The Crusades were so to say not a highlight in Western civilization:
gruesome atrocities, the sacking of Constantinople, mass murder, feuds between
the various leaders and in the end it did not achieve its goal. Rather than
supporting the Byzantines, its fall was hastened. Having said that, it is also
a fascinating epoch of history. I am now reading Steven Runciman’s classic A History of the Crusades.. For the
first Crusade he uses extensively the anonymous Gesta Francorum, an eyewitness account of someone who took part in
the expedition. The Latin is quite
simple, but as an historic account it is invaluable.
The following extract tells about the siege of Antioch.
At Antioch there was a Turkish garrison under siege since October 1097. This
siege was quite to the pleasure of the Emir of Egypt. Though Arabs and Turks
were brothers in faith in theory, the Fatimid Arabs at Cairo were greatly
troubled by the increasing power of the Seljuk Turks.
As circumstances became critical, there was an outbreak
at 6 March 1098. The Turks however were repelled and had to withdraw within the
gates of the city, but not without suffering heavy losses. Early next morning
they came out again to bury their deaths near a mosque outside the city. The
army of the crusaders left them untouched, but once the Turks had returned
within Antioch, the soldiers hastened to destroy the tombs, take all precious
items and beheaded the corpses.
On 3 June Antioch fell through treachery from inside. The
gates were opened and crusade soldiers poured into the city and started killing
and ransacking indiscriminately, not taking care whether one was Muslim or
Christian.
Gesta Francorum 7, XVIII (extract)
Crastina uero die summo diluculo exierunt alii Turci de
ciuitate, et colligerunt omnia cadauera foetentia Turcorum mortuorum, quae
reperire potuerunt super ripam fluminis, exceptis illis quae in alueo latebant
eiusdem fluminis; et sepelierunt ad machumariam quae est ultra pontem ante
portam urbis; simulque illis consepelierunt pallia, bisanteos aureos, arcus,
sagittas, et alia plurima instrumenta, quae nominare nequimus. Audientes itaque nostri quod humassent mortuos
suos Turci, omnes sese preparauerunt, et uenerunt festinantes ad diabolicum
atrium, et iusserunt desepeliri et frangi tumbas eorum, et trahi eos extra
sepulchra. Et eiecerunt omnia cadauera eorum in quandam foueam, et
deportauerunt cesa capita ad tentoria nostra quatinus perfecte sciretur eorum numerus,
excepto quod onerauerant quatuor equos, de nuntiis ammirali Babiloniae, et
miserant ad mare. Quod uidentes Turci doluerunt nimis, fueruntque tristes usque
ad necem. Nam cotidie dolentes, nichil aliud agebant nisi flere et ululare.
crastinus (adj.):
morning
foeteo: to
smell
reperio repperi
repertum: to find
ripa: bank
alveus: bed of
a river
sepelio sepelivi sepultum:
to bury
machumaria:
mosque
pallium: cloak
bisanteos aureos:
golden byzantine coins
nequeo nequivi nequitum:
to be unable to
diabolicum atrium:
i.e. the mosque
festino festinavi
festinatum: to hasten
frango fregi
fractum: to break
fovea: pit
cesa = caesa (caedo cecidi caesum: to chop, hew)
tentorium:
tent
quatinus perfecte
sciretur eorum numerus: in order to know exactly how great the number of
them
onero: to load
ammirali Babiloniae:
of the Emir of Egypt (ammiralis from Arabic amīr-al-baḥr `commander of the sea,
admiral. But here it must simply mean emir.
As for admiral, this word was misunderstood aa derived from Latin admirari `to admire’).
miserant ad mare:
probably to a ship of the emir as a kind gesture
nex necis (f.):
death
ululo: to howl
Translation by
A.C. Krey (1921)
On the next day, at earliest dawn, other Turks went out
from the city, and, collecting all the fetid corpses of the dead Turks which
they could find on the bank of the river, except those which
lay hidden in the sand of the same river, they buried
them at the mosque which is across the bridge in front of the city gate. At the
same time they buried with them their garments, gold besants,
bows, arrows, and very many other instruments which we
were unable to name. And so, when our men heard that the Turks had buried their
dead, all made preparation and came in haste to the
diabolical temple and ordered the bodies to be exhumed,
the tombs broken open, and the corpses dragged forth from the sepulchre. They
cast all the cadavers into a ditch and carried off the severed
heads to our tents, in order to find out their number
exactly — all the heads, that is, except those loaded upon the four horses of
the envoys of the Emir of Babylon and sent to the sea. The Turks
grieved exceedingly upon beholding this, and were sad
even to death ; grieving daily, they did nothing else except weep and lament.
As a victorious gesture, severed heads from slaughtered
Turks are thrown into the city by the Crusaders. (Gustave Doré)
