Jack Ludlow: Soldier of Crusade

In flight, the Turks had left abundant food, horses and valuables — silks, gold and silver, which were as rich a prize as victory — and also the Crusaders had prisoners in abundance, with Turkish banners to display to the defenders of Antioch, men who had known Ridwan was close and had fully expected to be relieved. Instead, they saw their religious brothers beheaded and knew that soon those skulls would be catapulted inside their walls.

The feeling that matters had tipped in their favour began to permeate the Crusaders’ lines, yet any notion of a quick end to the siege was certainly not in sight — the Turks were still sending out sniping raids and their walls were intact, so it was a sentiment not a fact, the defeat of Ridwan of Aleppo being part of that. In addition, with improving weather the fields were producing food, and ships were bringing that in from Cyprus and more lances from Europe, which despite pleas to the papacy was a trickle not a flood. The problem, anyway, was not numbers but the sheer strength of the walls added to the tenacity of the resistance, and there was another matter that Bohemund was keen to raise in the Council of Princes: the status of Antioch after the siege was over, which was delicate.

‘It will be handed back to the Emperor,’ Raymond declared, ‘as we promised we would do.’

‘You would gift to a man who has done nothing to aid us since we gave him Nicaea?’

‘We are bound by our oaths, Count Bohemund,’ Ademar reminded him, which got support from Godfrey de Bouillon who referred to the ceremony at which he had sworn.

‘I too kissed the relics as Alexius demanded of me, but I made him do so too, Godfrey, on the grounds that such loyalty extended in both directions.’

‘Is an emperor bound by such things?’ asked Vermandois; he meant a king, his brother.

‘Alexius Comnenus is a man like you and I.’

That got a flare of the French nostrils and a nod from Walo, as ever by his side — Count Hugh thought himself superior to most men, an opinion not even shared by his own people.

‘And I take the view that he has broken his oath to me.’

The Duke of Normandy laughed, his eyes twinkling with humour. ‘Very convenient, Count Bohemund; that will allow a de Hauteville to take more Byzantine fiefs, which is a family trait, is it not?’

‘Anglo-Saxon property is just as succulent, My Lord.’

That barb hit home and for once Bohemund thought that the man he had seen for months past as an ally might not be on his side in the discussion he was determined to force into the open. He also knew he had been too acerbic in his response to the mention of his family, and Robert replied in kind.

‘While a legitimate claim to a kingdom trumps banditry, you will find.’

‘None of those present can say that there is no other claim against that which we each own, My Lord.’

‘I am curious to what you are driving at?’ asked Ademar, seeing this conversation between two Normans as a distraction.

‘When Antioch falls, as it will even if we are here for years, I say to hand it back to Alexius would be folly. He has done nothing to aid us, quite the opposite. If Tacitus withdrew on his own initiative, he did not return to us on imperial orders. Alexius has no intention of aiding us to take Antioch and the impression I get is he expects us to fail here.’

‘I cannot agree that is so.’

‘Where are his men, Count Raymond? We cleared the Cilician Gates and the Belen Pass to ease his journey south, and the towns on the way were free of Turks and would welcome him. He had a passage denied to us and no shortage of supplies, given he has ships at his disposal — vessels, I would remind you, we have not seen in the harbour of St Simeon.’

‘All this may be true, Count Bohemund,’ Ademar insisted, his face creasing, for it was not now as smooth and round as it had been before; many months of worry and the needs of his office had produced lines that now showed. ‘But you have yet to answer the question I posed.’

‘How, if there is no aid from Byzantium, is Antioch to be held? How, when the Crusade marches on to Jerusalem, is it to be supplied? How, if the Turks are resurgent, is it going to be possible to ensure they do not get across our rear and cut us off?’

‘It is rare to answer one question with three.’

‘The answers are more important, Your Grace.’

Vermandois spoke up again. ‘When we succeed, Alexius will send a fleet and army south to take possession.’

‘Only if we agree he can and hold it for him until he does, which will not speed the journey to Palestine.’

‘You would defy him?’ Raymond asked.

‘I would remind him that as far as I am concerned he has broken his oath to me, and therefore he has forfeited any right to my aid in giving him Antioch.’

‘While,’ Robert Duke of Normandy opined, ‘any one of us here can claim that right if they share your view and are prepared to risk their soul by setting aside their oath.’

Vermandois was quick to butt in. ‘Not least the Count of Taranto.’

‘I still say that Alexius will send a garrison,’ Raymond insisted.

‘And if he does, My Lord, will you feel safe? Do you believe that if the Turks threaten his capital he will hold Antioch and risk that Constantinople might fall? Who amongst us has not felt let down by the actions of the Emperor up till now?’

That stopped any eye contact, for Bohemund had hit a very sore spot indeed — if they had not complained openly every one of them had railed at his lack of support in private.

‘Alexius is clever, My Lords, he let us think he would take the field in person and aid us on our Crusade but he did not. Instead he has used us to free his borderlands and his men have stood aside when we have been in danger, as at Dorylaeum. We have crushed Turk after Turk and who will benefit from their being diminished if not the Byzantine Empire?’

‘We do.’

‘And so, Your Grace, does he. I say we must hold Antioch ourselves and deny it to him, not for mere gain but for our own security and the sake of the Crusade.’

‘And who,’ Duke Robert enquired, ‘will hold it?’

‘We must hold it in common,’ Ademar cried, before he realised he might be agreeing with Bohemund. ‘Until Alexius makes his presence felt.’

‘By the laws of conquest,’ Bohemund said quietly, ‘the man who holds it is the one whose banner flies above the walls when Antioch falls.’

There was a moment then when avarice came to the surface; Antioch was a rich fief, a great centre of trade and whoever was suzerain would not want for wealth. Then each mind, Bohemund was certain, turned to the notion that such a possession might fall to another and that, as a consideration, was less welcome.

‘Pope Urban would not approve of even the thought.’

‘Bishop Ademar, Pope Urban is not here, and I say if you wish to take and hold Jerusalem for our faith, you will not do so unless you hold Antioch as well. I have said my piece, but know this: my family has fought Byzantium for over sixty years and I will make a claim I do not think can be gainsaid. We de Hautevilles know them better than anyone in the council and to repose any faith in the notion that they, or Alexius Comnenus, will do anything other than that which protects their own interests, is folly.’

‘Why do I think you have hankered after Antioch all along?’ asked Tancred, when his uncle related to him the gist of the meeting.

‘No, not Antioch, but it has been a long time since I felt that anything would come from going on to Jerusalem.’ That raised a youthful eyebrow. ‘Remember I told you by the River Vardar of all the things that were unknown. Then we had no notion of what to truly expect from Alexius or Byzantium, no idea of how or if this Crusade would progress. I tell you, if Alexius was here I would not even raise my voice regarding Antioch, it would be his by right, but he is not and we have not seen hide or hair of his main army, even at Nicaea.’