Qualla: Siege of Antioch

Siege of Antioch: Introduction

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain. For eight months, the Crusaders starved outside the walls of Antioch. They ate their horses, then their leather, then nothing at all. One in seven died before a single breach was made. Knights deserted in the night, including Peter the Hermit, who had to be dragged back in shame. And when the city finally fell -- not through force but through the treachery of a single Armenian guard -- the Crusaders had barely hours to celebrate before a massive Seljuk relief army arrived and besieged them inside the city they had just taken. The Siege of Antioch in 1097-1098 was not a military triumph. It was a survival story.

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Image: AnonymousUnknown author | Public domain

Siege of Antioch: The Walls That Could Not Be Breached

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jacob van Maerlant, Public domain. Antioch -- modern Antakya -- covered more than 3.5 square miles, enclosed by walls studded with 400 towers dating from the reign of Emperor Justinian I. The city sat in the Orontes River valley, with Mount Silpius rising 1,000 feet above the valley floor on its southern flank, cr...

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Image: Jacob van Maerlant | Public domain

Siege of Antioch: Hunger and Desertion

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit L.Gallait, Public domain. The Crusaders stripped the surrounding countryside bare within weeks. Foraging parties had to range ever farther from camp, exposing themselves to ambush by the Antioch garrison and by relief forces. On December 31, 1097, a foraging party under Bohemond and Robert of Flanders stu...

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Image: L.Gallait | Public domain

Siege of Antioch: Two Relief Armies Broken

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit fifteenth-century manuscript illuminator, Public domain. In early February 1098, Ridwan of Aleppo advanced toward Antioch with a relief force. Bohemond proposed a bold response: send all the cavalry to meet Ridwan while the infantry guarded the siege lines. The Crusader knights, numbering perhaps 700, found Ridwan near the Iron Bridge ...

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Image: fifteenth-century manuscript illuminator | Public domain

Siege of Antioch: The Tower of the Two Sisters

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Henri Frédéric Schopin, Public domain. By late May, news arrived that Kerbogha, atabeg of Mosul, was approaching with the largest relief army yet -- reinforced by troops from Persia, Ridwan, Duqaq, and the Ortuqids of Mesopotamia. The Crusaders had to take the city before Kerbogha arrived or face destruction between t...

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Image: Henri Frédéric Schopin | Public domain

Siege of Antioch: Besieged Inside Their Conquest

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. Kerbogha arrived on June 7, and suddenly the Crusaders found themselves trapped inside the city they had spent eight months trying to enter. The citadel on Mount Silpius still held out under a Seljuk garrison, meaning the Crusaders were squeezed between enemies above and below. S...

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Image: Public domain