Lacking the numbers to decisively check the encircling Turks, Bohemond dismounted his knights and formed them in a large circle, protecting the panicked noncombatants from the murderous Turkish archer fire; the marshy riverbanks protected the Crusaders from any mounted cavalry assault. Bohemond placed the thousands of women and children along the banks of the river, protected by the reedy marshland. The Crusaders were stuck, with no chance of retreat, and surrender out of the question. Meanwhile, the mailed knights sweltered in the hot sun.

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Bohemond could only watch as his army died slowly from the ‘arrows and javelins…falling as thick as hail, the savage, piercing shrieks of the enemy, and the diabolical swiftness of their cavalry, constantly darting in to the attack and then away again,’ as the chronicler described the situation. The Crusaders were losing heart. Fulcher of Chartres wrote: ‘We were all indeed huddled together like sheep…trembling and frightened, surrounded on all sides by enemies so that we could not turn in any direction…we had no hope of surviving.’

Just as Bohemond’s men were being pushed back into the river shallows, the relief forces began to arrive. Bohemond’s messengers had gotten through the encircling lines. The relief force’s vanguard was reportedly led by two warriors in shining armor, seemingly impervious to the Turkish archer fire. One of those figures would later become part of Crusader mythology identified as St. George, returned to help the Christians in their hour of need. The claim of divine intervention would become a mainstay of the Crusader legend. The reality of the situation was that the very ferocity of the knights’ shock assault caught the Turks by complete surprise.

The first impetuous attack by the relieving Crusaders at Dorylaeum drove into the Turks and took most of the pressure off Bohemond’s beleaguered forces. The Turkish commander, Kilij Arslan, later described the charge: ‘When they draw close to their adversaries…they charge with great force like lions which, spurred on by hunger, thirst for blood. Then they shout and grind their teeth and fill the air with their cries. And they spare no one.’

The first phase of the battle had lasted throughout the morning and the early afternoon. Bohemond’s army had held out for seven hours. The second phase lasted perhaps another three to six hours, with the Turks taking heavy losses as they tried to stand up to the Christian knights. A crusader was impressed by the character of the Turks: ‘No one could have found more powerful, braver or more skillful fighters than they.’ The Normans had no desire to taint their hard-won victory by having it described as being over an unworthy foe. As at Hastings, 30 years before, a victory over a strong and brave opponent enhanced the glory of the victor.

Although the initial Christian attacks had caught the Turks off-guard, they had rallied, reorganized, and were back on the offensive when Bishop Adhemar, the papal legate, led a crushing flank or rear attack against the Turkish army. This finished the Turks. They began to flee, for the last time. The chroniclers recorded that the Turks abandoned their camp and treasure, which the Crusaders proceeded to loot. Apparently, that plunder was the first inkling the Western common man had of the vast wealth of the East. The Crusader Fulcher wrote that the Turks fled for three days, so terrified were they of the Crusaders.

The chroniclers leave no doubt as to who was responsible for the victory. Fulcher wrote that the sins of the Crusaders had caused the initial Turkish success, but when they confessed their sins and prayed, God restored their strength and courage, enabling them to route the enemy. Many Crusaders firmly believed that divine judgment finally granted them victory. Little praise or even acknowledgment of the brave defense by Bohemond or the well-timed attacks of the crusading warriors on the more numerous Turks appears in the Christian chronicles. Bishop Adhemar received scant mention, with only Raymond of Toulouse giving him any credit for the battle-winning attack at Dorylaeum. Other than that, the chroniclers give the victory to God’s intervention.

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