Antioch Siege of Antioch Is First Crusade It is one of the most important siege battles in.
On the west side, the battle was so legendary that it was depicted as the subject of chanson de geste (a descriptive poem that began to be written when French literature was nearing its formation), but on the other hand, the attacked side had a long history of horror. It is supposed to be told.
Antioch Is Silk Road Known as the starting point for Rome in Roman times , Alexandria It has prospered since ancient times as the third city after. Influential Church ( Gohonzan ), " Gospel of Matthew Where was it established? It is also a land that is inseparable from Christianity to the extent that it is regarded as promising.
Since there is only such an important city, very sturdy walls have been built since ancient times.
This time, I will summarize how I took away the walled city that boasts such a solid wall.
I want to read it together
The First Crusade Expedition
The trigger for the Crusade expedition is also described in "Impacts and Changes Due to the Crusade Expedition". I would like to focus on the crusade.
What kind of city was Antioch?
Roman Empire It has prospered since the time of the era, but declined after the great earthquake in the early 6th century. Since then, I have been involved in many wars. Antioch at the forefront The surrounding area is declining more and more, Islamic dynasty Will be robbed by.
↑ Position of Antioch
Byzantine Empire Antioch as a very strong walled city, when the emperor regained it in 969, saying, "Don't be robbed anymore." Was remade.
To the west is the Orontos River (Currently the Orontes River), Silpius Mountain to the east , A steep valley to the south It is protected by a castle wall that makes the best use of the terrain. A fortress was built on the mountaintop. You can see how strong it was by looking at the illustration below.
From the Siege of Antioch (wikipedia)
In 1085, the Byzantine Empire From Seljuk Dynasty Is Antioch However, it takes a lot of labor to break the castle wall, so it seems that the castle was dropped by having an internal guide. So, 10 years later, during the Crusades expedition, there shouldn't be much damage left, and I'm still hoping for the name of a solid walled city.
What was the choice of the Crusaders when trying to attack?
It seems that there were lords who thought that the walls were solid and "the castle could not be dropped" and lords who thought that "there was only an attack", and the opinion of the army was divided into two.
The former is Bohemond And Godfloor ..
Byzantine Empire Is Seljuk dynasty From Antioch It was also due to the internal betrayal that was robbed. Even before that, there was an example of opening by betrayal in the straight attack method, and it seems that it was not unreasonable to think that it can not be dropped in the straight attack method.
On the other hand, the idea of "attacking" was Raymond IV . is.
It's a very simplified map, but Antioch There are mainly 6 gates in.
- East: Mount Silpius Fortress at the top of It is virtually impossible to invade because of
- South Saint George Gate Around the cliff and in front of the gate Orontos River A stream that runs through the river, which is a disadvantageous place for deploying soldiers.
- West: Bridge Gate As the name implies, is a "bridge", so it is difficult to deploy soldiers on a large scale.
A small number of troops can be placed in the west and south, but the Syria Seljuk dynasty You can see the bow being released from a high position and being ambushed. So, it is the Duke's Gate in the northwest that is likely to have many soldiers. , Innojofuta , St. Paul's Gate it's dark.
I understand both, but in the end, Godfloor And Bohemond Opinion is accepted.
Bohemond-Dukirk collision and major earthquake
Crusaders Was pleased to choose the siege, Antioch Ruler Goat =Sharn ..
Antioch with enough force to fight even if the walls are good Did not have Crusaders brought into the siege With this in mind, we will request reinforcements from nearby Islamic forces.
At the same time, Antioch Christians who coexisted in the city could not abandon the possibility of betrayal due to the arrival of the Crusaders and pushed them out of the castle in the form of deception, and also started to stockpile food and waited with a system that was fully prepared except for troops. Was there.
Crusaders suffer from food shortages
It's good to start a siege, but as winter approaches, the Crusaders Was gradually running out of food.
Antioch because it was a half-hearted siege because it couldn't siege everything around it. Was able to replenish without difficulty, while the Crusaders were in the middle of the enemy nation, making replenishment difficult.
Furthermore, Godfloor Crusaders while unlucky things continue, such as falling ill Frequently hits neighboring towns to make up for food shortages. Bohemond in the neighboring town Damascus came to the reinforcements when their troops went looting to procure food and supplies. Dukark We met with the army in the village of Al-Bara.
Closest Aleppo Lidowan From Goat-Sharn At first, the request was refused due to the conflict (because Lidowan was aiming for Antioch), and Dukirk has a good relationship with him. Seems to have collided when he was coming to the reinforcements.
Crusaders in this battle Has won, but the result is that of the plundered supplies, livestock escape and more soldiers are lost. It failed to improve the food shortage.
Occurrence of a large earthquake and its effects
Bohemond And Dukark Dukirk even though he lost after the collision Was scheduled to retreat and regain his posture before attacking again, but a major earthquake occurred in December when the two collided. After that, it was cold and heavy rain for several weeks, so Damascus I have decided to retreat to.
Goat-Sharn who saw this situation seriously Was in conflict Lidowan I improved my relationship with him and requested reinforcements again. Lidowan for this request Seems to be okay.
At the same time, the natural disaster is Crusaders It also has an adverse effect. Crusaders Within, hunger was exacerbated. One in seven people will starve to death, and some (although many have eaten the corpses of horses) have even eaten the corpses of enemy soldiers.
"Maybe the natural disasters are continuing because we plundered the inhabitants of the land many times ..."
And Bishop Adhemar As I thought, even in the Crusades
"Abandoned by God"
Many people have come to think that. Morale drops tremendously and escapees begin to appear one after another. Peter the Hermit Is one of them. The situation of the Crusaders continued to deteriorate with each passing day.
Further deterioration of relations with the Byzantine Empire
One day, the Byzantine Emperor Alexis I arrived at the Crusades. Emissary leaves To do.
Crusaders Instead of listening to the messenger's advice, directly to this messenger
Do something like Boemon Was telling.
The reason I said this was that the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I had previously exchanged food and supplies. Promise with
Bohemond Is
It is believed that he had the ambition of.
Bohemond , one of the organizers of the Crusades because of the withdrawal of this messenger Is
As Antioch territory Begin to insist. If he didn't admit this, he said he would "leave."
Raymond IV And Godfloor Is a stone's throw
It seems that he was ignoring it because he was in the opposite position, but Byzantine Empire in the case of Nicaea. Bohemond among his junior soldiers who were also distrustful of The voice that agrees with is spreading.
Crusaders, the situation finally improves
Lidowan in February He also won the clash with the Crusaders in March. Good news for us. Antioch St. Simon Harbor located 14 km west of Crusaders A supply ship from the people involved has arrived.
The person who arranged the ship for this Crusaders is not clearly known, but it is probably the Byzantine Empire . Alexios I It is said that it will be. The Crusaders are Byzantine Empire It seems that he never thought of it as a body.
To receive this material, each other
Two people who think like this. To put it the other way around, did you think that you couldn't cheat because you were watching each other? The two will be in charge of receiving supplies.
However, Antioch I'm not silent. Goat-Sharn A unit other than the garrison was sent to crush the Crusader supply unit Crusaders . Will lose much of their supplies.
At this time, Godfloor Reinforcements rushed in and managed to secure the rest of the supplies. This judgment will lead to a good direction for the Crusaders.
Bridge Gate with the supplies you got, albeit a small quantity " La Mao Merry " that can monitor the entry and exit of And a fort called St. George's Gate We were able to build a fort that could monitor the comings and goings of.
It is now possible to place soldiers at the two gates in the south, which were previously defenseless, and the probability of being attacked by the supply route has been greatly reduced. La Mao Merry Ramon Unit is fort on the side of St. George's Gate Bohemond's nephew, Tancred Waited, and the Crusaders' food situation finally began to show signs of improvement.
* It was called "Tancred's Fort" because Tancred placed soldiers.
Confrontation with Gerboga? ??
While the food situation has improved in the spring, bad news also reaches the Crusaders. Mosul Gerboga Is said to be heading for reinforcements with a large army.
The Crusaders had already lost a lot of starvation and escapees, so it became necessary to hurry to bring down the castle.
However, Gerboga Is Lidowan And Dukirk Edessa after joining the army of I will siege against him for 3 weeks and commit a siege battle. This gave the Crusaders a chance to take advantage of it.
To simplify the flow and positional relationship so far, it looks like the following.
Meanwhile, Antioch Bohemond claiming territory Succeeds in contacting the person responsible for the security of Antioch.
Saint George Gate " Tower of Two Sisters " on the side of With him who is in charge of management of Goat-Sharn The relationship was terrible. When he urged betrayal with a bribe, he said he would "put him in the castle."
Gerboga The princes who opposed Bohemond's territory of Antioch also Bohemond , partly because of the approaching army of I had no choice but to accept the opinion of.
Raymond IV who was very opposed until the end Bohemond The feelings towards Raymond IV became the worst. Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Against Bohemond It became the basis for connecting with, but that will be a little further.
The fall of Antioch and the beginning of the second siege
Tower of Two Sisters The person in charge opens the gate as promised and Crusaders Safely Antioch I was able to enter. Originally Antioch Due to the lack of troops on the side, the number should have decreased due to starvation and escape Crusaders To have an advantage in the castle.
Again, Crusaders The massacre of the inhabitants has begun. The Christians who remained in the city in the turmoil open other gates, but they were so confused that the Christians in the city and even the brothers in charge of the two sisters' towers were sacrificed.
In addition, Goat-Sharn who left the citizens and escaped due to this turmoil. Was captured and headed by Christians outside the castle, Bohemond It was delivered to. Thus Antioch by the Crusaders The capture seemed to be successful, but ...
Start of Siege Battle and Arrival of Gerboga
Silpius Mountain on the east side Citadel And Iron Gate The surrounding area is also suitable for siege, Antioch Even after entering the castle, the Crusaders cannot be completely dropped. In that state Antioch Gerboga 3 days after dropping A large army has arrived.
At first, it started with a direct attack, but the Gerboga side failed even if it was a large army. Switch to siege operation.
Crusaders Unlike Silpius Mountain And Iron Gate Syria Seljuk forces take control In addition to that, there is enough force to have many soldiers stationed at other gates Gerboga . Was complete.
The food situation improved once in early spring, but if it was surrounded by this amount, it could not be replenished and it would be in danger of starvation again. The food sold in Antioch has soared and has been exhausted from the poor.
Even if you go out of the castle, the Gerboga army is too big to talk about. It seems to be a pretty desperate situation.
At this time, Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Leading the army Antioch I was heading for relief, but I knew the situation and decided to turn back. .. ..
What happened inside the Crusades and the Gerboga Army ...? ??
From the Siege of Antioch (wikipedia)
As hunger prevails in the Crusaders, hallucinators begin to appear. Of these, Raymond IV One of his monks
"I saw the Holy Lance in Antioch."
* Holy Lance:A spear that is said to have been stabbed to confirm the death of Jesus Christ who was crucified. Also known as the "Spear of Longinus", it was the object of worship.
Lords and Bishop Adhemar It seemed that it was thought to be a smoky smell, but it is said that the morale of the Crusaders was greatly enhanced by the fact that a spear was actually found underground.
One Gerboga army. Aleppo Lidowan , Damascus Dukark Although they were in a large army because they joined together, they are not in line. Antioch Is it because I thought it was only a matter of time before I could capture it?
Lidowan And Dukirk Et al. Gerboga Is Antioch Begin to worry after reigning.
"(Gerboga) has a big face in Syria, right?"
The suspicion is
. As a result of this suspicion becoming unclear, the enemy nation will carry out an operation in its own army that is not strange for the enemy country to slander Gerboga in the army.
Direct confrontation
Just when I found the Holy Lance, the morale of the Crusaders rose, and the flow was "Let's get out of the castle and fight directly!" When the inside of the Gerboga army began to rattle.
The Gerboga and others had a chance to individually defeat the Crusaders from Antioch.
"Let's hit them all together"
It seems that he decided. You may have thought that it would be more morale to hit at once and try to win a big victory than to do it. ... but the Crusaders were more than Gerboga expected. Due to this misjudgment, Gerboga was forced to fight after the large army came out.
Already, the Gerboga army was beginning to lose morale, and when they saw the troops of this Crusaders, King Damascus of the confluence Dukark Et al.
"Isn't there too many crusades? I haven't heard."
He gave up and went home one after another. Not only will you lose morale, but you will lose your numerical advantage, and the Crusaders will win in a direct confrontation.
In this way, when the Gerboga army, which was a large army, was driven away, the Siege group also gave up and raised the white flag. Taking this opportunity, Antioch Was completely under the control of the Crusaders.
Postwar Conflict
To tell the truth, Antioch raised the white flag against Bohemond , not against the Crusaders. It was in the form of surrender.
This is behind the scenes Bohemond This is the result of the siege group showing, and Bohemond's long-standing claim
"Antioch is mine"
I will try to proceed. Another reason is that Alexios I turned back without coming to Antioch during the big pinch.
"Can you swear allegiance to the emperor who abandoned the Crusaders?"
And try to break the previous vow.
On the other hand, Bishop Adhemar And Ramon Is quite repulsive. Bohemond However, if we stay here, it will be even more difficult to get to Jerusalem, and we will begin to argue about what to do in the future.
After all, I couldn't decide what to do next and stayed for a while. During this time, one of the organizers Bishop Adhemar died of a suspected typhus .. Bishop Adhemar who was the organizer of the conflicting lords His death had a great impact on the Crusaders, further alienating the road to Jerusalem.
The Crusaders, who were hostile to Muslims, were not provided with food and hunger began to spread. Some people began to say, "Going to Jerusalem," leaving the lords behind, creating an atmosphere where soldiers could revolt. .. ..
Ramon in this situation Is Bohemond I had no choice but to accept the claim, and I was headed to Jerusalem with the murderous soldiers. It is.
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