Crusades – Part 1 explores the origins of the Crusades and the historical conditions that led to one of the most consequential series of conflicts in medieval history.
This documentary examines the political, religious, and social forces in Europe and the Middle East at the end of the 11th century. Through archival illustrations, historical narration, and period analysis, the film traces how ideology, power, and belief converged to produce a movement that would shape relations between civilizations for centuries.
Rather than focusing on battles alone, Part 1 sets the foundation by explaining motivations, leadership, and the broader historical context in which the Crusades began.
This documentary is presented for historical and educational purposes only and is intended to be viewed within its historical context.
#Crusades,#MedievalHistory,#WorldHistory,#HistoricalDocumentary,#ReligiousHistory,#MiddleAges,#EuropeanHistory,#MiddleEastHistory,#HistoryFilm,#ArchiveDocumentary,#HistoricalAnalysis,#Education,#LongFormDocumentary,#AncientConflicts,#StudioX
#Documentary #RareDocumentary #WarDocumentary #TheCivilWar #VintageDocumentary #ClassicDocumentary #HistoryDocumentary #TrueCrimeDocumentary #ScienceDocumentary #RetroFilm #OldDocumentary #ForgottenFilms #ArchiveFootage #CultDocumentary #HistoricalFootage #DocVault
This documentary examines the political, religious, and social forces in Europe and the Middle East at the end of the 11th century. Through archival illustrations, historical narration, and period analysis, the film traces how ideology, power, and belief converged to produce a movement that would shape relations between civilizations for centuries.
Rather than focusing on battles alone, Part 1 sets the foundation by explaining motivations, leadership, and the broader historical context in which the Crusades began.
This documentary is presented for historical and educational purposes only and is intended to be viewed within its historical context.
#Crusades,#MedievalHistory,#WorldHistory,#HistoricalDocumentary,#ReligiousHistory,#MiddleAges,#EuropeanHistory,#MiddleEastHistory,#HistoryFilm,#ArchiveDocumentary,#HistoricalAnalysis,#Education,#LongFormDocumentary,#AncientConflicts,#StudioX
#Documentary #RareDocumentary #WarDocumentary #TheCivilWar #VintageDocumentary #ClassicDocumentary #HistoryDocumentary #TrueCrimeDocumentary #ScienceDocumentary #RetroFilm #OldDocumentary #ForgottenFilms #ArchiveFootage #CultDocumentary #HistoricalFootage #DocVault
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LearningTranscript
00:00300 miles north of Jerusalem, the Pilgrim Road runs through Manah al-Numan.
00:16In mid-winter of the year 1098, this small town was invaded by cannibals.
00:23Men who had marched 2,000 miles to do good in the name of Christ.
00:37In Marat, our troops boiled pagan adults in cooking pots.
00:42They impaled children on splits and devoured them grilled.
00:53This was the First Crusade.
01:00Men of the year
01:07Men of the year
01:12Men of the year
01:15What made the Crusaders into monsters?
01:30The search for an answer begins in Constantinople.
01:33Take me back to Constantinople
01:36No, you can't go back to Constantinople
01:39Now it's Istanbul, Constantinople
01:43Why did Constantinople get the worse?
01:46That's nobody's business but the Turks
01:49That's exactly the point.
01:51It may be nobody's business but the Turks now
01:54But 900 years ago, this was the headquarters of the Roman Empire.
02:00It's Latin name was Byzantium.
02:06Not that they spoke Latin here.
02:07It was a Greek city.
02:09And they called it Constantinopolis.
02:12Nowadays, of course, it's just called by the Greek words in the city.
02:17Eis-tein-polin, Istanbul.
02:19And everyone thinks that's Turkish.
02:21No wonder it's called Byzantine.
02:23Anyway, the point is, if the Emperor of Constantinople
02:26or Byzantium or Eis-tein-polin or whatever it is
02:30whose name, by the way, was Alexius
02:32could see these minarets, he would be turning in his grave.
02:36You see, he spent his whole life
02:38defending this great Christian city against the Muslims.
02:47The Turks were nomadic warriors from Central Asia,
02:49newly converted to Islam.
02:51They invaded the Middle East and part of Alexius' empire.
02:5920 years later, Alexius was ready to kick them out.
03:02But he needed more soldiers.
03:12It's 1095.
03:13The Turks have established their capital
03:15only 100 miles from Constantinople.
03:17The Emperor, Alexius, has decided he needs some help
03:20from his brother Christians in the West.
03:22So he's sending a letter to the Pope asking for help.
03:26On the face of it, it's a perfectly reasonable proposition.
03:29Actually, Alexius cannot even begin to imagine
03:33the effect this letter will have.
03:35This letter was going to blow the world apart.
03:45Alexius ruled the Byzantine church
03:48and he assumed the Pope would act like a Byzantine official,
03:51organising the recruitment of a few paid professional soldiers.
03:54This was a mistake.
04:08There were plenty of professional soldiers in Europe.
04:11The barbarians who destroyed the Roman Empire
04:13had built a society based entirely on fighting.
04:17They had converted to Christianity
04:20and they recognised the authority of the Bishop of Rome,
04:23whom they called Papa, the Pope.
04:28But the Pope was not a Byzantine official.
04:32He was an ambitious politician building a superpower.
04:36At its centre was the Monastery of Cluny in France.
04:53There were once separate churches,
04:55each controlled by the armoured thug
04:57who ruled that particular bit of ground,
04:59but no more.
05:01Cluny spoke of a greater church,
05:06the church that embraced all churches
05:08and supervised and controlled every church
05:11and every churchman and all Christian souls.
05:15in the 11th century it was Cluny.
05:28Today, the largest enclosed space on earth is the Pentagon.
05:32In the 11th century, it was Cluny.
05:40In 1073, a churchman involved with Cluny
05:44had become Pope Gregory VII,
05:46and he had begun demanding that the men in armour
05:50bow before the power of the church
05:52or risk the wrath of God.
05:55No-one had been allowed to stand in his way.
06:03For the only time in the history of the papacy,
06:05a group of extreme radical reformers
06:07had seized control of it.
06:09And in a series of breathtaking actions,
06:13which included excommunicating the patriarch of Constantinople,
06:17effectively dismissing the King of Germany
06:21and Western Emperor from his post as their protector,
06:24summoning nobles from all over Europe to protect the papacy,
06:30demanding of bishops that they should be free,
06:33but, of course, subject to Rome.
06:35In a series of these breathtaking moves,
06:38these radicals had completely transformed the papacy.
06:43What was happening in the Western Church
06:45was that the Pope was becoming the head of a state.
06:48It was becoming Christendom, which was united under the Pope.
06:54Pope Gregory created a militant revolutionary movement
07:00that was struggling to take control of the whole world
07:03and make it truly Christian.
07:09Pope Gregory's successor, Urban,
07:11was carrying on the good work.
07:13And then the Empress' letter fell, as it were, into his lap.
07:17The Pope decided to use Alexis' letter as an excuse
07:26for creating his own army and conquering the East.
07:30When the Pope talked about liberating the Holy Land,
07:34what he meant was bringing them under the power of the Pope,
07:38bringing them under the power of the Western Church.
07:41Now, you can well say that this is not a very religious exercise.
07:46After all, Jesus told his followers to love their enemies,
07:50not to exterminate them.
07:59Jesus' words were, of course,
08:01a problem for all Christian knights in any case.
08:03If a knight was attacked,
08:05he was supposed to kill his attacker and all his relatives.
08:09But the Lord had ordered his followers
08:11to turn the other cheek and not defend themselves at all.
08:16Take a rich young warrior like Tancred de Hauteville.
08:23Even on a bad day, he would end up killing someone.
08:30If you could afford the right kit,
08:32there wasn't much chance of being killed yourself.
08:34And he was trained to destroy the weak.
08:39But Tancred's biographer recorded that this sensitive 17-year-old
08:44was very worried that God disapproved of killing people.
08:51This conflict of moral authorities was a recipe for psychological instability.
08:56We can all surely recognise in Tancred a classic example
08:59of the double-bind theory of schizophrenia.
09:02And knights had no teddy bears.
09:04No wonder they lashed out in a crisis.
09:07The Pope returned to Cluny
09:17and began to organise backing for his plan to create a church army.
09:24Then he summoned a large church council at Claremont Cathedral.
09:27He let it be known that he was going to make
09:29an extremely important announcement at the end of the meeting.
09:35There was tremendous excitement.
09:37Nobody knew exactly what he was going to announce,
09:39but they knew it was going to be something out of the ordinary.
09:43An accursed race, a race utterly alienated from God,
09:51has invaded the lands of those Christians.
09:56In the event, the crowds that turned up to hear him were so vast,
09:59they had to hold the meeting in a field outside the cathedral.
10:03The chap who painted this picture 400 years later
10:06didn't get it quite right.
10:08Your own blood brothers are either subjected in their homes
10:14to other masters or are driven from them
10:19or are flogged and exiled as slaves for sale in their own land.
10:32Now this was slightly misleading.
10:34The Turkish invasion had been over 20 years ago
10:37and they treated Christians quite reasonably.
10:40Paintings like this are medieval tabloid journalism.
10:43The Turks had actually only massacred Arabs.
10:47But the Pope was building up war fever
10:50and to do it he offered a spectacular solution
10:53to the problem of being a Christian knight.
10:56Christ had been misquoted.
10:58It was only a sin to kill Christians.
11:02You are arrogant with great pride.
11:08You rage against your brothers and cut each other to pieces.
11:14You should shudder brethren.
11:17You should shudder to raise an angry hand against Christians.
11:24It is less wicked to brandish your swords against Saracens.
11:41To brandish your swords against Saracens.
11:44That is the only warfare that is righteous.
11:50Tancred's dilemma was solved.
11:56It was his Christian duty to go out and kill for God.
12:05His biographer was thrilled.
12:08At last, as if previously asleep, his vigour was aroused.
12:14His powers grew.
12:16His eyes opened.
12:18His courage was born.
12:21His peace with power.
12:22Because what the Pope was proposing was war as a penance.
12:32A penitential war.
12:35A war which assisted a man towards salvation.
12:40War as a devotion.
12:42And if one thinks of fasting, penance, prayer as devotions,
12:48this is war as the equivalent of prayer.
12:50Now, I can think of no precedent in Christian history for that.
12:54It was a way of the imitation of Christ.
12:58Very peculiar in some sense, since Christ, as far as we know,
13:01seems to have been a pacifist who had more in common with Gandhi
13:04than with this kind of aggressive Christianity.
13:12A Pilgrim Adventure!
13:16Your priest says, go!
13:19Your bishop says, go!
13:23Your pope says, go!
13:26Take the cross to Jerusalem as pilgrims in arms!
13:32The pope's call now went out across Europe.
13:44And to get bums on saddles, the church could boast
13:47it had already signed up a cast of stars.
13:51See Raymond, Count of Toulouse.
13:54He hammered the Moors in Spain.
13:55Now watch him smash them in Jerusalem.
13:58Raymond's taking his family with him.
14:01He expects to be put in charge for the whole crusade.
14:05Crusading with Duke Godfrey of Lorraine.
14:09Duke Godfrey is in a rather precarious situation at home.
14:12He'd give his eye teeth to be in charge of the crusade.
14:15Thrill to Hugh of France.
14:19Now he thinks rather a lot of himself,
14:21because his brother's the king of France.
14:23Unfortunately, he doesn't have any money.
14:25He's another one on the make.
14:26Join the greatest fight since time began
14:29on their journey to save the holy sepulchre
14:32from the blood-praised infidels.
14:35Ride with the heroes.
14:37Get your place in heaven by sending infidels to hell.
14:43Of course, the church didn't actually have movies,
14:45but they did have for the first time
14:47a means of mass communication.
14:49And the crusade was the first message
14:51to go on general release.
14:53The impact was stunning.
14:55There had been holy wars before,
15:00but this was new.
15:02A fighting pilgrimage.
15:04Each pilgrim was to wear a cross
15:06to show that they had taken the vow to reach Jerusalem.
15:09They would be excommunicated if they turned back.
15:12Those who went would be freed any penalties
15:14in this life or the next for sins they had committed.
15:17This is a completely revolutionary and radical idea
15:23which seems to have come from the mind of the Pope
15:26because one really can see no prehistory in it.
15:32In other words, what happened with the preaching of the First Crusade
15:34was that the traditions of holy war in Christianity
15:37took a shift onto a much more radical plane.
15:42And what is amazing is the way people responded to it.
15:47The infidel barbarians in their frenzy
15:54have engraved and ravished the churches of God
15:56in the holy city of Christ,
15:59depopulated them by the sword, pillage and fire.
16:02They circumcised the Christians
16:04and they spread their blood upon the altars.
16:08Listen, good people, and listen...
16:09Nothing like it had ever happened before.
16:12But it wouldn't happen again.
16:14Of course, the thing was, it wasn't meant to happen.
16:16These weren't migrants or nomads.
16:19These were settled rural communities
16:20who suddenly stopped work, packed their bags,
16:22said goodbye to their friends
16:23and set off to put the world to right.
16:26What on earth made them do it?
16:29One thing is obvious.
16:30The church had a power over people
16:33that it really didn't understand.
16:36It had succeeded in making heaven
16:38as real as anything on earth.
16:40The church taught that judgment day was at hand
16:43and that the fires of hell were very real indeed.
16:47All men going there who die untimely deaths,
16:51whether it is on the journey
16:52or while fighting the pagans,
16:54will have their sins remitted.
16:57God has given the Pope the power
16:59to grant this to those about to go.
17:03The enemy's possessions will be yours.
17:05You will seize their treasures
17:07and return home victorious
17:09or you will die gloriously.
17:13Gird your swords, every one of you, I say.
17:16God wills it.
17:17God wills it.
17:18The Pope had expected to raise an army.
17:28He got a mass migration
17:30and no one knows how many people set out.
17:37To do what they must,
17:42they were prepared to follow any leader,
17:44including in one case,
17:45a divinely inspired goose.
17:58Well, I heard on good authority
17:59that the goose on the right
18:01is a direct descendant
18:03of the famous crusade leader,
18:04so I'm going to see if I can have a word with it.
18:08Excuse me.
18:10Excuse me.
18:10Yes, I'd like to know,
18:11I'd like to know,
18:13have you any family stories
18:15of your great ancestors?
18:19Do you remember him personally yourself?
18:22Do you remember anything,
18:24do you remember,
18:25do you remember anything at all about the goose?
18:28I said it was a silly idea
18:42trying to interview a goose.
18:50It was not only poultry that led the way.
18:53An eccentric tramp called Peter the Hermit
18:55attracted a huge following.
18:58He assembled tens of thousands of people
19:00and inspired them to set off immediately for Jerusalem,
19:04leaving everyone else to catch up.
19:06He had been,
19:08tried to go on a pilgrimage
19:09and had been sent back
19:11so he could speak personal experience about it.
19:14and it was to renew the pilgrimage
19:19that I think was the motive
19:21that made so many people,
19:24the humbler people,
19:26eager to go on the crusade.
19:31Peter certainly had charisma.
19:33He rode an old donkey
19:35that his followers revered
19:36almost as much as Peter himself.
19:38After all, his critics said
19:39it looked exactly like him.
19:44Peter soon had a following of 15,000.
19:48But other, more sinister leaders
19:49were emerging from the German forests.
19:52Barbarous warlords
19:53who claimed mysterious powers
19:56and seemed attracted by the smell of blood.
19:59They were keen to spill it.
20:01And they soon found their first victims.
20:03Not, as you might expect,
20:05Muslims,
20:06but Jews.
20:07It seemed nonsense
20:11to march 3,000 miles
20:14to kill Muslims in the Holy Land,
20:17people at that time
20:18about whom they knew virtually nothing,
20:20when the people who had,
20:22or so the crusaders believed,
20:24actually killed Christ
20:25were alive and well
20:27on their very doorsteps.
20:28The tombs of the victims
20:33can still be seen
20:34in the Jewish cemetery
20:35at Worms, in Germany.
20:41All of a sudden,
20:43like a thunderbolt,
20:45in 1096,
20:46at the beginning
20:47of the First Crusade,
20:49a horrible pogrom,
20:51a horrible destruction,
20:53which destroyed the community.
20:55Bands of marauders
21:23attacked the Jewish quarter.
21:27Some tried to find refuge
21:29at the bishop's palace,
21:32at the bishop's residence.
21:34After all,
21:34they were privileged
21:35and they were protected
21:36by imperial decree,
21:38which didn't help.
21:49It happened throughout the region,
21:51but the city of Worms,
21:54Speyer and Mainz
21:55and Cologne
21:56were hardest hit.
21:57Crusading really institutionalized
22:20anti-Semitism in Europe
22:22and made it an incurable disease
22:24in Christendom.
22:27Henceforth,
22:28every time a crusade
22:30to the Holy Land was called,
22:32there were pogroms
22:33against Jews back home.
22:37Today, Worms has a synagogue
22:39but no congregation.
22:41The process,
22:42begun in the 11th century,
22:44was completed in the 20th.
22:46This massacre
22:47was just a beginning.
22:49These unofficial crusaders
22:59with Peter the Hermit
23:00had no organization
23:01or formal leaders,
23:03but they knew
23:04where they were going.
23:07Every medieval map
23:09showed Jerusalem
23:10as the center of the world.
23:12And they knew
23:19they had to head
23:20for Constantinople.
23:21It was a well-trodden route
23:23for pilgrims.
23:27Of course,
23:28no one had done any planning
23:29or thought to provide food
23:31or drink
23:32for all these hordes.
23:33So there was constant trouble
23:34as they stole from
23:35and fought
23:36the local people
23:37on the way.
23:38When they reached Semlin,
23:39for example,
23:40an argument
23:40over buying a pair of shoes
23:42turned into a riot
23:43that left 4,000 people dead.
23:46When imperial troops
23:47tried to control them
23:49as they crossed
23:49the Sarva River,
23:50they fought the troops
23:51and killed them.
23:53Then they entered Belgrade,
23:54which they pillaged
23:55and set on fire
23:57before they marched on.
24:10Peter the Hermit's army
24:21finally arrived
24:22outside the fabled
24:23walls of Byzantium
24:24on the 1st of August,
24:261096.
24:28They'd been walking
24:29for something like
24:30four months,
24:31covering as much
24:32as 25 miles in one day.
24:34But they were not at all
24:35what had been requested.
24:36You see,
24:37when the emperor of Byzantium
24:39first appealed
24:39to the West for help,
24:40what he had in mind
24:41was a few hundred mercenaries
24:43or some companies of knights.
24:45And what Peter's turned up with
24:46is this vast,
24:48volatile,
24:48incomprehensible rabble
24:50of 60,000 people.
24:52As far as the emperor's concerned,
24:53this is more of a headache
24:54than a help.
24:55I've always thought
24:56the crusades
24:58were basically
25:00a barbarian invasion,
25:02but barbarian invasions
25:03can be inspired
25:04by a belief
25:06that one's doing
25:06one's religious duty.
25:10But unfortunately,
25:12their idea of God's work
25:13was rather destructive
25:15and not frightfully civilized.
25:20With the warriors
25:21came a host of civilians
25:23outnumbering the sands
25:24of the seashore
25:25or the stars of heaven.
25:27They were carrying palms
25:29and bearing crosses
25:31on their shoulders.
25:33There were women
25:34and children too
25:35who had left
25:36their own countries.
25:39Those were the words
25:40of the emperor's daughter,
25:41Anna.
25:42What neither she
25:43nor her father realized
25:44was that these people
25:45had come
25:45because of his own letter
25:47to the pope.
25:48Nonetheless,
25:52the emperor was curious
25:53to meet this Peter the Hermit,
25:54or Peter the Cuckoo,
25:55as the princess called him,
25:56but he kept the gates
25:57of his city firmly closed
25:59against Peter's rabble
26:00of an army.
26:01They were eventually allowed in,
26:03but only in sightseeing parties
26:04of six at a time,
26:06so I don't suppose
26:06anything like the full 60,000
26:08ever got inside the walls.
26:10Those who did
26:10probably had never seen
26:11anything like Byzantium.
26:12Byzantium,
26:19Constantinople,
26:20was larger than
26:21all the Christian cities
26:22of the West
26:22added together,
26:24and Constantinople
26:25was still filled
26:26with the riches
26:27of a Roman imperial capital.
26:42This place, for example,
26:46was built
26:46by the emperor
26:47Constantine
26:47in the 4th century.
26:49I've got to admit,
26:50it's pretty impressive.
26:52Of course,
26:52it's even more impressive
26:53when you realize
26:54it wasn't built as a palace.
26:56This was just built
26:57as one of the city's
26:58underground water systems,
27:00and at the time,
27:01it wasn't even
27:02the biggest one of those.
27:10The city was dominated
27:12by a huge new palace complex,
27:14the Blakerni,
27:15whose gardens housed
27:17a menagerie
27:18of exotic beasts.
27:37It held the greatest church,
27:39the Church of Hagia Sophia,
27:41already 500 years old,
27:43and the gigantic racetrack
27:47and sports arena,
27:48the Hippodrome.
27:59The city housed
28:01a collection of holy relics
28:02that included
28:03the crown of thorns
28:04and a portrait of the Virgin
28:06painted by St. Luke.
28:10But this wasn't what
28:11Peter's peasants
28:12had come to see.
28:13They were on their way
28:14to see Jerusalem,
28:16and that still lay far away
28:18across the Bosphorus.
28:19Alexius knew that this rabble
28:25would be butchered
28:26once they got into
28:27Turkish territory,
28:28and he advised Peter
28:29to wait for the Pope's
28:31real army to arrive.
28:32But Peter insisted
28:34that they were going
28:35straight on.
28:36The Bosphorus is only
28:47800 yards wide,
28:48but it feels like an ocean.
28:51You still have this sense
28:53of adventure,
28:54leaving one continent
28:56and risking another.
28:57For any European,
29:10there's a sense that
29:11here is where
29:11the real journey begins.
29:13That's how it still feels today.
29:27At last,
29:30the Crusaders
29:31were in the land
29:32of the incident.
29:36Asia was the continent
29:37of barbarian hordes,
29:39but right now,
29:40Europe was about
29:41to get its own back.
29:43The barbarian hordes
29:44of Reims and Brussels,
29:46Cologne and Milan
29:47landed on the unsuspecting
29:49Asian shore.
29:57This was the Pilgrim Road
30:02to Jerusalem.
30:04It's a very nice walk,
30:06but the Peasants' Crusade
30:07didn't get very far along it.
30:09They made a base camp
30:11at Sibitos,
30:12and from there,
30:13they set about
30:14their God-given mission
30:15to torture and massacre
30:17the locals with a will.
30:22The only snag
30:23was that most of
30:24the local inhabitants
30:25in those days
30:26were actually
30:27Christians,
30:27although I don't suppose
30:28the Crusaders
30:29could be expected
30:29to tell the difference.
30:32Then,
30:33a few thousand
30:34Frenchmen in the party
30:35decided to attack
30:36the Turkish capital
30:3740 miles away,
30:38Nicaea.
30:48They couldn't get
30:49into the city
30:49because it had
30:50stout walls,
30:51but they could at least
30:53loot the villages
30:54around it.
30:57They ravaged
30:58the outskirts
30:59of Nicaea,
31:00acting with horrible
31:01cruelty
31:02to the whole population.
31:04They cut some
31:06of the babies
31:06to pieces.
31:08They impaled
31:09others on wooden spits
31:11and roasted them
31:12over a fire.
31:14Old people
31:15were subjected
31:16to every kind
31:16of torture.
31:17Well, this action
31:24was of limited
31:25effectiveness
31:25in reducing
31:26the world population
31:27of Muslims
31:28because the Crusaders'
31:30victims,
31:30old people
31:31and babies included,
31:32were once again
31:33Christians.
31:34Nevertheless,
31:35the French returned
31:36to Kibitos
31:36extremely pleased
31:37with themselves
31:38and bragging
31:39about their booty,
31:41whereupon the German
31:42contingent decided
31:43they had to go
31:43one better.
31:45They marched
31:45beyond Nicaea
31:46and captured
31:47a castle,
31:48which the Turks
31:49promptly surrounded.
32:01Unfortunately,
32:02in their rush
32:03to get in,
32:03they failed to notice
32:05that the castle well
32:06was outside the walls.
32:12After a week
32:13of roasting
32:14in the Anatolian sun,
32:15they were desperate,
32:16drinking their horses' blood
32:18and even the contents
32:19of a sewer.
32:21Eventually,
32:21they surrendered.
32:23However,
32:23surrender
32:24wasn't that easy.
32:26They were given
32:27a choice.
32:28They could either
32:29be killed
32:29or,
32:30if they preferred,
32:31they could convert
32:32to Islam
32:32and be enslaved.
32:33Actually,
32:36no Muslim
32:37is permitted
32:38in Islamic law
32:39to enslave
32:40another Muslim,
32:41but neither the Crusaders
32:42nor the Turks
32:43seem to have known this.
32:46This conversion
32:47was very simple.
32:48It just involved
32:49saying Allah is great
32:51and Muhammad
32:51is his prophet
32:52and going through
32:53a little ceremony.
33:02This is the end
33:03of the ceremony.
33:04These young men
33:05are celebrating
33:06the fact
33:07that they will
33:07never have to
33:08be circumcised
33:09again.
33:15Faced with the choice
33:16between circumcision
33:17or death,
33:18a lot of the Crusaders
33:19seem to have chosen
33:19the latter.
33:20However,
33:21to do him justice,
33:22their leader,
33:22Reynold,
33:23faced up to his
33:23like a man
33:24and was duly led
33:25off into captivity.
33:26The Turkish Sultan
33:36then sent
33:37two spies
33:37back to the
33:3820,000 French
33:39still at Kibitos
33:40to spread the rumor
33:41that the Germans
33:42had actually captured
33:43Nicaea
33:43and were going to
33:44keep all the loot
33:45for themselves.
33:46Well,
33:46this triggered off
33:47such excitement
33:48amongst the French
33:48that when the rumors
33:49proved to be false,
33:51the cries for justice
33:52changed into cries
33:53for vengeance
33:54and they set off
33:54anyway.
33:56They walked
33:56straight into the trap.
33:58They were ambushed
33:59three miles down
34:00this road
34:00and the People's Crusade
34:02was finally wiped out.
34:08So great a multitude
34:10died
34:10that when they gathered
34:12up the remains
34:13of the fallen
34:14they heaped up
34:16not just a mighty
34:17ridge or hill
34:18or peak
34:19but a mountain
34:20of considerable height
34:22and depth
34:23and width
34:23so huge
34:25was the mass
34:26of bows.
34:49But the official forces
34:51were finally
34:52on the move.
34:53Hugh of France
34:55was the first
34:55to contact Alexius.
34:59Know,
35:00Emperor,
35:01that I am
35:02the King of Kings,
35:03the greatest of all
35:05beneath the heavens.
35:08It is my will
35:09that you should
35:10meet me
35:11on my arrival
35:12and receive me
35:13with a pomp
35:14and ceremony
35:15due to my noble birth.
35:16unfortunately he was
35:20then shipwrecked
35:21and had to be rescued
35:22by the Imperial Coast Guard.
35:24He arrived in a sorry state
35:36but it gave the emperor
35:38but it gave the emperor
35:38a chance to set a precedent
35:40for handling the more awkward forces
35:42that were already
35:43on their way.
35:46For by this time
35:47the whole of the Pope's
35:49official army
35:49was on the road
35:51or rather
35:52a whole series of armies
35:53that would meet up
35:54eventually
35:54at Constantinople.
35:57Raymond,
35:57Count of Toulouse.
35:5815,000 Frenchmen
36:01from Provence
36:02well armed
36:03and ready for war.
36:07Duke Godfrey of Lorraine.
36:0920,000 Northern French
36:11very capable.
36:16And from Italy
36:17and Normandy
36:18Tancred's friends
36:19and relations
36:20the Norman war machine
36:21led by Tancred's
36:23uncle Bohemond.
36:26The emperor's fair
36:28was that
36:29if they all joined together
36:30at Constantinople
36:31they might even turn
36:32on the city itself.
36:35So Alexius
36:36needed to prevent that
36:37by ferrying
36:38each of these armies
36:39over the Bosphorus
36:40before the next arrived.
36:42But he also wanted
36:43each of them to swear
36:44that any land
36:45they conquered
36:46would be his
36:47and not theirs.
36:50Hugh submitted willingly.
36:54The oath
36:55meant nothing to Alexius.
36:57He was theoretical
36:58the ruler of all men
37:00but he knew these things
37:01had some sort of meaning
37:02in the West
37:03so he was going to extract
37:05an oath of allegiance
37:06from all the leaders
37:07of the crusade.
37:13And then Godfrey of Lorraine
37:15and his brother Baldwin
37:16arrived with 20,000
37:18armed followers.
37:21Now they'd taken
37:22three months
37:23to get down
37:24through Germany
37:24and Eastern Europe.
37:26When they arrived
37:28at Byzantium
37:29the emperor sent
37:30Hugh to greet them
37:32to invite the leaders
37:33to come to his palace
37:34and of course
37:35to try and persuade them
37:37to take the oath
37:38of allegiance.
37:40They were at once
37:42resentful.
37:44They didn't like
37:45the idea of having
37:46to pay homage
37:47to him in any way.
37:51Whereas Alexius
37:52who
37:52seemed to have
37:55rather discovered
37:55this Western idea
37:57about homage
37:57delighted
37:59to try and use it.
38:03They would not swear homage
38:05so Alexius
38:06closed the gates
38:06of the city
38:07against them
38:08and refused
38:09to feed them.
38:11These men
38:11had marched
38:12a thousand miles.
38:13They'd marched
38:13a thousand miles
38:14already.
38:16It's a pretty dangerous
38:17condition.
38:18Some of them
38:18over winter.
38:20And the one thing
38:21that any army commander
38:22of the time
38:23cared more about
38:24than anything else
38:25was provisions.
38:27Some are that
38:27they had to feed
38:28their followers.
38:29They approached
38:30Constantinople
38:31thinking that
38:31there they are
38:32the emperor
38:32is then going
38:33to lead them all
38:33in this great army.
38:34What do they find?
38:35They find a chap
38:35who says
38:36I'm not going to
38:37give you any supplies
38:38unless you immediately
38:38get across to the
38:39Bosphorus
38:39and out of my hair.
38:40And of course
38:42they react
38:44sometimes violently.
38:45But what do you
38:45expect them to do?
38:47There was indeed
38:48a certain amount
38:49of unfortunate
38:50behaviour from
38:51Godfrey and Baldwin.
38:53They ambushed
38:5460 local policemen
38:55and then in the
38:56middle of Holy Week
38:57tried to storm
38:58the walls of
38:59Constantinople
39:00the greatest
39:01Christian city
39:02on earth.
39:05So Alexius
39:06opened the gates
39:07of his city
39:07and sent out
39:08a well-trained
39:08military force
39:09to teach these
39:10Westerners
39:10some manners.
39:12After which
39:12Godfrey and Baldwin
39:13came to the palace
39:14and took the oath
39:15like good boys.
39:17From now on
39:17the emperor
39:18was going to be
39:19overlord of any
39:20lands they conquered.
39:22But even when
39:23they were taking
39:24the oath
39:24one French knight
39:25plonked himself
39:26down on the
39:27emperor's throne.
39:28If safety pins
39:29had been invented
39:30Godfrey's followers
39:32would have worn
39:32them in their noses.
39:35They were
39:35utterly boorish
39:37faced with
39:38an ancient
39:40rather ceremonial
39:41civilization
39:42which they
39:45didn't understand.
39:48And they
39:49thought that
39:50all these
39:51stuffy old
39:52officials
39:54had no
39:55sense of
39:56manliness.
39:59And they really
40:00were disgraceful.
40:02Godfrey and Baldwin's
40:10armies were then
40:10shipped across the
40:11Bosphorus
40:12and immediately
40:12another army
40:13arrived.
40:14And another.
40:16As the ferrymen
40:17kept shuttling
40:18them over
40:18a massive war
40:20machine was being
40:20assembled
40:21on the
40:22ancient coast.
40:38Their first
40:39objective was
40:40Nicaea,
40:41the Turks'
40:42capital,
40:42and the barrier
40:43that had
40:43spelt doom
40:44to Peter the
40:45Hermit's
40:45followers.
40:49The Turkish
40:50sultan,
40:50Killij Arslan,
40:51hadn't expected
40:52this lot to be
40:53any more of a
40:53problem than
40:54the last.
40:54So he'd left
40:55his wife at
40:55home and gone
40:56off to fight
40:56a neighbour.
40:58However,
40:58when he heard
40:58that the
40:59crusaders were
40:59besieging
41:00Nicaea,
41:01he returned
41:01to discover
41:02he'd made
41:02a big
41:03mistake.
41:06These were
41:07not fanatical
41:08civilians armed
41:09with little more
41:10than bad breath.
41:11Killij Arslan
41:12was up against
41:13heavily armoured
41:14killers and
41:16professional
41:16warhorses.
41:18This is one
41:19and this is
41:20Mike Lodes.
41:21This is Max.
41:23He's unique,
41:24probably the only
41:25living representative
41:26of a Norman
41:27warhorse.
41:28He's got all
41:28the characteristics,
41:29well-muscled,
41:31densely boned,
41:31and a short
41:32back.
41:33And, of course,
41:34short, which
41:34makes him easy
41:35to get on and off
41:36in armour.
41:39The other thing
41:39to notice about Max
41:40is that he's a
41:41stallion.
41:42European knights
41:43always rode stallions.
41:44It suited their
41:45type of warfare.
41:47Stallions are
41:47proud, noble,
41:49and brave,
41:50capable of going
41:51right into the
41:51thick of battle.
41:53Killij Arslan
41:54found himself
41:55facing the
41:55largest group
41:56of armoured knights
41:57ever assembled
41:58on earth.
41:59And they
42:00couldn't wait
42:01to attack him.
42:02Christ's
42:06Christ's
42:07Christ's
42:10Christ's
42:11Christ's
42:16Christ's
42:20Christ's
42:23Christ's
42:24Christ's
42:24Christ's
42:25Christ's
42:26Christ's
42:27Christ's
42:28Christ's
42:28Christ's
42:28Christ's
42:29Christ's
42:30Christ's
42:31Christ's
42:32THE END
43:02The Turks fought in a completely different way.
43:04They didn't use their swords and lances until the enemy were already frightened, confused and badly damaged.
43:12They used horse archers, hundreds of them, swooping in, circling round the enemy and picking them off.
43:19Unlike the European knights, they rode mares, since mares are faster and more biddable to wheel and run away.
43:26However, a fair proportion of these mares must have been on heat, which makes the whole affair most interesting from a stallion's point of view.
43:39Imagine being asked to charge a thousand oriental mares.
43:43No document records what happened.
44:11All that we know is that the Turks fled from the battlefield and Kilij Arslan felt seriously humiliated.
44:25The knights returned tired but happy.
44:28We're not sure how their stallions felt.
44:30Kilij Arslan withdrew into the hills.
44:46Nicaea lay undefended.
44:48The crusaders had simply to find a way of getting through or over its walls.
44:52Sooner or later, they would capture their first Muslim city.
44:56Alexius suspected that once the crusaders did, they might never give it back to him.
45:07Now, it so happens that Nicaea faces onto a lake.
45:10One night, Alexius' men secretly slipped across the water and made an offer to the inhabitants they could hardly refuse.
45:18As dawn broke and the crusaders were about to launch their great assault, they found the city had already surrendered to Alexius.
45:40They felt betrayed by the emperor they had come to help.
45:44What shocked them even more was the fact that the emperor didn't torture his Turkish captives.
46:13He didn't even massacre the civilians, who were, of course, Greek Christians.
46:17He didn't even pillage their homes, dammit.
46:19I mean, how could God-fearing soldiers of Christ ever trust a man like that?
46:23From now on, in every crusader's eyes, they were on their own, which was exactly how they liked it to be.
46:32Now they could get on with walking a thousand miles through hostile territory and rescue Jerusalem with no help from anybody.
46:39What was it like walking across Anatolia in the blazing summer in full armour?
46:49And this is the mail.
46:51Hold on, I'm going to put that on.
46:52The mail with about 35,000 rings.
46:55How much does it weigh?
46:57What does it weigh?
46:58A couple of stones.
46:58Oh, good.
46:59David Lazenby, an expert in medieval warfare, came to make sure that I was properly dressed for the walk.
47:08Well, now what else do I need?
47:10I need a sword, don't I?
47:12That's right.
47:13A sword?
47:15Yeah.
47:16It's good for the figure, isn't it?
47:18Yeah, so you're sure.
47:19OK, and then I need the...
47:23Then we have an iron helmet.
47:24An iron helmet.
47:25Of Spangenhelm construction, as is made in several segments.
47:29All right.
47:30A shield?
47:31And the cut shield.
47:33Yeah.
47:34And this is, I mean, this looks like bare tapestry time.
47:37Exactly.
47:38That's, what's it says, a Norman-style cut shield?
47:41And a spear.
47:43All right.
47:44I suppose we better go for it, then.
47:47Still a thousand miles to go.
47:48So, we better go.
47:53When the crusaders set off down this road, they could have had little idea what lay in store for them.
48:00One crusader wrote home that they would be in Jerusalem in five weeks.
48:05But this road led to two years of hell.
48:091 years of hell.
48:102nd of the 15th grade a day.
48:121st grade a day.
48:122nd of the 15th grade a day.
48:142nd of the 15th grade a day.
48:15CHOIR SINGS
48:45CHOIR SINGS
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