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The Siege of Antioch

© Michael Evans

The Crusaders' siege of Antioch was to last for nine months, and proved to be perhaps the crucial event of the whole expedition. Antioch was of great strategic and psychological importance for the crusaders. One of the great cities of the late Roman Empire, it was now in Turkish hands, and lay astride the road south to Syria and Palestine. It had a great importance in the history of Christianity, as it was the seat of St Peter's first bishopric (of particular significance to the Pope, who was viewed as the successor of St Peter), and city's bishop was one of the five patriarchs of the Church (the Pope, as bishop of Rome, was another). For all these reasons, the city was a 'must have' for the crusaders.

They were now entering deep into enemy territory, in countries of which the western crusaders (but not their Byzantine nominal allies) knew little. However, there were factors working in their favour. The Great Seljuk Sultanate that had united much of the Muslim world was now fragmented, with each city being effectively independent. The Seljuk governor of Antioch, Yaghi Siyan, was ruler of the city in all but name, and the various Seljuk atabegs (regents) of the great cities of Syria refused to co-operate with one another, so the crusaders did not face a united Muslim front. Further south, Egypt, a 'superpower' of the region, was ruled by the Shi'ite Fatimids, who had no love for the Sunni Seljuks. Click for an explanation of these terms

Also working in favour of the crusaders was the presence of large numbers of Christians in the region, who might act as a potential 'fifth column'. Antioch had been a Byzantine city until the 1080s, and had a large Greek Orthodox population. Many Christian Armenians were scattered across the region, and even ruled a number of independent cities and lordships.

The siege of Antioch, which began in October 1097, did not go well. Antioch was huge, defended by great walls and a citadel on top of a high mountain above the city. The army was simply not large enough to mount an effective siege. The crusaders spent a miserable winter of starvation and disease, and morale plummeted. The Byzantine general Tatikios abandoned the siege, adding to crusader mistrust of the Greeks. Stephen of Blois, who had confidently predicted that the crusade would all be over by Christmas, headed for home; to make matters worse, he told the Byzantine Emperor that the situation was hopeless, and there was no point in sending reinforcements. When he got back to France, however, his wife was so ashamed of his desertion that she refused to sleep with him. So he returned to the East, where he was killed in battle. Not a good year for Stephen, all told.

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