Siege of Nicaea

Part of the First Crusade (1097)

For other uses, see Siege of Nicaea (disambiguation).

Siege of Nicaea

Part of the First Crusade and Byzantine-Seljuk wars

13th-century miniature (BNF Fr. 779)
| Date| 14 May – 19 June 1097

|

Location|

Nicaea (present-day İznik, Turkey)

Result|  Christian victory
Territorial
changes|  Nicaea restored to the Byzantine Empire
Belligerents
Crusaders
Byzantine|  Sultanate of Rûm
Commanders and leaders
Bohemond of Taranto
Raymond IV of Toulouse
Adhemar of Le Puy
Godfrey of Bouillon
Robert II of Normandy
Robert II of Flanders
Stephen of Blois
Tancred of Hauteville
Hugh of Vermandois
Eustace III of Boulogne
Baldwin of Boulogne
Manuel Boutoumites
Tatikios|  Kilij Arslan
Strength

Crusaders:
~30,000 infantry
~4,200–4,500 cavalry[1]

Byzantines:
2,000 light infantry and naval support[2]|

Nicaean garrison:
Unknown, but sizeable

Kilij Arslan's relief force:
~10,000, mostly mounted archers[3]
Casualties and losses
Unknown|  ~4,000

* v
* t
* e

Crusades: battles in the Levant (1096–1303)

First Crusade

* Xerigordos
* Civetot
* Nicaea
* 1st Dorylaeum
* 1st Antioch
* Samosata
* 2nd Antioch
* Ma'arra
* Arqa
* 1st Jerusalem
* 1st Ascalon

Period post-First Crusade

* Arsuf
* Dog River
* Melitene
* Mersivan
* Heraclea
* 1st Ramla
* 2nd Ramla
* 1st Tripoli
* 1st Acre
* 2nd Acre
* Harran
* 3rd Ramla
* Artah
* 1st Beirut
* Sidon
* 1st Tyre
* 1st Shaizar
* Al-Sannabra
* Sarmin
* Ager Sanguinis
* Hab
* Jaffa and 2nd Tyre
* Yibneh
* 1st Aleppo
* Azaz
* Marj al-Saffar
* 2nd Beirut
* al-Atharib
* Rafaniyya
* Antioch
* Qinnasrin
* Ba'rin
* 2nd Aleppo
* 2nd Shaizar
* Edessa 1144
* Edessa 1146
* Bosra

Second Crusade

* 1st Constantinople
* 2nd Dorylaeum
* Laodicea on the Lycus
* Ephesus
* Meander Valley
* Mount Cadmus
* Damascus

Period post-Second Crusade

* Inab
* Aintab
* 2nd Ascalon
* Lake Huleh
* Butaiha
* al-Buqaia
* Harim
* 1st Bilbeis
* al-Babein
* 1st Alexandria
* 2nd Bilbeis
* 1st Damietta
* Ayla
* 2nd Alexandria
* Montgisard
* Hama
* Banias
* Marj Ayyun
* Jacob's Ford
* 3rd Acre
* Red Sea
* 1st Belvoir Castle
* Al-Fule
* 1st Kerak
* Cresson
* 2nd Kerak
* Hattin
* 2nd Jerusalem
* 3rd Tyre
* 2nd Belvoir Castle
* Laodicea
* Sahyun
* Al-Shughur
* Bourzey
* Safed

Third Crusade

* 4th Acre
* Philomelion
* Iconium
* Cyprus
* 1st Arsuf
* 1st Jaffa

Period post-Third Crusade

* 2nd Jaffa
* Toron

Fourth Crusade

* Zara
* 2nd Constantinople
* 3rd Constantinople

Fifth Crusade

* Mount Tabor
* Machghara
* 2nd Damietta
* 1st Fariskur
* 1st Mansurah

Sixth Crusade and aftermath

* Gaza
* 3rd Jerusalem
* Forbie
* 3rd Ascalon

Seventh Crusade

* 3rd Damietta
* 2nd Mansurah
* 2nd Fariskur

End of the Crusader states in the Levant

* 2nd Arsuf
* Caesarea
* Haifa
* Safed
* 2nd Antioch
* Eighth Crusade
* Krak des Chevaliers
* 2nd Tripoli
* Lord Edward's Crusade
* Homs
* Margat
* 3rd Tripoli
* 4th Acre
* Ruad

* v
* t
* e

Byzantine–Seljuk wars

* Ganja
* Vaspurakan
* Kapetron
* 1st Manzikert
* Ani
* 1st Caesarea
* 1st Iconium
* Sebastia
* 2nd Manzikert
* 2nd Caesarea
* Oinousses
* Antioch
* 1st Nicaea
* Mersivan
* 2nd Nicaea
* Philomelion
* Campaigns of John II Komnenos
* Laodicea
* Sozopolis
* 2nd Iconium
* Turbessel
* Myriokephalon
* Hyelion and Leimocheir
* Claudiopolis
* 1st Trebizond
* Antalya
* Antioch on the Meander
* Sinope
* Sudak
* 2nd Trebizond

The siege of Nicaea was the first major battle of the First Crusade, taking place from 14 May to 19 June 1097. The city was under the control of the Seljuk Turks who opted to surrender to the Byzantines in fear of the crusaders breaking into the city. The siege was followed by the Battle of Dorylaeum and the Siege of Antioch, all taking place in modern Turkey.[4][5]

## Background

[edit]

Nicaea, located on the eastern shore of Lake Askania, had been captured from the Byzantine Empire by the Seljuk Turks in 1081, and formed the capital of the Sultanate of Rûm. In 1096, the People's Crusade, the first stage of the First Crusade, had plundered the land surrounding the city, before being destroyed by the Turks. As a result, sultan Kilij Arslan initially felt that the second wave of crusaders were not a threat.[6] He left his family and his treasury behind in Nicaea and went east to fight the Danishmends for control of Melitene.[7]

## Crusader siege

[edit]

The crusaders began to leave Constantinople at the end of April 1097. Godfrey of Bouillon was the first to arrive at Nicaea, with Bohemond of Taranto, Bohemond's nephew Tancred, Raymond IV of Toulouse, and Robert II of Flanders following him, along with Peter the Hermit and some of the survivors of the People's Crusade, and a small Byzantine force under Manuel Boutoumites. They arrived on 6 May, severely short of food, but Bohemond arranged for food to be brought by land and by sea. The crusaders put the city to siege beginning on 14 May, assigning their forces to different sections of the walls, which was well-defended with 200 towers and sent a message to Raymond to hurry his advance to aid the siege. Bohemond camped on the north side of the city, Godfrey on the south, and Raymond and Adhemar of Le Puy on the eastern gate.

## Defeat of Kilij Arslan

[edit]

On 16 May the Turkish defenders sallied out to attack the crusaders, but the Turks were defeated in a skirmish with the loss of 200 men. The Turks sent messages to Kilij Arslan begging him to return, and when he realized the strength of the crusaders he quickly turned back. An advance party was defeated by troops under Raymond and Robert II of Flanders on 20 May, and on 21 May the crusader army defeated Kilij in a pitched battle which lasted long into the night. Losses were heavy on both sides, but in the end the sultan retreated despite the pleas of the Nicaean Turks. The rest of the crusaders arrived throughout the rest of May, with Robert Curthose (accompanied by Ralph de Guader) and Stephen of Blois arriving at the beginning of June. Meanwhile, Raymond and Adhemar built a large siege engine, which was rolled up to the Gonatas Tower in order to engage the defenders on the walls while miners mined the tower from below. The tower was damaged but no further progress was made.

## Byzantine arrival

[edit]

Reading of the contemporary description of the siege, from the Crusader's perspective, Gesta Francorum \- Liber II in Latin with English subtitles

Byzantine emperor Alexios I chose not to accompany the crusaders, but marched out behind them and made his camp at nearby Pelecanum. From there, he sent boats, rolled over the land, to help the crusaders blockade Lake Ascanius, which had up to this point been used by the Turks to supply Nicaea with food. The boats arrived on 17 June, under the command of Manuel Boutoumites. The general Tatikios was also sent, with 2,000 foot soldiers. Alexios had instructed Boutoumites to secretly negotiate the surrender of the city without the crusaders' knowledge. Tatikios was instructed to join with the crusaders and make a direct assault on the walls, while Boutoumites would pretend to do the same to make it look as if the Byzantines had captured the city in battle. This was done, and on 19 June the Turks surrendered to Boutoumites.

When the crusaders discovered what Alexios had done, they were quite angry, as they had hoped to plunder the city for money and supplies. Boutoumites, however, was named dux of Nicaea and forbade the crusaders from entering in groups larger than 10 men at a time. Boutoumites also expelled the Turkish generals, whom he considered just as untrustworthy. Kilij Arslan's family went to Constantinople and were eventually released without ransom. Alexios gave the crusaders money, horses, and other gifts, but the crusaders were not pleased with this, believing they could have had even more if they had captured Nicaea themselves. Boutoumites would not permit them to leave until they had all sworn an oath of vassalage to Alexios, if they had not yet done so in Constantinople. As he had in Constantinople, Tancred at first refused, but he eventually gave in.

## Aftermath

[edit]

The crusaders left Nicaea on 26 June in two contingents: Bohemond, Tancred, Robert II of Flanders, and Tatikios in the vanguard, and Godfrey, Baldwin of Boulogne, Stephen, and Hugh of Vermandois in the rear. Tatikios was instructed to ensure the return of captured cities to the empire. Their spirits were high, and Stephen wrote to his wife Adela that they expected to be in Jerusalem in five weeks. On 1 July they defeated Kilij at the Battle of Dorylaeum, and by October they reached Antioch; they would not reach Jerusalem until two years after leaving Nicaea.[8]

## Footnotes

[edit]

1. ^ Nicolle, The First Crusade 1096-1099: Conquest of the Holy Land, p. 32 "Eventually the Crusader forces outside Nicaea numbered around 4,200–4,500 cavalry and 30,000 infantry, excluding non-combattants."
2. ^ Crusades: The Illustrated History, by Thomas F. Madden
3. ^ Pryor, Logistics of Warfare in the Age of the Crusades, pp. 49–50 "In addition, the besiegers made several efforts to storm the walls and they won a victory in pitched battle over the relieving army of Qilij Arslan, a force some 10,000 troops, mostly mounted archers."
4. ^ Runciman, Steven (1969). "Chapter IX. The First Crusade: Constantinople to Antioch." In Setton, Kenneth M.; Baldwin, Marshall W. (eds.). A History of the Crusades: I. The First Hundred Years. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 288–290.
5. ^ The Siege of Nicene. In Asbridge, Thomas (2004). The First Crusade: A New History.  Oxford University Press. pp. 118–131.
6. ^ Savvides, Alexios G. C. (2006). "Qilij Arslān of Rûm (d. 1107)". In The Crusades – An Encyclopedia. p. 998.
7. ^ Tahsin Yazici, "Dāneśmand". Encyclopædia Iranica, Vol. VI, Fasc. 6, pp. 654–655.
8. ^ Letter from Stephen to Adele, 1098. In Munro, D. Carleton. (1902). Letters of the crusaders. rev. ed Philadelphia, Pa.: The Dept. of history of the University of Pennsylvania. pp. 5–7.

## Bibliography

[edit]

* Anna Comnena, Alexiad
* Fulcher of Chartres, Historia Hierosolymitana
* Gesta Francorum (anonymous)
* Raymond of Aguilers, Historia francorum qui ceperunt Jerusalem
* Mayer, Hans Eberhard. The Crusades. London: Oxford University Press, 1972. ISBN 0198730152
* Nicolle, David. The First Crusade 1096–1099: Conquest of the Holy Land, Osprey Publishing, 2003.
* Pryor, John H. Logistics of Warfare in the Age of the Crusades, Ashgate Publishing Ltd. 2006. ISBN 0754651975
* Riley-Smith, Jonathan Simon Christopher. The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986. ISBN 0812280261
* Runciman, Steven (1951). A History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Setton, Kenneth M.; Baldwin, Marshall W., eds. (1969) [1955]. A History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Hundred Years (Second ed.). Madison, Milwaukee, and London: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-04834-9.
* Treadgold, Warren (1997). A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-2630-2.

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