Crusaders vs. Turks: Bohemond at the Battle of Antioch

Real Crusades History #152. And don't forget the Real Crusades History website!

“Kerbogha’s troops were numerous and his position strong, but within the Turkish forces there were internal divisions between jealous emirs,” says historian Thomas Madden (p. 29), citing the potential fractiousness of Kerbogha’s vast coalition army. Nevertheless, the Turkish Atabeg seemed poised to capture Antioch and destroy the Christian forces inside. By late June Count Raymond of Toulouse was ill, and thus it fell to Bohemond alone to lead the upcoming counterattack against Kerbogha. In choosing to confront Kerbogha head on, the Crusaders faced several enormous challenges. For one, Kerbogha’s army greatly outnumbered them. Also, the Turks had plenty of horses, while the Crusaders by now had no more than 200 horses of military quality remaining. The majority of their troops would have to fight on foot. But Bohemond also understood that the Crusaders who had survived up to this point had been hardened into a battle-tested, efficient fighting force. The trials of war had bound them with the brotherhood of soldiers who have long fought shoulder to shoulder. “Bohemond’s battle plan was astounding,” writes historian Thomas Asbridge, “its execution exceptional” (p. 235). Bohemond chose the Bridge Gate for the sallying point, placing the Latins on the western bank of the Orontes, preventing the Turkish troops on the eastern bank from quickly engaging them. First to emerge from the city was a division of archers under Hugh of Vermandois, which hammered the Turks with arrows, driving back the first line of Mohammedan troops and opening a space for the remainder of the Crusader army to deploy. Bohemond had divided the remainder of the army into five distinct divisions to provide cohesion in the midst of battle. Once the Bridge Gate had been cleared, the northern French under Robert of Flanders and Robert of Normandy emerged in column behind Hugh’s archers, and then maneuvered to his left. Next Godfrey of Bouillon marched out with his Lotharingians and Germans, followed by Bishop Adhemar leading the southern French. Each division fanned out leftwards in a semi-circle, with Bohemond commanding the largest and final contingent, allowing him to bring aid to any portion of the army that came under heavy attack. Thomas Asbridge calls this disposition of the troops “the finest expression of Bohemond’s military genius”, but despite this well-ordered deployment, had Kerbogha reacted differently the Crusaders might have been crushed as they came out of Antioch. Once he realized that the Crusaders were sallying forth from the Bridge Gate, Kerbogha had two options: immediately attack with his main force, or wait and meet them in battle on grounds of his own choosing. In that Kerbogha chose the latter, probably because he did not judge the ragged Crusader army to be much of a threat. Had he launched an immediate attack, he could have inflicted heavy losses, but he also would have ended the battle before the Christians were fully deployed; no doubt the bulk of their numbers would have retreated, and many might not have even deployed at all. Instead, Kerbogha chose to allow the Franks to bring the whole of their army out of Antioch, thus giving him the opportunity to crush them completely in one grand stroke. This would allow him to avoid a long siege. But this doesn’t mean the Crusaders were able to march unmolested out of Antioch. While Kerbogha’s main force held back, the Crusaders, as they struggled to get into position before the Bridge Gate, were attacked fiercely by the advance Turkish troops. There was a vicious counterattack from the Turks who had been guarding the Bridge Gate, followed almost instantly by an assault from the Turks sweeping down from positions before the Gate of Saint Paul and the Gate of the Duke. Most pressing of all, Turks positioned before the Gate of Saint George quickly began crossing the river and coming up behind the Crusaders for an attack. The Christians were surrounded.