it .

The major European powers during the Crusades included France, The Holy Roman Empire (Germany), the Papal states (present-day Rome and surrounding countryside), and Italy (the parts of Italy excluding the Papal states; mainly the southern part of present-day Italy) . Allied (although very loosely) with the Crusaders was the Byzantine Empire (present-day Greece and Macedonia), who despite giving aid in the beginning ultimately betrayed them . Opposing the Crusaders were the Fatimids (Muslims of North Africa, particularly Egypt, who occupied Jerusalem itself) and the Seljuk Turks (a loose alliance of independent Muslim tribes that controlled different areas of present-day Turkey and Syria) .

Several cities along the way to the Holy Land were important objectives the Crusaders took. Occupied by the Seljuk Turks and the North African Fatimids, these cities protected the Holy Land and also became part of the Crusaders’ supply line after they were taken. The most important ones were Nicaea, Dorylaeum, Edessa, Antioch, Arqa, and of course, Jerusalem itself, which was the final objective . The target cities were chosen for their value and their position (i.e. whether or not seizing them would give the crusaders a military advantage). In some cases, such as Edessa, the city was taken because of the greed of one of the crusader commanders, for the city’s land and wealth. Edessa was taken because one of the commanders, Baldwin of Boulogne, had lost his wealth due to the death of his wife, (who died on the journey to the Holy Land). Having lost his wife’s wealth, he ventured to capture his own wealth in the Holy Land, and Edessa was an easy target . It not only provided Baldwin with the wealth he wanted, but help to supply his army as well. The crusaders took different routes to Constantinople (since they came from different lands), but united on a long and difficult path through the Holy Land as a group (With a few exceptions, namely Baldwin’s army diverting to Edessa to take it over). (See below map for the crusaders’ routes). The route the Crusaders took was to take them through modern-day Turkey (cities of Nicaea, Dorylaeum, and the Armenian city of Edessa), to Syria (the cities of Antioch and Arqa), and finally to Palestine (modern-day Israel, which contained Jerusalem itself) .


The Crusaders

The Crusaders consisted of several different classes of people. They included the knights (led by the European barons), hailing from France, the Papal states (Italy), and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the duchy of Normandy, ruled by the Norman kings of England; the poor, who accompanied the knights on the Crusade seeking redemption in the Holy Land as well as escaping boredom in their homes (many of these poor were convicts hoping to get forgiven in the Holy Land); and finally impoverished knights of Europe seeking to build their fortunes in the Holy Land . The noblemen army (The army under direct command of the barons) consisted of about 27,000 men total. This group consisted of 7000 knights and 20,000 foot soldiers, all of whom were recruited by the barons (in other words, the 27,000 men consisted of the combined total of all the barons’ personal armies, from their respective lands in Europe) . The foot soldiers included spearmen armed with short lances, archers on foot, servants, auxiliaries, common soldiers armed with clubs and daggers, and engineers and technicians that worked on siege engines; these soldiers in turn also had servants with them who were helpful in running the Crusaders’ camps and in siege operations . The poor (the “paupere” soldiers) consisted of many groups, including peasants who followed the knights, convicts, and the “Tafurs” which were a large group of peasants and poor knights, led by Peter the Hermit . Most of these men had no more than the clothes on their back and an old weapon . The Crusader army had a beginning total of around 60,000 men, mostly consisting of the poor, who numbered around 33,000- slightly larger than the noblemen-led army .

The Crusaders’ noblemen leaders were numerous, and the most important ones were: Raymond of Toulouse, papal legate Adhemar of Le Puy, Bohemund of Taranto and his nephew Tancred, pothers Godfrey of Bouillon, Eustace, and Baldwin of Boulogne, Robert of Flanders, Robert of Normandy, Stephen, Count of Blois, Hugh of Vermandois, and Peter the Hermit (who wasn’t a noblemen but was very important because he led the poor, which was the largest group in the army) . Raymond of Toulouse, Robert of Flanders, Robert of Normandy, Stephen, Count of Blois, and Hugh of Vermandois represented different regions of France (Raymond was from Provence, the rest were from Northern France), pothers Godfrey of Bouillon, Eustace, and Baldwin of Boulogne represented the Lorrainers of the Holy Roman Empire, and Bohemund of Taranto and his nephew Tancred represented the Normans of southern Italy . Accompanying Raymond of Toulouse was the papal legate Adhemar of Le Puy, representative of the Pope . Peter the Hermit, who was from Amiens, France, was a charismatic monk and orator who led the poor part of the Crusader army, and was responsible for their well being .


The Muslims

Opposing the Crusaders was the Muslim armies of the Seljuk Turks and the Fatimids consisting of thousands of soldiers armed with javelins, swords, battle axes, and maces; mounted archers, archers on foot, and long range “foot-bow” archers, as well as spearmen on foot and engineers . The Muslim armies’ specialties were their archers, as their mounted archers and long-range foot-bow archers decimated Crusader forces every time they engaged the Crusaders in battle . Their foot-bow archers were unique as they used a long-range giant bow that they propelled using their feet as leverage. This resulted in the ability for the archers to do long-range barrages that destroyed many Crusader formations long before the Crusaders could even start engaging the Muslim armies . The numbers of the Muslim armies varied. At the first major battle between the crusaders and the Seljuk Turks, Dorylaeum, the crusaders faced an army numbering in the tens of thousands . The siege of Antioch also pitted tens of thousands of Muslim armies against the crusaders, the city of Antioch had a relatively small number of troops compared to the crusaders; but the relief army consisting of Seljuk Turkish, Fatimid, Persian (Modern-day Iranian), and Mesopotamian (Ortuqids, Turks living in present-day Northern Iraq) troops, numbered in the tens of thousands . The Fatimid garrison that protected Jerusalem numbered around 1000 men, consisting of Arab and Sudanese troops , and the relief army sent by the Fatimids to break the Jerusalem siege numbered around 50,000- five times the number of troops the crusaders had . Of the two ethnic factions, the Seljuk Turks had far better armies, but the Turks as a whole were split into independent factions that quarreled and fought each other so as to render them ineffective in destroying the invading crusaders, which they were certainly more than capable of doing . When battling the crusaders, the Seljuk Turks demonstrated great organization and military strategy and technology, as in the battle of Dorylaeum which the Seljuk Turks used archers to great effect . However, their disunity made them ineffective, as evidenced by the battle of Antioch when one of the major Seljuk Turk commanders, Duqaq, deserted the main Seljuk Turk army battling the crusaders outside Antioch . The Fatimid armies were more united amongst each other, but poorly organized and therefore not as powerful. This was evidenced by the Battle of Ascalon, in which the Fatimid relief army, on its way to Jerusalem to break the siege, was crushed and forced to retreat due to poor organization and resulting panic, despite the fact that the Fatimid relief army was five times the size of the attacking crusaders .

Commanding the Muslim armies were numerous Seljuk Turkish and Fatimid Muslim sultans who commanded independent regions throughout the Middle East. Most Seljuk Turks commanded independent lands based around cities, such as Nicaea, Dorylaeum, and Antioch. A stronger alliance once existed among the Seljuk Turks, but this alliance was broken upon the arrival of the crusaders; the independent tribes of Seljuk Turks scrambled instead to guard their own territories rather than uniting to fight the crusaders together . One major Muslim commander was the Seljuk Turkish sultan Kilij Arslan I, who was the Sultan of Nicaea. He lost his capital city to the Byzantines and fought them in one of the First Crusade’s first major battles, Dorylaeum . Other major leaders included Antioch commanders Yaghi-Siyan and Kirbogha , both Seljuk Turks, and the Fatimid ruler of Jerusalem, Iftikhar ad-Dwala .


The Siege of Jerusalem

The crusaders’ campaign began in Constantinople in the end of April, 1097 AD , where the 60,000-man army assembled for the first time. The crusaders made a deal with the rulers of Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire: in exchange for food and supplies, the crusaders would pledge loyalty to the Byzantine Empire and to give back Byzantine lands, occupied by the Seljuk Turks, after the crusaders had taken them .

Despite the initial help, the Byzantines soon showed their true colors when reaching the first objective city, Nicaea, on May 14th, 1097. Through a secret agreement with the city’s rulers, the Byzantines trailing the crusaders were able to take over the city without a fight on June 19th, 1097. The Byzantines did not allow the crusaders to plunder the city nor go inside it without escort. This betrayal separated the two sides and the crusaders never trusted the Byzantines again . The next major battle for the crusaders was Dorylaeum on July 1, 1097, which was fought against the ruler of a Seljuk Turk tribe whose capital, Nicaea, was taken in part due to the actions of the crusaders; his name was Kilij Arlsan. With revenge in mind, Kilij ambushed the crusader army at Dorylaeum, but was unable to break the crusader lines. A surprise charge led by Godfrey swept the Seljuk Turk lines and captured their camp. Kilij was forced to retreat . After this major battle, the crusaders marched through the rest of present-day Turkey virtually unopposed. However, the journey was not pleasant by any means. The crusaders faced hardship, starvation, and thirst. Many of the crusaders died along the way to Jerusalem, and the crusaders looted and pillaged in order to receive necessary food and to slake their greed . Edessa, an Armenian city, was the next to be taken, except that this one was taken by Baldwin of Boulogne alone. Since Baldwin had lost his wife’s wealth as a result of her death, he sought to conquer and plunder land to gain his own wealth. He traveled to Edessa where he was eventually adopted as the heir to the throne of Edessa by Edessa’s king. Soon after the King of Edessa was assassinated, Baldwin assumed the throne in March 1098. Baldwin remained in Edessa for the rest of the First Crusade with his army, assisting the crusaders with money and food but no direct action .

On October 20th, 1097 the crusaders faced one of the biggest obstacles along the rest of the path to Jerusalem- the massive fortified city of Antioch. Antioch was so large that the crusaders were unable to completely surround it, causing the resulting siege to last 8 months . During the arduous siege, the city expelled its Christian inhabitants, thinking they would help the crusaders . Meanwhile, the crusaders were ravaged with disease and starvation and were frustrated . Finally, Bohemund of Taranto secured and bribed a traitor in the city, who was in charge of guarding the gates. The traitor allowed the crusaders to infiltrate the city via ladders, open the gates, and let in the rest of the crusaders. The crusaders proceeded to slaughter the entire population of Antioch indiscriminately. By June 3, 1098, the Crusaders controlled the city .

A few days after, a combined army of Fatimid and Seljuk Turkish Muslims arrived at Antioch, besieging the crusaders in the city . The crusaders’ morale lowered significantly, and panic was about to ensue within the ranks. It was at this point that a lowly monk named Peter Bartholomew claimed to have found the Holy Lance, the spear that stabbed Jesus Christ in the side, and that it was a sign of impending victory . On June 28th, 1098, the crusaders then mounted a tremendous offensive and broke the invading army, assisted by the disorganization and disunity of the invading Muslims, as the Fatimids abandoned the Seljuk Turks, fearing they would become too powerful if the crusaders were defeated; adding to this was the desertion of Duqaq, commander of a major part of the Seljuk Turkish army, which did not help things either . The remaining Muslim army then retreated. The crusader commander Bohemund then claimed the city of Antioch for himself .

The crusaders then fought a relatively minor action at Arqa, with no success, before reaching Jerusalem itself on June 7, 1099 . At this point, the crusaders had only around1,500 knights and 12,000 healthy foot soldiers left, out of the beginning count of 7000 knights and 20,000 foot soldiers . The city of Jerusalem was itself well-prepared and provisioned, and the Fatimid ruler of the city, Iftikhar ad-Dawla, expelled the city’s Christians, drove away livestock, filling and poisoning the wells outside Jerusalem, and razed the surrounding land of trees and foliage . The crusaders set up camp on the northern and western sides of the city; with Godfrey’s army on the north side and Raymond’s army on the west side, not having enough troops to encircle it completely .

An assault was made on the walls on June 13, which resulted in failure . Throughout the whole siege, every single assault made upon the walls with ladders resulted in repulsion and failure. The crusaders’ water and food were running out fast, as there was little of either surrounding Jerusalem due to the razing of the surrounding land, and time was getting short for the crusaders . A few weeks later, around the end of June/beginning of July, wood from Samaria arrived from a group of Genoese that were forced inland by the Fatimid fleet, allowing the crusaders to build a massive siege tower to assault the walls . Tancred also found hidden in a cave a large supply of timber that the Muslims tried to hide, allowing the crusaders to build another siege tower . The crusaders then regained their morale after a three-day fast and barefoot procession march around the city, which they were instructed to go on by a priest named Peter Desiderius, who claimed a divine vision said that the city will fall if they had done this. The crusaders began the fast on July 8th, although they were already starving, and began the procession afterwards .

On the night of July 14, the siege towers were prepared, and were rolled up to the walls for the final assault . Throughout the night, the towers were pummeled with arrows and flaming projectiles, resulting in Raymond of Toulouse’s tower (which was slowed down by a ditch) being destroyed after being hit by firepots and flaming arrows . On the morning of July 15th, Godfrey’s siege tower, under cover of catapult fire, breached the walls at a weak point near the northeast corner gate, and the crusaders poured past the city’s outer wall . As soon as the wall was breached, the defenders of the gates on Raymond’s side surrendered and the crusaders swept through the city of Jerusalem, indiscriminately slaughtering every single inhabitant inside, Muslim, Jewish, and Christian alike . The only ones who made it out of Jerusalem alive were the Fatimid governor, Iftikhar ad-Dawla, and his bodyguards, who were spared after a negotiation between him and Raymond . Following crusader victory, Godfrey was named Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri (Advocate (Defender) of the Holy Sepulchre) on July 22nd (essentially leader of Jerusalem) . Godfrey then led an army out on August 12, 1099 from Jerusalem to Ascalon to intercept the relief Fatimid army that was sent to break the Jerusalem siege. The massive Fatimid relief army, caught off guard, unprepared and disorganized; panicked and retreated back to Ascalon. This was considered to be the last great action of the First Crusade. After this battle, most of the crusaders went home .


Other famous sieges

Throughout the Middle Ages, numerous sieges of castles, fortifications, and cities took place, confirming the devastating effectiveness of every one of the above mentioned siege tactics. All things were possible during a siege, and especially in the Crusades, the besiegers often gave no quarter. Outstanding examples of sieges included: the siege of Rochester Castle, the siege of Dover Castle, the siege of Kenilworth castle, and several sieges during the Crusades- the cities of Nicaea, Antioch, and the castle Krak des Chevaliers. The siege of Rochester was one of a small number of cases in which the garrison defeated by starvation. In September 1215 AD, King John of England, who had been fighting rebellious knights during the fall, trapped and surrounded a rebel army consisting of 100 knights, as well as crossbowmen and men-at-arms. The rebel goal was to use the castle as a barricade to prevent King John from being able to retreat to London. The castle was not well supplied when the rebels captured it, however, and with little time to prepare for the siege, despite Rochester Castle’s strength, the rebels completely ran out of food, and were forced to surrender to King John after holding out for 8 weeks .

The siege of Dover Castle ended with a truce, and was an example of a castle that held firm against a siege. In 1216, the rebel forces fighting King John invited Louis VIII a French prince, to take the English crown from King John. Louis had already captured Canterbury, Rochester, and London, and besieged the forces of King John in Dover, under Hubert De Burgh, on July 19th, 1216. Louis then laid an arduous siege, eventually successfully mining underneath and toppling the gate, but was stopped at the breach by De Burgh’s men, who blocked the breach with timbers. A great supply of food kept the army within Dover Castle from starving, and the siege was called off after a few months as Louis, having suffered defeats because of too much allocating of resources to the siege of Dover, gave up his claim on the throne of England . The siege of Kenilworth was a slightly similar situation to Dover, despite being in a different war 50 years later, in 1266. However, the siege of Kenilworth was also the longest in the history of England, lasting almost one year. Lord Edward encircled the castle and laid a long siege. Excellent supplies and defenses proved effective in holding off Edward’s soldiers, despite Edward attacking the weak north wall. The north wall was defended only by a double moat, but it proved to be very effective, despite the use of large siege towers, barge attacks, and constant bombardment. Finally, a formal agreement was reached, and a treaty called the Dictum of Kenilworth was signed to end the long siege .

The sieges of Nicaea and Antioch (ending in 1097 and 1098, respectively), which were summarized earlier in the paper, both took place during the First Crusade. Nicaea was taken through a treacherous secret agreement between the Byzantines and the occupying Seljuk Turks. Antioch was taken through the use of a traitor who relaxed the defenses during the night, allowing Antioch to be taken easily. The siege of the castle Krak des Chevaliers was an interesting one. Krak was a massive castle originally built for the emir of Aleppo, in modern-day Syria. The castle was then placed in the hands of the crusader order of the Knights Hospitallers, who expanded the castle to make it the largest crusader fortress in the Holy Land, with an outer defense consisting of seven guard towers and a thick outer wall, all standing 2300 feet above sea level. The strength of the castle, in addition to the defenses, the concentric design, and the massive storage facilities dug into the cliff under the fortress (allowing the Hospitallers to store enough supplies in to withstand a siege for almost 5 years), made Krak des Chevaliers virtually impregnable by any ordinary means. The castle did, indeed, survive numerous attempts to take it- twelve attempts were made to besiege and storm the castle, but to no avail. Finally, in April 8th, 1271 AD, Krak des Chevaliers was taken through trickery after a lengthy siege by the Fatimid commander Baibers. The tired and battle weary crusaders received a forged letter sent by Baibers, supposedly from the Count of Tripoli, the Hospitallers’ grand master, with instructions to surrender. The Hospitallers, having been either tired of fighting or believing the letter to be genuine, surrendered and were allowed to march out of Krak des Chevaliers unharmed .


Offensive tactics

Basic siege tactics and weapons of invading armies started with the destruction of all buildings, villages, and towns around the fortification. Then the invaders proceeded to surround the fortification, or if the fortification were too large, they would block the main gates, as mentioned earlier in the paper. Surrounding a fortification allowed defenders of a castle to be starved out if necessary . The invading armies might then proceed to storm the fortification walls with ladders to try to end the siege (which was often useless since most walls were too strong) . A lengthier siege would have had the invaders set up siege engines, such as catapults and towers, and begin bombarding the walls with stones . If the castle had a moat, the moat could be filled in using bundles of hay to reach the walls . The invaders then attempted to breach the walls, using covered battering rams to knock a hole in the wall or gates . The invaders also tried to attempt to mine underneath fortification walls to destroy foundation and thereby collapse part of the wall . Disease could be introduced into the city or castle by catapulting dead bodies of animals or people, especially those who died of disease, over the walls of the castle or city and into the castle or city itself .

Siege towers could also have been prepared, sometimes as a last resort, to breach and storm the walls more effectively. Siege towers were large towers made of wood and covered with wet animal hides or metal to protect from fire and projectiles such as stones, arrows, and firepots. Such towers were used to allow troops to enter fortifications with less risk than using ladders .

However, by far the easiest way to invade a castle was to have a traitor let you in, which might be done by bribing a gate guard or swaying an enemy dissenter, as was done during the siege of Antioch during the First Crusade . If the castle would be ultimately unassailable, a formal agreement, (a peace treaty, essentially) could end the siege peacefully .


Defensive tactics

The defenders of a castle typically began by evacuating nearby surrounding peasantry, animals, and burned excess crops and filled in/poisoned wells to prevent them from falling into enemy hands, as was done in the precursors to the Siege of Jerusalem . Food was stockpiled in the fortress from the surrounding lands to guard against starvation by the invading army . The defenders had archers at the battlements (tops of towers) and walls of the castle; and a constant rain of arrows was brought to bear on the invaders . To repel ladders and climbers, the defenders pushed them off using forked sticks, in addition to using pots of hot oil, hot sand, melted lead, or quicklime, to pour on climbers and burn them .

The defenders could defeat covered battering rams by pouring hot oil on them and setting them on fire, which burned the operators of the ram to death . The defenders could also hook the ram’s roof with a grappling hook and flip it over, rendering it useless . The grappling hook can also be used to catch the head of the ram, and when the ram’s head was pulled up, the battering ram will stop functioning. Another battering ram defense involved using ropes to lower a mattress or a large, soft bag of hay in front of the battering ram’s head to cushion the blows .

Mining could be defeated by one of two ways. If mining could be detected early, before they can make significant progress, archers could kill the would-be miners . If the mining was detected after the attackers had made progress, a countermine could have been dug by the defenders to intercept the enemy mine, leading to the defenders fighting the attackers in a fierce underground battle . Mining in progress was usually detected by placing a bowl of water on the floor of the castle, and looking for ripples in the water. The ripples indicate mining activity .

During the siege, the defenders could prevent disease by burning their dead, as well as any dead animals and people the attacking army might throw into their fortress using mangonels and trebuchets . Even siege towers could even be defeated, if the defenders had the right equipment. Siege towers could be destroyed or disabled from a long distance if the defenders had catapults or trebuchets. Siege towers could also be set on fire if the defender managed to set the inside of a siege tower on fire with a firepot or torch . Siege towers could even be pulled down, using ropes and grappling hooks, which, with the other end of the rope pulled by a large team of men or a counterweight, can pull the siege tower to the ground . Finally, another defensive tactic would be a “sortie”. This involved a small group of knights from a defending castle who would ride out from a small, often hidden door called a “sally port”. The knights would then ride out and through the besiegers’ ranks, killing catapult and trebuchet operators, soldiers, enemy laborers, even commanders, in the style of a raid .


Weapons

Siege weapons of the invaders included: the Battering Ram, the Siege Tower, the Mangonel (short trajectory catapult), the Trebuchet (large trajectory catapult with huge throwing arm, throws much heavier projectiles than mangonel), and the Ballista (giant crossbow, shooting large spears)

The defenders could generally use the same siege engines as the invaders (i.e. mangonels, trebuchets, and ballistae) except of course the battering ram, in addition to firepots, fire arrows, and pots of oil, sulfur, pitch, or quicklime to pour on invaders and burn them to death .