Arnout, like his grandfather, was the commander of a fleet that delivered Crusaders to fight in the war against the Muslim intruders. He was one of the many captains leading an armada that left Dartmouth in May 1147 to free Lisbon from the Moors in what is known as the siege of Lisbon. Phillips describes Arnulf as a count and the leader of the Rhinelanders in this mission. He is also identified as a nephew of Godfrey of Bouillon with distant ties to the ruling house of Jerusalem. The claim of a familial relationship with Godfrey is dubious.
The battle for Lisbon was one of the few successes of the Second Crusade and is viewed as one of the pivotal battles in the Reconquista. The attacking fleet included as many as 200 ships, and the corresponding rout of the Moors has been described by Runiciman as a “glorious massacre of the infidel.” Many of the Crusaders continued on to the Holy Land.
Arnout was married, although his wife’s name is not known. They had one son, Godfried III, who succeeded him as Count of Aarschot, the last of this comital title until the creation of the Lords and Dukes of Aarschot in the 13th century.
Sources
Runciman, Steven, A History of the Crusades, Volume Two: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1952 Setton, Kenneth (editor), A History of the Crusades, Volume I. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1958
Hasselt, A. H. C. van, Les Belges aux Croisade, Jamar, 1846 (available on Google Books)
Phillips, Jonathan, The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2007 (available on Google Books)
Godfrey of Bouillon was a French nobleman and pre-eminent leader of the First Crusade. First ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 to 1100, he avoided the title of king, preferring that of prince (princeps) and Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri, or Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre. Second son of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, Godfrey became Lord of Bouillon in 1076 and in 1087 Emperor Henry IV confirmed him as Duke of Lower Lorraine, a reward for his support during the Great Saxon Revolt.
Fulcher of Chartres was a priest who participated in the First Crusade. He served Baldwin I of Jerusalem for many years and wrote a Latin chronicle of the Crusade.
The siege of Lisbon, from 1 July to 25 October 1147, was the military action against the Muslim-ruled Taifa of Badajoz that brought the city of Lisbon under the definitive control of the new Christian power, the Kingdom of Portugal.
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these military expeditions are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were intended to conquer Jerusalem and its surrounding area from Muslim rule. Beginning with the First Crusade, which resulted in the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, dozens of military campaigns were organised, providing a focal point of European history for centuries. Crusading declined rapidly after the 15th century.
Arnold I, Count of Loon (Looz) from about 1079, son of Emmo, Count of Loon, and Suanhildis, daughter of Dirk III, Count of Holland, and his wife Othelandis.
Henry, lord of Esch, son of Fredelon of Esch. Henry was brother to Godfrey of Esch, and his family held the castle of Esch-sur-Sûre in the Ardennes. He and his brother were vassals of Henry III, Count of Luxembourg, and his brother and successor William. His step-mother was Ermengarde, Countess of Clermont, widow of Gozelon, Count of Montaigu, the founder of the family of counts of Montaigu.
Dodo of Cons , lord of Cons-la-Grandville, a nobleman from the Lotharingian territories, son of Adelon (Adelo) de Cons. Dodo was originally from Konz, above Trier at the confluence of the Moselle and Sauer rivers. Dodo had taken the cross and joined in the First Crusade and was lucky enough to return unscathed along with his wife, a countess of Chiny.
The role of women in the Crusades is frequently viewed as being limited to domestic or illicit activities during the Crusades. While to some extent this is true, they nevertheless played a significant role, taking part in such activities including armed combat in the battles of the Holy Land. This article focuses on the First Crusades and identifies known participants. It also highlights some of the more famous women of the later crusades. For a discussion of the sociological and religious aspects of the mixing of women with the predominantly male crusaders, the reader is referred to the referenced documents.
Arnout II, Count of Aarschot, son of Arnout I, Count of Aarschot.
Arnout III, Count of Aarschot, son of Arnout II, Count of Aarschot, and his wife whose name remains unknown. Arnout is sometimes confused with his father, especially in regard to the blood shedding at Aachen in 1115.
Godfried III, Count of Aarschot, son of Arnout IV, Count of Aarschot.
Renaud II of Clermont was son of Hugh I, Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis and Marguerite de Roucy. Renaud became Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis upon his father's death in 1101.
The army of Hugh the Great was formed after the Council of Clermont, led by Pope Urban II in November 1095. Hugh, son of Henry I of France, and his wife Anne of Kiev, was Count of Vermandois, de jure uxoris, due to his marriage to Adelaide of Vermandois. In August 1096, Hugh and his small army left France in prima profectione, the first army of the third wave to leave France, and travelled to Bari, Italy, and then crossed the Adriatic Sea to the Byzantine Empire, in an armada commanded by Arnout II, Count of Aarschot. When Hugh entered Constantinople, he carried a Vexillum sancti Petri, a banner given to him by the pope, Hugh being the last such noble to carry the banner.
The army of Godfrey of Bouillon, the duke of Lower Lorraine, in response to the call by Pope Urban II to both liberate Jerusalem from Muslim forces and protect the Byzantine Empire from similar attacks. Godfrey and his army, one of several Frankish forces deployed during the First Crusade, was among the first to arrive in Constantinople. The army was unique in that it included among its warriors the first three kings of Jerusalem, although Godfrey preferred the title Defender of the Holy Sepulchre, Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri, as he believed that the true King of Jerusalem was Christ. This article focuses on the members of the army rather that its exploits which are described in detail in Godfrey’s biography as well as numerous sources listed below.
Geldemar Carpenel (Waldemar) (died 7 September 1101), of unknown parentage. Lord of Dargoire, Lord of Haifa (Calphas).
The armies of Bohemond of Taranto, formed in 1097, include a major component of the First Crusade. He is regarded as the real leader of the First Crusade. He formed a second army in 1107 to defend Antioch but instead used it to attack the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos, resulting in the Treaty of Devol, codifying Bohemond’s defeat. Runciman estimates that the first army included 500 cavalry and 3500 infantrymen and other estimates that the second army was at 34,000 personnel strength are likely greatly exaggerated.
Robert II of Flanders' army was formed shortly after that of his kinsman Godfrey of Bouillon, arriving in Constantinople considerably later. His wife Clementia of Burgundy was regent of Flanders in his absence. The known members of the army, mostly Flemish, included the ones listed below, as reported in histories of the First Crusade. Unless otherwise noted, references are to the on-line database of Riley-Smith, et al., and the hyperlinks therein provide details including original sources. The names below are also referenced in the Riley-Smith tome, Appendix I: Preliminary List of Crusaders. Those references are not shown unless they appear elsewhere in the text of the book. Articles that are hyperlinked to a more detailed article in this encyclopædia rely on the latter for references.
The army of William IX on the Crusade of 1101 was formed by William IX “the Troubador,” Duke of Aquitaine, to fight in the minor Crusade of 1101. His army was destroyed by the Turks at Heraclea. Defeated, he reached Antioch with only six companions still alive.
The following is an overview of the armies of First Crusade, including the armies of the European noblemen of the "Princes' Crusade", the Byzantine army, a number of Independent crusaders as well as the People’s Crusade and the subsequent Crusade of 1101 and other European campaigns prior to the Second Crusade beginning in 1147.
The Gesta Francorum Iherusalem peregrinantium is a Latin chronicle of the First Crusade written on 1101, 1106, 1124 until 1127 by Fulcher of Chartres. He was a priest who participated in the First Crusade. He served Baldwin I of Jerusalem for many years, and wrote a chronicle of the Crusade, writing in Latin.
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