In the middle of October 1097, Baldwin of Boulogne, with a small force, journeyed towards to Armenia, while the rest of the crusading army ambled on south towards Antioch. Bagrat was still with him, but Baldwin had gained another prominent individual: the historian, Fulcher of Chartres.
The Armenian Christians wanted desperately to be liberated from the Seljuk Turks and from Byzantine domination. They were eager to work with the crusaders, so as Baldwin approached the Euphrates, they greeted him with much joy and joined forces with him. With the help of Baldwin’s force, the Armenians slaughtered the Turks and conquered their formerly held territory all the way up to where the Euphrates River cut through the land. In the event, Baldwin captured two fortresses: Ravendel and Turbessel, two fortresses that held significant strategic importance for his success. Ravendel was connected directly with Antioch via road, allowing for Baldwin to maintain communication with the rest of the crusading army. Turbessel, on the other hand, was located close to a fjord beside the Euphrates River. The land there was fertile and the river provided plenty of fresh water for the locals who lived there.
Three months later, in early 1098, an embassy from Edessa reached Baldwin in Turbessel. Thoros, the aging and childless Duke of Edessa, was desperate for aid against the Turks. Thoros had recently learnt that Kerbogha, the Turkish Emir of Mosul, was assembling a large army, preparing to march westward and capture Antioch and every Armenian principality that lay north of it. Thoros had also learnt that the great Frankish prince, Baldwin of Boulogne, was nearby. So, he appealed to Baldwin for military aid.
“Baldwin was asked by the Duke to go there, and to agree that they should be mutual friends as long as they both should live, that they should be like father and son,” Fulcher wrote. Hungry for more land and wealth, Baldwin rode with his troops and an Armenian escort to greet Thoros in Edessa.
At Edessa, Baldwin was welcomed enthusiastically by the entire Christian population and by Thoros, who immediately and publicly adopted Baldwin as his son. The two men stripped down to their waist, then put on a double wide shirt – one that fit both men comfortably – and rubbed their bare chests together.
Thoros and the Armenians looked upon Baldwin as their savior because they had not the military might or the arms available to crush the Turks, who frequently and viciously raided the Edessene flock and fields, terrorizing the populace. But now, they no longer had a reason to fear the Turks because Baldwin promised to crush the neighboring emirate of Samosata – Balduk – for good. Baldwin also wanted to take Thoros’s place as Duke of Edessa and he did not keep those intentions to himself.
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.
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