298 Crusades Lecture 15 March 26 Flashcards
We ended last time with the 3 differences between 1st and 2nd crusade
- Kings
- Women
- Corporate identity / non-feudal oaths
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Conrad was the first to march, from Germany
Very large, numerous army
Fighting men, support troops, camp followers
Substantial contingents of unarmed pilgrims taking advantage of the armed protection
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The army gained more people as it moved through Germany and into Hungary
Hungarian king Geza paid protection money
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Greek emperor Manuel negotiated a German oath not to cause trouble in his territories
In return, access to markets and supplies
Up until Thrace, things went smoothly on the march through Greece
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In Thrace, opportunities for plunder irresistable
Also, local wine
Bad combination
Drunken stragglers died, leaving rotting corpses for teh French to come across
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Conrad reached Constantinople on 10 September
The city was already on military alert
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This was bad timing for Manuel
Concern Germans were contemplating an attack on the city
In order to meet the potential German threat, Manuel had abandoned his campaign against the sultan of Rum and agreed to a treaty
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When German crusaders learned of the treaty, aroused suspicion and anger.
Didn’t help when what Manuel would/could supply in support did not match with the grandeur of Constantinople
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Relations with France didn’t promise to be better.
Byzantines had been trying to subjugate Cilicia and Antioch; Greeks ousting Latin clergy
Lay nobles with relatives in the principality complained and here hostile. Including the fact that Prince Raymond of Antioch was the uncle of Louis’s queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine
Many knights in Outremer considered the king their overlord in an ancestral sense
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In response, Louis felt a sense of ancestral responsibility to the knights in Outremer
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One faction close to Louis wanted to ally with Roger of Sicily, who had gone forward with his attack against Byzantine Greece
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Manuel can be forgiven for fearing a Franco-German-Sicilian alliance against him.
More complex: Manuel’s wife was Conrad’s sister-in-law
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Conrad accepted guides and food before setting out, refusing to wait for the French
Splits his army in two, perhaps to prevent a mutiny.
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Slow advance
Supplies run short
Easy targets for the Turks. Turks have adapted, Germans don’t.
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Germans eventually come under a hail of arrows.
Conrad hit by two, in the head.
Straggle back to Nicaea
Many abandon the crusade entirely
Sought Byz help to get back home
Others survived the arrows to die of sarvation
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Army wrecked.
Rump can do nothing but try to join up with the French when they get to Nicaea
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Germans quick to identify scapegoats
Greeks accused of misleading the army
Byz provided inadequate supplies
Conrad blamed himself, his companions, the Turks. Not the Greeks
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In reality, failed due to:
Poor intel, bad logistics, bad tactics, over-optimistic strategy
as much as lack of Greek support and skill of the Turks
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Switching over to the French
Effective march against fierce odds through Asia Minor
Faced lack of supplies and logistical support
Created disintegration
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Once in Byz territory, French faced problems of exchange rates and inadequate supplies
Foraging “with plunder and pillage.”
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Greek relations deteriorate
Byz mercenaries cutting down French pillagers
Advance guard, denied a market, attacked Constantinople itself right when Louis’ ambassadors engaging in delicate negotiations with Manuel
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French increasingly saw Greeks as hostile, heretical, with dispicable social conventions
Siege mentality developed
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While Manuel wined and dined Louis, a vocal contingent of Louis’ advisors advocated assaulting Constantinople.
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Manuel was alerted to these debates among the French.
Exerted French to cross Bosporus by squeezing the flow of supplies and spread false rumors that the Germans were winning great victories
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