Crusading Warfare

Exploring the Military History of the Crusades

William James Hamblin
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Blue boxes reference primary
sources, and provide

Color coded
quotations from primary
sources.

Gold boxes contains

references to secondary
sources.

White boxes are summaries

of primary sources.
text boxes
Green text boxes are my
interpretations, analysis,
notes, commentary, and
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 Previous Video:
Cilician Expedition 3- Adana
First Crusade 9c- Cilician Expedition 3- Adana
Cilician Campaign 4
Mamistra
AD 1097/09 late - 10 mid
Philippopolis
Varna
Strategic Situation: Cilician Expedition 1097/09-11
Ardas a
Preslav Sinope Kur
Primary Sources: Cilician Expedition
Adrianople
Western
Albert 3.10-16
Constantinople
Rodosto →William 3.19-25
Trebizond
Caffaro —
is
Nicomedia Canso — ps

ios
am

gar
Civetot Iris Ekkehard — Ac
Neocaesarea

San
Y
Fulcher 1.14.3 h Aras
us Amasya e s ilirm Coru
c Cyzicus Nicaea ak
Sebenkarahisar →Bartolf 9
ani
Abydos Gr Tokat →Malmesbury —Theodosopolis
Teleboas
Sank 1 Gesta 2/10d-e =24-25

dacus
arya

u)
Erzincan

S
Sebastea )→Baldric 2.4c=35-36

at
a Su

ur
Rhyn
Ankyra ar
Divrigi(K →Orderic 9.8i-=65-67

(M
Dorylaeum →Guibert 3.13b=69-70
→Peter 4.2c-f=39-40
k
Pergamum Amorium i rma →Robertnias 3.20-23=116-117 Akhlat
Ha zi l Ars a
lys i
diz K Gilo —
He Ge
rm
us Philomelium Melitene Letters —
Smyrna Ralph 33-44
Comana
Antioch Caesarea Raymond —
William 3.19-25
k
yu

Meander Iconium
Bu

han
Coxon Diyarbakir
Eastern Christian
1 n

Sey
Laodicea y ha Anna —

Ti
Cilician Gates Ce

g
ris
Marash Mathew 2.113=166-167
Heraclea Michael —

s
Saru
Adana s
mu →Bar Hebraeus —
yr2a
P Edessa
1 Syriac —
Attalia
Goksu Tarsis
Mosul
Rhodes Cal
yca
Belen Pass Muslim
dnu
s Antioch AHC —
Studies (Cilician Armenia) Ibn al-Athir —
Seleucia Euphal-Qalanisi
Boase, T. “The History of the Kingdom” The Cilician St Simeon Aleppo Ibn rates {a490} —

Zab
Kingdom of Armenia, ed. T. Boase (1978), 1-33. Studies Kamal al-Din —

ater
Raqqa
Asbridge 140-147 Maqrizi {a490} —
Charanis, P. The Armenians in the Byzantine Empire.

Gre
Latakia Sibt {a490} —Rahba
(1963). France 193-195
•Forse, J. “Armenians and the First Crusade” Journal of Frankopan 149-151 Nicosia
Hama
Medieval History 17 (1991): 13-22 Rubenstein 135-140
Ghazarian, J. The Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia During Runciman 1:195-202
Paphos Homs
the Crusades. (2015) Smail — Tripoli
 Vahka ♜
0 10 20 km Tancred takes Mamistra 1097/10/mid
Anti-
Tauru
Rupenids s Mts
Constantine I
{1095-1103} Pardzerpert ♜
Heraclea Marash
Cilician Gates
Thoros
ains Sis
n t
ou Kogh
sM 2- {10/mid}
Vasil
uru [Albert 3.15a]
Ta When the town [of Mamistra] resisted and opposed
Oshin [Tancred] he attacked it vigorously with his armoured
{1072-1097?}
 band [of knights]. He quickly threw its walls down to
the ground, demolished its gates and iron doors, and
Lampron ♜ wore down by cruel slaughter the arrogance of the
Turks which had ruled supreme. When the Turkish
enemy had been destroyed and driven out … Aintab
Ar
Adana
2
We
Ba Ta 1 ⚔
Tarsus Mamistra Ravendel ♜
1- {10/mid} 3
[Albert 3.15a; Ralph 41] 3- {10/mid}
Tancred marches his [Albert 3.15a]
small army to Turkish Tancred distributed the plundered
occupied Mamistra. food, clothing and treasure among his
troops, and garrisons the town.
Alexandretta

Belen Pass

Antioch
Sources Commanders and Armies Aleppo
Seleucia
Albert 3.15-16 Ar = Armenian garrison (Yaghi-Siyan)
(Ridwan)
→ William 3.24 Ba = Baldwin’s Lorrainers {1086-1098}
{1095-1113}
Ralph 41-44 Ta = Tancred’s southern Normans
We = Welf’s Frankish (crusader?) mercenaries Antioch
Aleppo
 Vahka ♜
0 10 20 km Baldwin goes to Mamistra 1097/10/mid
Anti-
Tauru
Rupenids s Mts
Constantine I
{1095-1103} Pardzerpert ♜
Heraclea Marash
Cilician Gates
Thoros
ains Sis
n t
ou Kogh
sM Vasil
uru
Ta
Oshin
{1072-1097?}

Lampron ♜

Aintab

Adana
We Ar
Ba Ta
Tarsus Mamistra Ravendel ♜
1
2
1- {10/late}
[Albert 3.15b] 2- {10/late}
Baldwin marches with [Albert 3.15b]
his army to Mamistra. Baldwin’s army camps outside
Mamistra.
Alexandretta

Belen Pass

Antioch
Sources Commanders and Armies Aleppo
Seleucia
Albert 3.15-16 Ar = Armenian garrison (Yaghi-Siyan)
(Ridwan)
→ William 3.24 Ba = Baldwin’s Lorrainers {1086-1098}
{1095-1113}
Ralph 41-44 Ta = Tancred’s southern Normans
We = Welf’s Frankish (crusader?) mercenaries Antioch
Aleppo
 Vahka ♜
0 10 20 km Battle of Mamistra 1097/10/mid
Anti-
Tauru
Rupenids s Mts
Constantine I
{1095-1103} Pardzerpert ♜
Heraclea Marash
Cilician Gates
Thoros
ains Sis
n t
ou Kogh
sM Vasil
uru
Ta
Oshin
{1072-1097?}

Lampron ♜
1- {10/late}
Tancred’s surprise ambush Aintab
against Baldwin’s camp
Adana
1
We Ar
Ta
Tarsus ⚔ Mamistra Ravendel ♜
Ba

Alexandretta

Belen Pass

Antioch
Sources Commanders and Armies Aleppo
Seleucia
Albert 3.15-16 Ar = Armenian garrison (Yaghi-Siyan)
(Ridwan)
→ William 3.24 Ba = Baldwin’s Lorrainers {1086-1098}
{1095-1113}
Ralph 41-44 Ta = Tancred’s southern Normans
We = Welf’s Frankish (crusader?) mercenaries Antioch
Aleppo
0 100 200 300 m Battle of Mamistra 1097/10/mid

1- The walls of medieval

Mamistra (approximate) 2- {10/mid}
1 [Ralph 42b]
[Mamistra] was well guarded with
towers, had a large population, had a
Ta good supply of arms,

2- The old Roman

2 bridge—still in use

3a- {10/late}
[Ralph 42c]
Tancred initially allows Baldwin to
camp near the city, and supplies to be
Ba purchased by Baldwin’s army.
3
3b- {10/late}
[Albert 3.15b]
Baldwin’s army camps in gardens
and farmland outside Mamistra,
across the bridge from the city.
0 100 200 300 m Battle of Mamistra 1097/10/mid

1- Tancred reacts to Baldwin’s

arrival.
A- Tancred is worried that Baldwin
might try to take Mamistra as he did
Tarsus.
B- Tancred seeks vengeance for
Baldwin’s insults and capture of
Tarsus [Ralph 42b].

Ta

2a- Riot in the Market 2

[Ralph 43a]
A personal feud in the market breaks
into a fight, which is quickly
transformed into a riot. Each side
blames the other.
Ba
2b- Note
Ralph [43a], a partisan of Tancred, says the conflict
stared from a riot in the market, which is certainly
possible.
Albert [3.15c], a partisan of Godfrey/Baldwin says
that Tancred intentionally attacked Baldwin.
I have tried to conflate these two accounts, assuming
that a riot in the market broke the truce, after which
Tancred attacked Baldwin’s camp.
0 100 200 300 m Battle of Mamistra 1097/10/mid

1a- {10/mid}
[Albert 3.15c]
[Tancred] sent his archers ahead in great strength to
challenge the enemy in their tents and to wound the
horses which were wandering all over the pastures
and meadows. He himself suddenly charged on
horseback with five hundred armoured cavalry into
the camp and against the followers of that same
Baldwin, so he could take a worthy revenge for all the 1b- {10/mid}
[Ralph 43c]
wrongs he had done to him. Ta
Richard of the Principate [of Salerno], cousin of
Tancred, is stabbed with a spear in the melee. He
1 falls from his horse, and prepares to fight with his
sword, but is overwhelmed and captured.
2

3 ⚔

3- Tancred Attacks Baldwin’s Camp Ba

A- Tancred’s infantry archers advance into
the horse pastures; their goal is to drive off
the horses so Baldwin’s knights will not be
able to mount.
B- They fail to drive off all the horses and
many of Baldwin’s knights are able to
mount for battle.
0 100 200 300 m Battle of Mamistra 1097/10/mid

2- {10/mid}
[Albert 3.16a]
But Tancred's army, unequal in
number and strength, turned tail,
unable to bear the intensity of the battle

Ta
⚔

Ba

1- {10/mid} 1
[Albert 3.16a]
[Baldwin’s men] took up their swords at once and
raised their banners. And, having warned their
comrades with loud shouts, they hastily rode to meet
Tancred with much sounding of trumpets and horns,
engaging heavily in conflicts on both sides and falling
with serious wounds.
Roman bridge at Mamistra (Ancient Mopsouestia; Turkish Misis)
2- Most of Tancred’s men are able to
make it across the bridge, and the
gates of Mamistra are closed.
1- {10/mid} Tancred flees across the bridge
[Albert 3.16b]
Tancred himself they took flight into the protection of
the city, only just managing to slip across the narrow
river bridge away from the storm of battle. On this
narrow bridge Richard prince of Salerno, Tancred's
nearest kin, and Robert of the town of Anzi, very brave
soldiers, lingered too long, and they were captured
and held back; very many cavalry and infantry of
Tancred's company died, some killed at once, others
dying later from their wounds. Only Giselbert of
Clermont pursued too hotly and was caught up in the
middle of the enemy, captured on that same narrow
bridge and taken away.
0 100 200 300 m Battle of Mamistra 1097/10/late

3- Note
This is the first open battle between rival crusader
factions. Rivalry between crusader leaders will continue
to be a major factor throughout all the crusades.

1b- {10/mid} Truce between Tancred and Baldwin

1a- Truce between Tancred and Baldwin.
[Albert 3.17a; Ralph 44a]
Truce is declared and prisoners exchanged. The
crusaders agreed “that both sides had done wrong in the
Lord's sight, and their devotion to the most sacred way
of Jerusalem had been violated”
[William 3.24e]
When dawn appeared the next day, feelings of hatred
began to subside, and anger was somewhat assuaged.
Thanks to divine mercy, they once more remembered
their profession and returned to their right minds.
Messengers were dispatched to ask for terms of
peace; the captives on both sides were returned; and to
the mutual satisfaction of both armies, the kiss of peace
was exchanged and full harmony restored.
Ta
1
Ba

2- Baldwin departs
[Albert 3.17a + William 3.25a]
Baldwin with “700 cavalry” leaves
Cilicia marching for Marash.
 Vahka ♜
0 10 20 km Baldwin leaves Cilicia 1097/10/late
Anti-
Tauru
Rupenids s Mts
Constantine I
{1095-1103} Pardzerpert ♜
Heraclea Marash
Cilician Gates
Thoros
ains Sis
n t
ou Kogh
sM Vasil
uru
Ta
Oshin
{1072-1097?}

Lampron ♜

Aintab

Adana

Ta
Tarsus Mamistra Ravendel ♜
Ba

Alexandretta

Belen Pass

Antioch
Sources Aleppo
Seleucia
Albert 3.15-16 (Yaghi-Siyan)
(Ridwan)
→ William 3.25 {1086-1098}
{1095-1113}
Robert 3.22-23
Ralph 41-44 Antioch
Aleppo
 Crusading Warfare
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