52
1000–1500
In 1095, Pope Urban II called
for an expedition to free the Holy
City of Jerusalem from Muslim
occupation. A Crusader army set
out, but it experienced enormous
diculties in reaching its objective.
The force struggled across Asia
Minor, harried by Seljuq Turks, and was stretched to the
breaking point after laying siege to Antioch for eight months.
The 12,000 crusaders who arrived on June 7, 1099, were
ill-equipped to breach Jerusalem’s 50-ft (15-m) walls and
were running out of water. They also feared that a Fatimid
army from Egypt was on its way to reinforce the garrison
commander, Ifthikhar ad-Daula. A rapid assault on June 13
failed, and the crusaders settled down to lay siege: Raymond
Siege of Jerusalem
1099
◼
JERUSALEM
◼
CRUSADERS VS. FATIMID CALIPHATE
THE FIRST CRUSADE
of Toulouse’s Provençal troops took their position to the south
by the Zion Gate, and Godfrey of Bouillon’s northern French
contingent faced the city’s north ramparts. Six ships from
Genoa arrived at the port of Jaa, and the crusaders used
their timbers to build two huge siege towers; on the night
of July 13, the crusaders wheeled these slowly into place.
At the Zion Gate, heavy re from the defenders stopped
the southern siege tower from approaching the walls,
but after two days the northern siege tower reached the
Damascus Gate, and scores of crusaders poured out onto the
ramparts. After a brief resistance, the defenders abandoned
the walls to make a last stand on the Temple Mount. Amid
scenes of appalling brutality, the crusaders secured the rest
of Jerusalem. The city was theirs, and remained the heart of
the Crusader States in Palestine for 90 years.
1000–1500
In context
Damascus
Gate
Zion's
Gate
Citadel
City walls
Jaffa
Gate
1
THE COUNCIL OF CLERMONT
In 1095, Byzantine
emperor Alexius I Comnenus sent an appeal to Pope
Urban II asking for help in pushing back against
Muslim advances in the East. Urban’s reply, at a
church council at Clermont, was that Christian
knights should take up arms to free Jerusalem from
Muslim control. The thousands who “took the cross”
in response formed the army of the First Crusade.
4
CITY BESIEGED
Jerusalem’s defenses
were formidable, with
2
1
⁄2 miles (4 km) of at
least 10-ft (3-m)-thick
walls. The crusaders
scarcely had enough
men to besiege the
city, and were forced
to assault it. Once they
breached the walls at
the Damascus Gate,
the nal resistance
took place on the
Temple Mount and in
the Citadel, from where
Iftikhar negotiated safe
passage to Ascalon.
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53
SIEGE OF JERUSALEM
◼
1099
1
STORMING JERUSALEM
Here, the crusaders are shown emerging from a siege tower onto
the walls and scaling ladders to make a bridgehead on the northern ramparts of Jerusalem.
Once they had captured this section of the walls, thousands more crusaders poured into
the city. Large numbers of defenders and civilians were massacred, and accounts speak of
crusaders wading up to their ankles in blood as they seized their much sought-after prize.
SIEGE OF JERUSALEM
◼
1099
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