Siege of Antioch

Siege of Antioch
Part of the First Crusade
The siege of Antioch, from a 15th-century miniature painting
Date 20 October 1097 – 28 June 1098 Location Antioch (present-day Antakya, Turkey) 36°12′08″N 36°09′41″E / 36.20222°N 36.16139°E / 36.20222; 36.16139 Result Crusader victory Territorial changes Antioch captured by the Crusaders Principality of Antioch is founded
Belligerents
Crusaders Byzantine Empire	Seljuk Empire Emirate of Antioch Emirate of Damascus Emirate of Homs Sultanate of Aleppo Emirate of Mosul Various other Arab or Turkish Emirates[1]
Commanders and leaders
Bohemond of Taranto Raymond IV of Toulouse Adhemar of Le Puy Godfrey of Bouillon Robert II of Normandy Edgar Ætheling Robert II of Flanders Girard I of Roussillon Stephen of Blois Hugh of Vermandois Eustace III of Boulogne Baldwin II of Hainaut Tancred of Hauteville Rainald III of Toul Gaston IV of Béarn Anselm of Ribemont Tatikios	Yaghi-Siyan † Duqaq Toghtekin Janah ad-Dawla Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan Shams ad-Daulah Kerbogha Arslantash of Sinjar Qaradja of Harran Watthab ibn-Mahmud Balduk of Samosata Soqman ibn Ortoq Ahmad ibn-Marwan
Strength
Crusaders: ~40,000 total at the start of the siege (includes non-combatants) ~20,000 during the second siege against Kerbogha[2] Byzantines: 2,000 light infantry and naval support	Antiochene garrison: ~5,000[3][4] Duqaq's relief force: ~10,000[5] Radwan's relief force: ~12,000[6][7] Kerbogha's relief force: ~35,000–40,000[8][9]
Casualties and losses
Heavy Thousands died of starvation, disease or in battle Nearly all the horses	Heavy Entire garrison slain Every relief force destroyed and routed
Many civilians, including Armenian and Melkite Christians and Muslims[10]

The siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098, on the crusaders' way to Jerusalem through Syria. Two sieges took place in succession. The first siege, by the crusaders against the city held by the Seljuk Empire, lasted from 20 October 1097^[11] to 3 June 1098. The second siege, of the crusader-held city by a Seljuk relieving army, lasted three weeks in June 1098, leading to the Battle of Antioch in which the crusaders defeated the relieving army led by Kerbogha. The crusaders then established the Principality of Antioch, ruled by Bohemond of Taranto.^[12]

Antioch (modern Antakya) lay in a strategic location on the crusaders' route to Judea through the Syrian Coastal mountain range. Supplies, reinforcements and retreat could all be controlled by the city. Anticipating that it would be attacked, the Seljuk governor of the city, Yağısıyan, began stockpiling food and sending requests for help. The Byzantine walls surrounding the city presented a formidable obstacle to its capture, but the leaders of the crusade felt compelled to besiege Antioch anyway.

The crusaders arrived outside the city on 21 October and began the siege. The garrison sortied unsuccessfully on 29 December. After stripping the surrounding area of food, the crusaders were forced to look farther afield for supplies, opening themselves to ambush. On 31 December, a force of 20,000 crusaders encountered a relief army led by Duqaq, ruler of Damascus, heading to Antioch and defeated them. As the siege went on, supplies dwindled and in early 1098 one in seven of the crusaders was dying from starvation, and people began deserting.

A second relief force, this time under the command of Duqaq's brother Ridwan, emir of Aleppo, advanced towards Antioch, arriving on 9 February. Like the army of Duqaq before, it was defeated. Antioch was captured on 3 June, although the citadel remained in the hands of the Turkish defenders. Kerbogha, atabeg of Mosul, began the second siege, against the crusaders who had occupied Antioch, which lasted from 7 to 28 June 1098. The second siege ended when the crusaders exited the city to engage Kerbogha's army in battle on 28 June and succeeded in defeating them. On seeing the Turkish army routed, the defenders remaining in the citadel surrendered.