Logistics of the First Crusade: Acquiring Supplies Amid Chaos

225 Pages·2020·1.61 MB·English

by  Gregory D Bell

Logistics of the First Crusade

Logistics of the First Crusade
Acquiring Supplies Amid Chaos
Gregory D. Bell

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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction ix
PartI:EstablishingSupplyPractices 1
1 LogisticalPreparationsandImplementationinEurope 3
2 ControlledViolence 25
3 PilgrimsatNicaea 45
PartII:TheRoadtoAntioch 65
4 IntoAnatolia 67
5 ApproachingAntioch:VyingforControlonLandandat
Sea 83
6 FeedingtheArmyatAntioch 103
7 TheSiegeofAntioch:SuccessthroughLogistics 121
PartIII:PickingUpthePieces 137
8 APilgrim’sProgress:BesiegedatAntioch 139
9 ContinuedDelaysandStrifeafterAntioch 149
10 SuccessatJerusalem:Food,Water,andSiegeEngines 163
Conclusion 179
Bibliography 183
Index 193

AbouttheAuthor 201

v

Acknowledgments
IwishtothankJosephShatzmiller,whofirstbroughttomyattentionthe
importanceoflogistics tounderstanding thecrusadenarrative,andwho
hasbeenasteadfastmentoranddearfriend.NumerousscholarsatDuke
UniversityandtheUniversityofNorthCarolinaatChapelHillreadearly
versions of this manuscript, and their comments and feedback were in-
valuable. I would also like to thank the editors at Rowman & Littlefield
and Lexington Books, who have done so much to help make this book
possible. Eric Kuntzman and his former colleague, Brian Hill, brought
everything together and were instrumental in moving this project for-
ward. I appreciate the efforts of Brennan Knight and my proofreader,
both of whom helped to clean up and shape the book, and Alexandra
Rallo did a fine job completing the finishing touches. A number of indi-
viduals, especially my blind-reviewer, read the full manuscript and of-
fered earnest and thoughtful feedback that did much to improve this
work.Overthepastdecade,myfather-in-law,KennethFriedman,edited
different iterations and offered valuable insights and suggestions. Natu-
rally,anyremainingerrorsaremyown.Manyoftheprimarydocuments
used for this project, notably the cartularies, are quite rare, and yet ac-
cessing them was an altogether pleasant task due to the generosity and
assistance of the Institute of Historical Research, the Bodleian Library’s
Special Collections at Oxford University, the British Library, and the
CambridgeUniversityLibrary.Inaddition,I’dliketoexpressmydeepest
gratitudetofamilyandfriendswhohavestoodbymeovertheyears,and
tocolleaguesandstudentsatWinthropUniversity,especiallythoseinthe
HistoryDepartment.ItisatWinthropUniversitywherethisprojectcame
tofruition.

I dedicate this book to my wife, Erika, and our children, Aidan and
Brynn,whohavebeenaconstantsupportthroughoutthisprocess.

vii

Introduction
She [Jerusalem] seeks therefore and desires to be liberated, and does
notceasetoimploreyoutocometoheraid...Accordinglyundertake
this journey for the remission of your sins, with the assurance of the
imperishable glory of the kingdom of heaven . . . Let the rich aid the
needy;andaccordingtotheirwealth, letthemtake with themexperi-
encedsoldiers...Whoever,therefore,shalldetermineuponthis holy
pilgrimageandshallmakehisvowtoGodtothateffectandshalloffer
himself to Him as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, shall
wear the sign of the cross of the Lord on his forehead or on his
breast...1
Thus,inNovember,1095CE,inClermont,France,PopeUrbanIIfamous-
lycalledforanexpeditiontotheHolyLandtorecaptureJerusalemfrom
Islam. The subsequent campaign would come to be known as the First
Crusade, and it would be a defining moment for the larger crusade
movement.AlthoughJerusalemhadbeeninMuslimhandsforcenturies,
the Holy City lay on the other side of the Christian Byzantine Empire,
whichhadrecentlysufferedamajordefeatatthehandsofraidingSeljuk
Turks.Therefore,thetaskofremovingIslam’sthreattoByzantiumwasa
prerequisite to success on the longer journey, and obviously difficult
enough. Retaking the Holy City would require a stupendous additional
effort. Nevertheless, exhorted by a determined and highly convincing
pope, in the final years of the eleventh century people from across what
hascometobecalledWesternEuropebegantoprepareforanexpedition
toliberatetheHolyLand.
The practical task of organizing the expedition was daunting. Not

only did these crusaders have to prepare to confront fearsome Turks in
AsiaMinor,buttheyalsointendedtocontinuedeepintoMuslimterrito-

ry to liberate Jerusalem.2 Participants on the expedition would have to
travelroughly1,800miles(approximatelythedistancefromParistoCon-
stantinople),mainlyonfoot,justtogettotheborderbetweenByzantium
and Islam, and then walk an additional 1,200 miles through Muslim-

controlled territory to arrive at Jerusalem, where an arduous siege was
foreseeable.3Additionally,nooneknewwhoorhowmanypeoplewould

actually join the expedition. It quickly became apparent that the scope
andcompositionofthecrusaderrankswouldgenerateamajorchallenge
asindividualsfromstrikinglydiversesegmentsofthepopulationvolun-
teered.TheyweresovariedthatPopeUrbanhadtoclarifythatonlyable-
ix
x Introduction
bodiedmen—soldiers—shouldparticipate.Infact,allsegmentsofsociety
joined in the expedition to Jerusalem: the church called for the move-
ment;thesecularnobilityledthecharge;andthepeasantryfilledoutthe
ranks. The elderly, women, and even children were all involved. People
of different ethnicities, speaking diverse languages and wearing distinc-
tive clothes, would all need somehow to work harmoniously, traveling
together thousands of miles to accomplish their common and, in their
mindsglorious,purpose.
In1096, the crusaders set out on their fantastic march to Jerusalem, a
journey fraught with the practical perils of walking through an ever-
changingandofteninhospitableenvironment.Theywouldhavetocross
numerous political boundaries, and navigate broad plains and huge
mountains,rivers,andseasinclimatesthatsometimesposedharsh,risky
obstacles.Someparticipantswoulddrowncrossingrivers.Otherswould
die ofthirston arid Anatolian plains. Still others would succumb to dis-
ease due to unpotable water or illnesses that they had never been ex-
posed to before. Sometimes sickness would be prevalent because fatal-
ities,pileduponbattlefieldsanddecayinginhotair,couldnotbequickly
disposed of. Others, shivering on high, narrow mountain passes, would
falltotheirdeaths.Althoughafewcrusadersprobablyknewinadvance
aboutsomeofthechallengingsituationstheymightfacebasedonstories
told by previous pilgrims and soldiers, for most this was a journey into
theunknown.
Giventhescopeoftheundertaking,theunfamiliarnatureofthetask,
andthenumerousobstaclesthathadtobeovercome,nottomention the
comprehensive diversity of the participants involved, a remarkable task
laybeforethem.LookingatthelogisticsoftheFirstCrusade—thatisthe
movement and supply of the participants of the expedition—provides
much more specific insight into how the participants managed to orga-
nize and march an enormous and diverse army thousands of miles into
foreign, hostile territory and capture the well-fortified city of Jerusalem.
Itismyhopethatinexamininglogisticswecanseparatethewheatfrom

the chaff in order to determine what these first crusaders actually did.
Afteryearsoftravel,violence,andhardship,thesurvivorsofthisincred-

iblejourneysucceededincapturingJerusalem.Muchofthissuccesswas
duetothefactthat,againstincredibleodds,theparticipantsoftheexpe-

dition were able to feed and supply themselves over a long period and
despitecontinuousadversity,andthenfieldanarmycapableofbesieging

and conquering Jerusalem. This book looks at how they accomplished
this.

Examiningthelogisticsofhistoricmilitarycampaignsisamorerecent
phenomenon in the academic community, and two of the earliest works
on the subject both validated the importance of understanding military
campaigns through the prism of logistics and generated academic inter-
est in the topic. Donald Engels accomplished this in his study of the