First Crusade: People's Crusade

In September, thousands of Frenchmen marched inland to the provincial capital of Nicaea (present-day Iznik). They passed through several Christian villages and commandeered the newly gathered harvests, mercilessly massacring any peasants who tried to resist. At that time, the sultan, or king, of the region, 16-year-old Kilij Arslan ibn Süleyman, was engaged in a war with rival Turks, a conflict that had already taken the life of his father. Despite his many spies, the young sultan was taken by surprise when the foreign raiders turned up at the walls of Nicaea. Kilij Arslan dispatched a cavalry patrol, but the Turks were hopelessly outnumbered, and the Franj ('Franks,' which soon evolved into a general Turkish and Arabic term for any foreigners) cut them to pieces. Only a few survivors managed to limp back into Nicaea. The Frenchmen had no chance of breaching the city's 6,000-meter-long walls with their 240 turrets, but they did have some success in raiding the suburbs, again killing several Christians who fell into their hands.

Kilij Arslan believed that he had lost prestige and wanted immediate revenge, but his advisers convinced him to wait. He did not have to wait very long, for the newly arriving German and Italian Crusaders were not to be outdone. In September 1096, two weeks after the attack on Nicaea, some 6,000 of them set out in the same direction taken by the French. They looted as they marched, but, unlike the French, they spared the Christians. The Franj circled around the city and marched off toward the east, however, taking the ungarrisoned fortress of Xerigordon by surprise. They planned to use that castle as a base for raids in the countryside, but within days they were surrounded by Turks.

Xerigordon had no internal water supply. The stream that supplied the area flowed through a valley outside the castle walls. According to a chronicler of the day, the Crusaders 'were so tormented by thirst that they drew blood from the veins of their horses and asses, and drank it. Some pissed into the hands of others, who drank it. Many dug into the moist ground and lay down, spreading the earth over them to allay their parching thirst. This lasted eight days.'

On September 29, the leader of the defenders, Rainald, sued for terms–and amazed his besiegers by offering to fight with them against the other Crusaders. The Turks promised only to spare the lives of those who renounced Christianity. Rainald and a few others did so and were sold into slavery. The rest were put to the sword.

According to Arab historians, the sultan sent two spies to Civetot to spread glowing tales of the French success at Xerigordon, to ensure that the Europeans remained calm. That worked until a man arrived who had somehow escaped from Xerigordon told of the slaughter of the European force. Peter was visiting Constantinople when he learned of it, and the other leaders held an emergency meeting. Wise counsel held them in place for a few days, but then word came that the Saracens were advancing on the camp.

Civetot would have been the best place for the Crusaders to meet the Saracens, but the leader of the many hotheads, Geoffrey Burel, opposed such defensive tactics. Cries of 'Cowardice!' outweighed reason, and the men marched out to meet the enemy on October 21. Three miles from Civetot the road passes through a narrow valley, and there the Turks waited, hidden inside a small woods.

With the knights at the head of their column, the Crusaders moved forward in a laughing, joking mob. According to Arab history, many of the knights were not even wearing their armor. Sudden volleys of arrows cut them down by the thousands. Horses stampeded back through the infantry. Then the showers of arrows were replaced by rank after charging rank of disciplined, deadly Turkish horsemen. The few remaining knights, the heavy cavalry from the West, fought with their accustomed bravery, but they were helpless against the masses of light cavalry from the East.

In the camp at Civetot, women cooked, and priests celebrated morning mass. A vast cloud of dust was seen rising in the distance, then the surviving Crusaders stumbled into camp in headlong flight. They could not outrun the Turkish horses.

Somehow in the midst of battle the Turks took a liking to a tiny handful of children and spared their lives. A few others were taken prisoner to be sold into slavery, while about 3,000 people took refuge in an old castle by the seaside. Miraculously, the survivors withstood the Turks until the siege was lifted by the Greek navy. Peter would continue on to the Holy City with the First Crusade. Geoffrey Burel, who had done the most to bring about the disaster, escaped.

The ill-conceived Crusade of the Poor People had come to an ignominious end. But in a curious way, it had laid the groundwork for greater success by the better organized armies that followed it. When Kilij Arslan saw how easily his army had annihilated the Franj invaders, at a cost of only minor casualties, he began to feel that there was nothing to fear from the Europeans.

Early in 1097, Kilij Arslan was informed that an even larger Frankish army had arrived, but he dismissed the threat. Of much more importance was the fact that his rival, King Danishmend the Wise, had laid siege to Malatya. When a second messenger brought updated news of the Europeans' progress in April, Kilij sent a tiny detachment of cavalry to Nicaea simply to boost the citizens' morale. In early May, another messenger brought details of the new army, but by then it was too late. After the false start of its undisciplined first wave, the First Crusade had begun in earnest, and this time its march would not be stopped until it had reached its goal–Jerusalem–in July 1099.