Tancred of Hauteville marched on Tarsus, a key city in Cilicia that was held by a Turkish garrison. Tancred laid siege to Tarsus, but the Turkish garrison held out until Baldwin of Boulogne arrived with his larger force. Frightened and unable to repel the onslaught of Frankish warriors, the Turks fled Tarsus at night, under the cover of darkness.
Probably more than half of the inhabitants inside of the city were Christians: Armenians and Orthodox Greeks. They welcomed Tancred with open arms and appointed him as their new leader. But Baldwin wasn’t satisfied with that arrangement.
The Gesta Account recorded an ensuing conversation between the two crusaders. Baldwin, thereupon, wonderful Count, quarrelled and disputed with Tancred, saying, “Let us enter together, and despoil the city, and let him who is the more able hold it, and him who can, take it.”
“On the contrary,” most brave Tancred said, “I will have none of this, for I am unwilling to despoil Christians. The men of this city have chosen me lord over them, and they desire to have me.”
The Gesta Account was written in the early twelfth century, a decade after the First Crusade, so it is quite likely this conversation was fabricated according to its author’s ideals and opinions. Besides, it would have been impossible for the chronicler to recall word for word the conversations that took place between the Frankish princes, including the important ones. Regardless, this account gives us good insight into what really happened between Tancred and Baldwin: Tancred, unable to repel Baldwin’s much larger force, surrendered, handing over Tarsus to a smug and emboldened Baldwin.
Furious and in need of a force to match that of Baldwin’s, Tancred sent for a reinforcement of about three hundred Norman warriors, but they arrived too late. Baldwin refused them entry into Tarsus, forcing them to set up camp outside. During the night, they were all slaughtered in an unexpected Turkish ambush; those same Turks who had held Tarsus. This episode shocked the entire crusading camp. Even Baldwin’s own troops condemned him for the massacre of his fellow warriors. More significantly, this event marked a growing rift between the princes.
Baldwin’s reputation would have been damaged beyond repair had not the pirate, Guynemer of Boulogne, a relation to Baldwin, arrived in the Bay of Mersin, at the mouth of the Cydnus river, just south of the city, with a fleet of Danish, Frisian and Flemish recruits. Guynemer paid Baldwin homage. In return, Baldwin appointed Guynemer as lieutenant and had three hundred of Guynemer’s men serve as a garrison to the city. Baldwin then prepared to march east to see what other fortress or township there was available for him to acquire.
During the march east through Cilicia, Baldwin decided it best not to acquire any more land in Cilicia, most likely because Bagrat, his advisor and close friend, strongly advised Baldwin to go further east and liberate the Christian Armenian principalities along the Euphrates River from the Turkish threat. But before he set out to reconquer territory in that region, Baldwin decided it was best to rejoin the main crusading army to consult with his brother and other friends on the matter. News had also reached Baldwin of his wife and children: they were severely ill and dying.
Baldwin hastened back to the main army, but his force was intercepted by that of Tancred’s at Mamistra – a town that Tancred had conquered with the help of its Christian populace and in which he now occupied. Tancred forced Baldwin to set up camp with his troops on the far side of the Jihan River. Many, if not all of the Normans who were led by Tancred’s brother-in-law, Richard of the Principate, planned to avenge Baldwin for the massacre outside of Tarsus. They attacked Baldwin’s camp, but Baldwin was not a warrior who was so quickly caught off guard: he, with the help of his troops, roundly defeated Tancred’s force. This action, though, caused more disturbances in the crusading camp. They could not afford to be divided, especially since they were in foreign territory, surrounded on all sides by the enemy. For that reason, Baldwin and Tancred were forced to make amends, although they did so begrudgingly.
Baldwin was faced with a much larger problem than Tancred: His wife — a woman who had brought wealth and land to the marriage — died, and so had their children. The land and wealth that Baldwin’s wife possessed was entirely in her name, so after she passed on, Baldwin was left with absolutely nothing. That situation left Baldwin determined, more than ever, to rise out of the poverty he was now in.
Sources Used:
Krey, August C. The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eye-Witnesss and Participants. Princeton; Princeton University Press, 1921.
Runciman, Steven. A History of the Crusades: The First Crusade. Vol.1. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1951.
The Crusades: Crescent and The Cross. Produced and Directed by Mark Lewis; Narrated by Keith David; Ex. Producer, Richard Bradley. The History Channel, 2005.
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