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Year 1096 (MXCVI) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.
The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic rule. While Jerusalem had been under Muslim rule for hundreds of years, by the 11th century the Seljuk takeover of the region threatened local Christian populations, pilgrimages from the West, and the Byzantine Empire itself. The earliest initiative for the First Crusade began in 1095 when Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos requested military support from the Council of Piacenza in the empire's conflict with the Seljuk-led Turks. This was followed later in the year by the Council of Clermont, during which Pope Urban II supported the Byzantine request for military assistance and also urged faithful Christians to undertake an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
The Second Crusade (1147–1150) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade (1096–1099) by the future King Baldwin I of Jerusalem in 1098. While it was the first Crusader state to be founded, it was also the first to fall.
Baldwin I was the first count of Edessa from 1098 to 1100 and king of Jerusalem from 1100 to his death in 1118. He was the youngest son of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, and Ida of Lorraine and married a Norman noblewoman, Godehilde of Tosny. He received the County of Verdun in 1096, but he soon joined the crusader army of his brother Godfrey of Bouillon and became one of the most successful commanders of the First Crusade.
Bohemond II was Prince of Taranto from 1111 to 1128 and Prince of Antioch from 1111/1119 to 1130. He was the son of Bohemond I, who in 1108 was forced to submit to the authority of the Byzantine Empire in the Treaty of Devol. Three years later, the infant Bohemond inherited the Principality of Taranto under the guardianship of his mother, Constance of France. The Principality of Antioch was administered by his father's nephew, Tancred, until 1111. Tancred's cousin, Roger of Salerno, managed the principality from 1111 to 1119. After Roger died in the Battle of the Field of Blood, Baldwin II of Jerusalem took over the administration of Antioch. However, he did acknowledge Bohemond's right to personally rule the principality upon reaching the age of majority.
Qiwam al-Dawla Kerbogha, known as Kerbogha or Karbughā, was atabeg of Mosul during the First Crusade and was renowned as a soldier.
Baldwin II, also known as Baldwin of Bourcq or Bourg, was Count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118, and King of Jerusalem from 1118 until his death. He accompanied Godfrey of Bouillon and Baldwin of Boulogne to the Holy Land during the First Crusade. He succeeded Baldwin of Boulogne as the second count of Edessa when he left the county for Jerusalem following his brother's death. He was captured at the Battle of Harran in 1104. He was held first by Sökmen of Mardin, then by Jikirmish of Mosul, and finally by Jawali Saqawa. During his captivity, Tancred, the Crusader ruler of the Principality of Antioch, and Tancred's cousin, Richard of Salerno, governed Edessa as Baldwin's regents.
The Principality of Antioch was one of the Crusader states created during the First Crusade which included parts of Anatolia and Syria. The principality was much smaller than the County of Edessa or the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It extended around the northeastern edge of the Mediterranean, bordering the County of Tripoli to the south, Edessa to the east, and the Byzantine Empire or the Kingdom of Armenia to the northwest, depending on the date.
Joscelin I was a Frankish nobleman of the House of Courtenay who ruled as the lord of Turbessel, prince of Galilee (1112–1119) and count of Edessa (1118–1131). The County of Edessa reached its zenith during his rule. Captured twice, Joscelin continued to expand his county, even participating in the Battle of Azaz in 1125. Gravely injured during the collapse of a sapper mine, Joscelin marched his army to relieve the besieged fortress of Kaysun, and died soon after.
Morphia of Melitene was the queen consort of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1118 until her death. She was an Armenian by ethnicity and an adherent of the Greek Orthodox faith. Her father, Gabriel, was a warlord in northern Syria. He wished to marry her off to one of the crusade leaders who were carving out states in the Levant, and eventually chose Count Baldwin II of Edessa. They married around 1100 and had four daughters: Melisende, Alice, Hodierna, and Ioveta. In 1118, Baldwin was elected king of Jerusalem; the next year, Morphia became the first woman to be crowned queen of Jerusalem. She did not participate in the government but took initiative to liberate her husband after he was captured in 1123. She died a few years later. According to historian Bernard Hamilton, her religious practices left a lasting mark on the status of Orthodox Christians in the crusader kingdom.
Gabriel of Melitene was an Armenian general who ruled the city of Melitene. Gabriel started his career as an officer of the Byzantine general Philaretos Brachamios, who installed him in Melitene. After the general's death, Gabriel broke away from the Byzantine Empire. He sought to ally himself with the leaders of the crusades and had his daughter, Morphia, marry Baldwin II of Edessa. He was killed after Melitene was conquered by the Seljuk Turks.
Thoros was an Armenian ruler of Edessa at the time of the First Crusade. Thoros was a former officer (curopalates) in the Byzantine Empire and a lieutenant of Philaretos Brachamios. He was Armenian but practiced the Greek Orthodox faith.
The First Crusade march down the Mediterranean coast, from recently taken Antioch to Jerusalem, started on 13 January 1099. During the march the Crusaders encountered little resistance, as local rulers preferred to make peace with them and furnish them with supplies rather than fight, with a notable exception of the aborted siege of Arqa. On 7 June, the Crusaders reached Jerusalem, which had been recaptured from the Seljuks by the Fatimids only the year before.
Baldwin of Marash was a Crusader baron in northern Syria, the lord of Marash from at least 1136.
Ahmed ibn Merwan was an Arab lieutenant in Kerbogha's army at the time of the First Crusade.
Jalal al-Mulk Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Ammar was the ruler (qadi) of Tripoli during the First Crusade.
Rainald III was the count of Toul in Upper Lotharingia in the late 11th century. He was the son of Frederick I, count of Astenois.
Bagrat, also known as Pakrad, was an Armenian adventurer and brother of Kogh Vasil. Kogh was among a number of Armenian princes who had established small city-states in the region during the collapse of centralised Abbassid power following the rise of the Seljuks.
The siege of Edessa in October–November 1146 marked the permanent end of the rule of the Frankish Counts of Edessa in the city on the eve of the Second Crusade. It was the second siege the city had suffered in as many years, the first siege of Edessa having ended in December 1144. In 1146, Joscelyn II of Edessa and Baldwin of Marash recaptured the city by stealth but could not take or even properly besiege the citadel. After a brief counter-siege, Zangid governor Nūr al-Dīn took the city. The population was massacred and the walls razed. This victory was pivotal in the rise of Nūr al-Dīn and the decline of the Christian city of Edessa.
Constantine of Gargar was an Armenian chieftain who ruled the region around Gargar in the late eleventh and early twelfth century.
References
- ↑ Runciman, Steven (1951–52). A History of the Crusades I: The First Crusade. Penguin Classics. p. 196. ISBN 978-0-141-98550-3.
- 1 2 Runciman, Steven (1951–52). A History of the Crusades I: The First Crusade. Penguin Classics. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-141-98550-3.