Medieval Crusader Describes the Chaos, Violence (and Cannibalism) of the First Crusade (1096)

moved by the requests of former comrades

i have related in careful and orderly

fashion the illustrious deeds of the

franks in honor of the savior

when at the command of god they made an

armored pilgrimage to jerusalem

in homely style yet nevertheless truly i

have recounted what i deemed worthy to

be committed to memory and i have told

it as well as i can and just as i saw it

myself

although i do not dare to put this work

of the franks that i have mentioned on

inequality with the distinguished

achievements of the people of israel in

what way indeed do these franks differ

from the israelites and the maccabees in

those lands by my very side i have seen

them dismembered crucified flayed shot

with arrows butchered or killed by other

kinds of martyrdom for the love of

christ

or i have heard of it when i was far

away and yet they could be overcome

neither by threats nor blandishments

nay even if the slayer's sword had come

many of us would not have refused to

perish for the love of christ

oh how many thousands of martyrs died a

happy death on this expedition

in the year of our lord 1095

in the reign of the so-called emperor

henry in germany and king philip in

france throughout europe evils of all

kinds waxed strong because of

vacillating faith

pope urban then ruled in the city of

rome but the devil who always desires

man's destruction and goes about like a

raging lion seeking whom he may devour

stirred up to the confusion of people of

certain rival to urban wybert by name

what wonder that the whole world was a

prey to disturbance and confusion for

when the roman church which is the

source of correction for all

christianity is troubled by any disorder

the sorrow is communicated from the

nerves of the head to the members

subject to it and these suffer

sympathetically

when he heard too that interior parts of

romania were held oppressed by the turks

and the christians were subjected to

destructive and savage attacks he was

moved by compassionate pity

so urban a man prudent and revered

conceived a work by which later the

whole universe prospered

for he restored peace and re-established

the rights of the church in their

pristine condition and with a lively

determination he also made an effort to

drive out the pagans from the christian

lands

therefore since he endeavoured in every

way to glorify everything which was

god's

almost all voluntarily submitted

themselves to his paternal direction

and so

i felsher of shatra went with the other

pilgrims and for the benefit of

posterity i have carefully and

diligently stored all this in my memory

just as i witnessed it

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we west franks traversed gaul and

travelling through italy came to lucha a

far-famed city

near there we met pope urban robert the

norman and stephen count of bloir talked

with him and others who wish likewise

having received his blessing we joyfully

advanced to rome many who had come thus

far with us waited no longer but at once

with disgraceful cowardice returned to

their homes

we however reached bari a rich seaport

town there we addressed our supplicants

to god in the church of saint nicholas

then coming to port we decided to cross

at once but because we lacked semen and

because fortune might play us false and

because furthermore it was wintertime

which exposed us to dangers robert count

of normandy was obliged to withdraw into

calabria and there he spent the whole

winter season

then many of the crusaders abandoned by

their leaders and fearing future want

sold their weapons there and taking up

against their pilgrim staves

ignominiously

returned to their homes

this desertion debased them before god

and man and it redounded to their shame

oh what a great and beautiful city is

constantinople

how many churches and palaces it

contains fashioned with wonderful skill

how many wonderful things may be seen

even in the streets or courts it would

be too tedious to enumerate what wealth

there is there of every kind of gold of

silver of every kind of robes and of

holy relics

after we were sufficiently rested our

leaders having taken council made

underoath a treaty with the emperor at

his own instigation when this had been

accomplished we crossed the sea which is

called the arm of saint george and

hastened then to the city of nicaea

it was then in possession of turks from

the east a valiant race of very expert

archers

these indeed had crossed the euphrates

river from persia 50 years before and

had subjected themselves to the whole

land of romania as far as the city of

nicomedia oh how many severed heads and

bones of the dead we then found lying

upon the plains near the sea

these people inexperienced in the use of

the arrow the turks had annihilated

moved by pity at this site

we shed many tears

and it was in the first week in june

that we came

last of all

to the

siege one army was formed of the many

which those skillful in numbers

estimated to be six hundred thousand

strong of these one hundred thousand

were armed for battle with leather

corsets and helmets if all who had

departed from their homes on the pious

journey had been present there without a

doubt there would have been six million

soldiers

but at rome in hungary and dalmatia some

unwilling to undergo hardships returned

to their homes in many different places

thousands were killed and some who went

with us fell sick and died

many graveyards were to be seen along

the roads on the plains in the places

where our pilgrims were buried

our leaders ordered machines of war to

be made rams scrapers wooden towers and

slings arrows were shot from the bows

and destructive stones were hurled

our enemies fired at us and we at them

each doing his best in these encounters

turks often perished struck by arrows or

stones and franks likewise truly you

would have grieved and sobbed in pity

for when they slew one of our men before

the wall in any way they let down iron

hooks by means of ropes and took the

body up

they snatched it away and none of us

dared or was able to wrestle it from

them

after stripping the corpse they threw

the body outside

with our machines we often assailed the

city but because a strong wall resisted

us the attack

failed

[Music]

we left nicaea on the third day and

advancing we came into the interior

parts of romania but when we had been on

the way for two days it was reported to

us that the turks had set ambushes for

us and expected to join battle with us

in the plains through which they thought

we were going to pass we did not lose

courage however at this news on that

night we had our tents protected on all

sides by guards

but early in the morning we took up our

arms and at the signal of the trumpet we

divided into wings with tribunes and

centurions leading the cohorts in

centuries then with flags flying we went

out against the enemy in good order

at the second hour of the day behold

their advanced guards approached our

scouts

when we had heard this we pitched our

tents near a certain marsh and took off

our pack saddles so that we would be

better able to fight when this was done

the emir and chief of the turks solomon

who had held in his possession the city

of nicaea and romania gathered together

about him the turks and pagan persians

who after a journey of 30 days at his

command had come to his aid

altogether they numbered 360

000 fighters all on horses and armed

with bows as was their custom we on the

other hand had both foot soldiers and

knights

but at that time duke godfrey and count

raymond and hugh the great had been two

days absent from us

therefore an irreparable loss resulted

as much from the number of our soldiers

who were killed as from our failure to

kill or capture the turks and because

those absent leaders received our

messengers late they were therefore late

in coming to our aid

the turks crept up howling loudly and

shooting a shower of arrows

stunned and almost dead with many

wounded we immediately fled and it was

no wonder for such warfare was new to us

all

already from another part of the marsh a

large column of them rushed violently up

to our tents and entering them snatched

our possessions and killed our people

what further shall i say we were all

huddled together like sheep shot in a

pen trembling and frightened surrounded

on all sides by enemies the air was

lashed with a great outcry from men

women and children as well as from the

pagans who rushed upon us

now there was no hope of life left to us

many fearing the death was near ran to

the priests and confessed to their sins

weeping they sang and singing

they wept

then by the disposition of god the

advance guard of hugh the great and

count raymond and duke godfrey came from

the rear upon this unhappy scene

from the very first hour of the day

until the sixth as i have said

difficulties checked us

but then

little by little we recovered and were

reinforced by our allies

[Applause]

indeed we continued our journey quietly

one day suffering such extreme thirst

that many men and women died from its

torments whole troops of turks fleeing

before us sought refuge by scattering

throughout romania in these regions we

were very often in need of bread and

other foods for we found romania a land

which is good and very rich in all

products

thoroughly devastated and ravished by

the turks

truly one would not know whether to

laugh or cry from pity when many of our

men without pack mules since many of

theirs had already perished loaded sheep

goats hogs and dogs with their supplies

such as clothing and food and whatever

luggage was necessary for pilgrims and

knights with their armor sometimes even

mounted oxen and who had ever heard such

a mixture of languages in one army there

were franks flemish frisians ghouls

lotharingians bavarians normans angles

scots italians iberians bretons greeks

and armenians

if a breton questioned me i would not

know how to answer either but though we

spoke diverse languages we were however

brothers in the love of god and seemed

to be nearest kin for if one lost any of

his possessions whoever found it kept it

carefully a long time until by inquiry

he found the loser and returned it to

him

[Music]

when our men and their horses who had

been wearied by much labor for many days

were refreshed by food and rest for four

months at antioch they resumed their

former strength

having arranged a plan one part of the

army went into in assyria desiring to

delay the march to jerusalem other

princes remained in the vicinity of

antioch

count raymond and his people seized

barra and mara by a courageous attack

after the former city had been captured

quickly and completely depopulated by

the slaughter of its citizens and

everything which they found there had

been seized they hastened to the other

city

here when the siege had lasted 20 days

our people suffered excessive hunger i

shudder to tell that many of our people

harassed by the madness of excessive

hunger cut pieces from the buttocks of

the saracens already dead there which

they cooked but when it was not yet

roasted enough by the fire they devoured

it with savage mouth

so the besiegers rather than the

besieged were tormented

meanwhile after they had made what

machines they could and move them to the

wall in an assault of great boldness

with god favoring the franks entered

over the top of the wall

and on that day and the following they

killed all the saracens from the

greatest to the least and plundered all

their substance

and so count raymond after tankred

joined him continued the journey to

jerusalem

the city of jerusalem is situated in a

mountainous region

lacking in streams woods and springs

here there is sufficient water sometimes

but occasionally the supply is reduced

by drawing off the water when the franks

viewed the city and saw it would be

difficult to take our princes ordered

wooden ladders be made

by erecting them against the wall they

hoped to scale it and by a fierce attack

enter the city with god helping

after they had done this when the

leaders gave the signal and the trumpets

sounded in morning's bright light of the

seventh day following they rushed upon

the city from all sides in an

astonishing attack

after consultation craftsmen were

ordered to make machines so that by

moving them to the walls they might with

god's aid obtain the desired end

so this was done after the machines were

prepared they again prepared to assail

the city early in the same morning when

they had gathered the machines and other

auxiliary weapons they very quickly

erected the tower in compact shape not

far from the wall after it was set up

and well covered by hides on the outside

by pushing it they slowly moved it

nearer the wall

then a few but brave soldiers at a

signal from the horn climbed on the

tower

nevertheless the saracens defended

themselves from those soldiers and with

slings hurled firebrands dipped in oil

and grease at the tower and at the

soldiers who were in it

thereafter death was present and sudden

for many on both sides

on the following day at the blast of the

trumpets they undertook the same work

more vigorously so that by hammering in

one place with the battering rams they

breached the wall

the franks entered the city

magnificently at the noon day hour on

friday the day of the week when christ

redeemed the whole world on the cross

with trumpets sounding and with

everything in an uproar exclaiming help

god they vigorously pushed into the city

and straight away raised the banner on

the top of the wall all the heathen

completely terrified changed their

boldness to swift flight through the

narrow streets of the quarters the more

quickly they fled

the more quickly they were put to flight

on the top of solomon's temple to which

they had climbed in fleeing many were

shot to death with arrows and cast down

headlong from the roof within this

temple about ten thousand were beheaded

if you had been there your feet would

have been stained up to the ankles with

the blood of the slain

what more shall i tell not one of them

was allowed to live

they did not spare the women and

children

after they had discovered the cleverness

of the saracens it was an extraordinary

thing to see our squires and poorer

people split the bellies of these dead

saracens so that they might pick out

coins from their intestines which they

had swallowed down their horrible

gullets while alive after several days

they made a great heap of their bodies

and burned them to ashes and in these

ashes they found the gold more easily

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oh time so longed for oh time remembered

among all others oh deed to be preferred

before all deeds

this was the place where the creator of

all creatures god made man in his

manifold mercy for the human race

brought the gift of spiritual rebirth

here he was born died and rose

cleansed from the contagion of the

heathen inhabiting it at one time or

another so long contaminated by their

superstition

it was restored to its former rank by

those believing and trusting in him

[Music]

you