Renaissance #210 – Jesus Starves (The Crusades part 19)
By Christmas of 1097, the Crusaders continued to lay siege to Antioch but it has gone on so long they are running out of supplies. One out of every seven men was dying of hunger. Even a greater percentage of horses were also dying. Because Jesus loved them. Both sides continued to hope for the arrival of reinforcements to turn the tables.
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Transcript
100:00:02.080 –> 00:00:15.689Cameron Reilly: Welcome back to the Renaissance Times Podcast my name is Cameron Riley. With me in the Cold Chair in Virginia, is block of ice ray Harris.
200:00:16.059 –> 00:00:18.260Ray Harris: Iced tea. That’s that’s right. That’s right.
300:00:18.260 –> 00:00:21.069Ray Harris: I like that. It’s a pleasure to be here. Thank you.
400:00:21.590 –> 00:00:22.220Ray Harris: So.
500:00:22.220 –> 00:00:31.899Cameron Reilly: Talking about the siege of Antioch. This is Part 2 of the siege of Antioch during the 1st Crusade, late 1,097 beginning of 1,098.
600:00:32.330 –> 00:00:38.620Cameron Reilly: In our last episode we were talking about how the Crusaders had blockaded Antioch.
700:00:38.840 –> 00:00:40.969Cameron Reilly: Towards the end of 1,097.
800:00:41.540 –> 00:00:46.549Cameron Reilly: But they’re running out of supplies. They’re running out of food. It’s starting to get cold.
900:00:46.720 –> 00:00:56.629Cameron Reilly: They don’t have enough men. They don’t have the siege engines. They need to really take this amazing fortress of Antioch with 400 towers and huge wall.
1000:00:57.040 –> 00:01:00.529Cameron Reilly: Meanwhile Yogi Bear, the governor of.
1100:01:00.530 –> 00:01:01.340Ray Harris: And y’all.
1200:01:01.340 –> 00:01:04.819Cameron Reilly: Doesn’t have enough men to defend. It
1300:01:05.010 –> 00:01:13.859Cameron Reilly: also has to worry about his supply lines. So neither side are really attacking the other side. They’re both waiting for relief forces to arrive
1400:01:14.210 –> 00:01:24.230Cameron Reilly: and just trying to do the best they can to wait the other side out. Whoever gets the relief forces to arrive 1st are going to have an advantage.
1500:01:24.530 –> 00:01:24.859Ray Harris: The exact.
1600:01:24.860 –> 00:01:28.289Cameron Reilly: So that is where we are at.
1700:01:28.580 –> 00:01:50.520Ray Harris: Well again. I think it’s important to realize that the Crusaders they’ve been on a roll. They have just been kicking ass and taking names. They come up to Antioch, and they knew they knew it was going to be difficult. But now they are truly stymied. And you’re right. It’s all about supplies. They’re running low on food. They’re running low on faith, let’s be honest. Some of them are like, you know, it’s gone on our side. I don’t know if he is.
1800:01:50.580 –> 00:02:04.880Ray Harris: he’s a shit teammate. So the point is that they are really starting to struggle, and it’s getting cold, and I don’t know about you, but wearing armor in the cold. That kind of sucks, too. But the point is, it’s become a waiting game, and that you can. You can’t speed up outside events.
1900:02:05.170 –> 00:02:08.479Ray Harris: and their faith starts to weaken.
2000:02:10.130 –> 00:02:21.969Cameron Reilly: When they had 1st arrived outside of Antioch. There were plenty of sheep and cattle in the nearby plains. The granaries of the villages around the area still contained most of the supplies from the year’s harvest.
2100:02:22.130 –> 00:02:32.279Cameron Reilly: Despite the fact that Yogi bear in Antioch had been trying to get as much of that inside the walls as he could, but they had managed to feed well. The Crusaders.
2200:02:32.420 –> 00:02:32.840Ray Harris: To what?
2300:02:32.840 –> 00:02:37.970Cameron Reilly: They had neglected to put away supplies for the winter months.
2400:02:37.970 –> 00:02:38.830Ray Harris: Right.
2500:02:39.010 –> 00:02:49.140Cameron Reilly: Possibly an oversight, possibly thinking it’ll all be done in a week. They’re like George Bush when he was like, you know.
2600:02:49.390 –> 00:02:55.110Cameron Reilly: one and done in and out. 2 weeks mission accomplished, but it drags on. It starts.
2700:02:55.110 –> 00:02:55.450Ray Harris: I’ll jump.
2800:02:55.450 –> 00:02:56.530Cameron Reilly: Drag on.
2900:02:56.790 –> 00:03:13.529Cameron Reilly: Now they had to go foraging over an ever increasing area, which meant they were more likely to get off by the small Turkish sorties that were being sent out of Antioch to cut them down as they were, returned
3000:03:13.530 –> 00:03:20.830Cameron Reilly: humor stragglers coming back from fraudulent parties, you know. They’re hiding. The Turks are hiding in the bushes, jumping
3100:03:20.830 –> 00:03:21.340Cameron Reilly: Yup.
3200:03:22.470 –> 00:03:30.269Ray Harris: yeah, taking what they yeah. So around Christmas time, 1097, the food’s almost gone. The countryside’s bare.
3300:03:30.680 –> 00:03:55.680Ray Harris: And we’re going to say this a couple of times. The princes of the Crusaders. They hold a council, and here’s what they’re going to do. Step one. You get together, and someone gets out the whiteboard. They decide that Bohemian and Robert of Flanders are going to take some troops, and they’re going to go up the Orontes valley towards Hama, another smaller city. They’re going to raid the villages in that direction. Meanwhile Raymond and the Bishop of La Poi, I’m not sure how to say that
3400:03:55.680 –> 00:04:18.559Ray Harris: we’ll conduct the siege because Jeffrey at this point is very ill, so at least they’ve got a plan. We’re going to go try to raid, you know, as God intended us to do. You guys start harassing the walls. And maybe between these 2 things we can actually move the needle a little bit, not the best plan in the world, but it’s something. So Robert and Bohem had sent out set out on December 28.th
3500:04:19.769 –> 00:04:21.559Cameron Reilly: With about 20,000 men.
3600:04:22.190 –> 00:04:26.509Cameron Reilly: And of course Yogi Bear knew immediately about their departure from.
3700:04:26.510 –> 00:04:26.949Ray Harris: Have the fact.
3800:04:26.950 –> 00:04:36.619Cameron Reilly: Word, getting back into his camp. So he waited until they were out of sight, and then, on the 29th attacked across the bridge
3900:04:36.810 –> 00:04:41.519Cameron Reilly: and fell onto the Crusaders, who were camped north of the river.
4000:04:41.870 –> 00:04:42.280Ray Harris: Yes.
4100:04:42.280 –> 00:04:52.700Cameron Reilly: The attack was not expected, but Raymond’s quick thinking saved the situation. He quickly rounded up a group of knights, charged out towards the Turks.
4200:04:52.700 –> 00:04:53.310Ray Harris: Damn right.
4300:04:53.310 –> 00:04:57.750Cameron Reilly: Turned and fled back across the bridge.
4400:04:57.970 –> 00:04:58.370Ray Harris: Yes.
4500:04:58.370 –> 00:04:59.580Cameron Reilly: Hooray! Success.
4600:04:59.580 –> 00:05:03.010Ray Harris: But it gets better except
4700:05:03.010 –> 00:05:28.049Ray Harris: well, except and yet it almost gets better. Remember when they 1st got there, Raymond is like, Okay, who wants to attack. Now who’s with me? And sadly, no one else was raising their arms when they chased this Turkish party back to the gates. They almost get there before the gates were closed. This could be it. This could be the thing that turns the entire battle. Maybe Raymond was right the entire time.
4800:05:28.230 –> 00:05:36.939Ray Harris: however, and I’m not blaming God, I’m not saying God had anything to do with this but one of the one of the nights Horace throws his rider. It’s dark.
4900:05:36.940 –> 00:06:02.669Ray Harris: There’s a lot of confusion. There’s a lot of panic. They don’t know what’s going on. Did the horse throw him? Was he knocked off by an attack, they start to panic, and they retreat, and now they are being chased back by the Turks to their camp. But the good news is, when the Crusaders get back to their camp. They turn, they start to fight. The Turks know that they can’t take them, so they go back to the walled city. But the point is.
5000:06:03.120 –> 00:06:19.500Ray Harris: they almost got inside one of the gates. But it but it doesn’t happen again. It was a close run thing, but this is what they’re doing. They’re literally pricking each other, just taking as many men out of each side as you can, trying to weaken their overall force.
5100:06:21.450 –> 00:06:31.889Cameron Reilly: And when the horse throws the rider and turns back onto the bridge it creates panic and confusion in the Crusaders cavalry. A lot of them end up in the water.
5200:06:31.890 –> 00:06:32.330Ray Harris: Oh, shit.
5300:06:33.145 –> 00:06:35.590Cameron Reilly: And the the
5400:06:35.820 –> 00:06:44.419Cameron Reilly: dead lost horses lost cavalry, so lives were lost on both sides, but especially among the Crusaders.
5500:06:44.730 –> 00:06:49.330Cameron Reilly: Meanwhile Bohemond was riding south with Robert of Flanders.
5600:06:49.550 –> 00:07:08.190Cameron Reilly: totally ignorant that a huge relief force was moving up towards him of Damascus, had left his capital with Yogi Bear’s sons, and a huge army at Hama. The Emir joined them with his forces. Oh.
5700:07:08.190 –> 00:07:08.680Ray Harris: Shit.
5800:07:08.680 –> 00:07:21.499Cameron Reilly: On the 30th of December they learned that the crusading army was close by, and they immediately marched on them and came upon the Crusaders. The next morning, at a village called Albara.
5900:07:21.830 –> 00:07:34.709Cameron Reilly: Now the Crusaders were taken by surprise, and Robert, whose army was a little ahead of Bohemians, was nearly surrounded, but Bohem being the Badass, that he was.
6000:07:34.710 –> 00:07:35.420Ray Harris: Right.
6100:07:36.220 –> 00:07:40.570Cameron Reilly: Quickly reacted, kept the bulk of his troops in reserve.
6200:07:40.730 –> 00:07:49.570Cameron Reilly: waited until the moment that the Muslims thought that they had won, and then attacked from the rear.
6300:07:49.730 –> 00:08:01.070Cameron Reilly: and manages to inflict such heavy losses on the army from Damascus that they retreated and fell back to Hama.
6400:08:01.490 –> 00:08:06.919Cameron Reilly: So it was sort of a win for the Crusaders.
6500:08:06.920 –> 00:08:07.490Ray Harris: Additionally.
6600:08:07.490 –> 00:08:08.170Cameron Reilly: Lost!
6700:08:08.170 –> 00:08:08.550Ray Harris: Right.
6800:08:08.550 –> 00:08:09.189Cameron Reilly: Lot of people.
6900:08:09.590 –> 00:08:27.889Ray Harris: Right. But here’s the thing. So again, Bohemon is a brilliant tactician. He’s using psychology here. He’s like, I’m going to wait. They’re attacking. The Turks are attacking Robert’s men. I’m going to wait to. The enemy thinks that they’ve won. Then I come in and I charge, and I save the day I freak them out.
7000:08:27.890 –> 00:08:52.879Ray Harris: They panic, however, because of the injuries, the deaths that the Crusading army has suffered. They are now not strong enough to keep going. So they sack a village or 2. They don’t get much out of it. They return to camp again. It was a decent plan, but because they’re weakened just enough. They’re no longer an effective fighting force, and when they go back they don’t have much to show for it again. The troops are still starving.
7100:08:53.680 –> 00:09:01.340Cameron Reilly: Yeah, and you know, to be fair to Bohem and Robert I mean. Their troops were probably already hungry, tired, cold.
7200:09:01.340 –> 00:09:02.180Ray Harris: Yes.
7300:09:02.180 –> 00:09:06.909Cameron Reilly: In the 1st place, not the best conditions for an army to be in, but so they return
7400:09:07.090 –> 00:09:08.920Cameron Reilly: more or less empty, handed.
7500:09:09.180 –> 00:09:09.650Ray Harris: Yeah.
7600:09:09.650 –> 00:09:14.600Cameron Reilly: And then discovered that they’ve lost a lot of the cavalries. Been sort of a
7700:09:14.700 –> 00:09:23.649Cameron Reilly: minor crisis and disaster while they’re away. The army camped inside of Antioch, is expecting them to come back with food. They come back with nothing.
7800:09:23.860 –> 00:09:26.790Ray Harris: So the Christians are starting to.
7900:09:27.670 –> 00:09:33.549Cameron Reilly: Second guess themselves. They’re like Jesus, God, not really.
8000:09:33.820 –> 00:09:34.200Ray Harris: Yeah.
8100:09:34.200 –> 00:09:37.990Cameron Reilly: You just take the wheel. Give it back, please. Yeah.
8200:09:37.990 –> 00:09:39.260Ray Harris: Me that fucking wheel?
8300:09:39.370 –> 00:09:42.339Ray Harris: Right? Yeah. Yeah. Who let Jesus drive.
8400:09:42.340 –> 00:09:42.830Cameron Reilly: Can help.
8500:09:42.830 –> 00:09:43.590Ray Harris: Woo.
8600:09:43.890 –> 00:09:45.110Cameron Reilly: Who thought it was that.
8700:09:46.030 –> 00:10:09.680Ray Harris: And while they were gone it wasn’t any better for the guys that stayed behind again on the 29, th when they were attacked. That did not go well, as we said the next day, there’s an earth tremor, and this isn’t just a little. Oh, look! The curtains are shaking, honey! This is felt as far away as Odessa. The other guys fuck what’s his name? The other guy who runs that place now? So this is a
8800:10:09.680 –> 00:10:20.859Ray Harris: there we go. So this is a big thing. And that evening the aurora borealis lights up the sky. I mean, God is sending them signals left and right. It’s like God. Just if I shouldn’t
8900:10:20.960 –> 00:10:32.379Ray Harris: ignore my wife and bang this 18 year old. Just give me a sign, and the earth shakes, and the aurora Aurora boles, lights up the sky, and then the guy goes. Just any sign. God! Just tell me I shouldn’t do this.
9000:10:32.840 –> 00:10:46.759Ray Harris: And then heavy rains come for weeks, and all the while it’s getting colder they’re cold. They’re shivering. They’re hungry, this sucks. And then Stephen of Blois has had it, and he’s like, you know. Maybe God isn’t.
9100:10:47.090 –> 00:10:51.620Ray Harris: He either isn’t all-powerful or He’s not on our side. What do you think.
9200:10:53.220 –> 00:11:02.069Cameron Reilly: Yeah, these people being primitive Christians. And I think that’s a redundant term. Just.
9300:11:02.070 –> 00:11:02.940Ray Harris: Christians should.
9400:11:02.940 –> 00:11:13.730Cameron Reilly: Believe in bronze Age mythologies, then, as now, see these things as signs, and the Bishop of Lapoy
9500:11:14.300 –> 00:11:22.440Cameron Reilly: declares that they have to fast for 3 days, and they’re like motherfucker. I haven’t eaten in a week like really like.
9600:11:22.440 –> 00:11:24.409Ray Harris: Gonna put a name on it. Now, okay, yeah.
9700:11:24.410 –> 00:11:29.429Cameron Reilly: What difference does it make? We’ve been fasting for weeks
9800:11:30.460 –> 00:11:33.690Ray Harris: I am an expert faster at this point. Yeah.
9900:11:33.690 –> 00:11:34.440Cameron Reilly: Yeah.
10000:11:34.440 –> 00:11:35.250Ray Harris: They’re like you. There.
10100:11:35.250 –> 00:11:35.670Cameron Reilly: So.
10200:11:35.670 –> 00:11:40.499Ray Harris: New pants, their belt they had to tighten their belts, you know it’s it’s just. It’s just.
10300:11:40.500 –> 00:11:41.300Cameron Reilly: Darling.
10400:11:41.420 –> 00:11:53.919Cameron Reilly: they’re starting to think that maybe God is not pleased with them, and instead of just turning around and going home, saying, Look, maybe this was the bad idea from the get. Go.
10500:11:53.920 –> 00:11:54.650Ray Harris: Bad juju.
10600:11:54.650 –> 00:12:02.160Cameron Reilly: They’re like, maybe we just need to not eat. Continue not eating for a few days. That’s really what he wants, because.
10700:12:02.290 –> 00:12:11.650Cameron Reilly: you know, I don’t know about you as a loving father, but for me, whenever I’m displeased with Fox, I starve him for a week, because that’s what loving.
10800:12:11.870 –> 00:12:13.919Cameron Reilly: that’s what loving parents do
10900:12:14.780 –> 00:12:16.389Ray Harris: It’s a lesson. It’s a lesson.
11000:12:16.390 –> 00:12:16.890Cameron Reilly: Yeah.
11100:12:16.890 –> 00:12:17.600Ray Harris: Yeah, yeah.
11200:12:17.600 –> 00:12:27.660Cameron Reilly: Lock him in a basement, chain him up and starve him for a week, because I think that’s how I show my love. That’s the Christian way of showing my love.
11300:12:27.660 –> 00:12:28.040Ray Harris: Right.
11400:12:28.040 –> 00:12:32.229Cameron Reilly: Extreme torture. I waterboard him, of course.
11500:12:32.230 –> 00:12:33.440Ray Harris: Right? Well, yeah, that’s.
11600:12:33.440 –> 00:12:34.260Cameron Reilly: During that period.
11700:12:36.100 –> 00:12:37.420Ray Harris: Because it’s.
11800:12:37.420 –> 00:12:37.980Cameron Reilly: With the water.
11900:12:37.980 –> 00:12:39.360Ray Harris: Yeah.
12000:12:39.690 –> 00:12:42.900Cameron Reilly: The rod ruin the child, or whatever it is.
12100:12:43.420 –> 00:12:50.279Ray Harris: I have a slightly different approach, whereas you starve him to death. What I do for my children is, I charge them
12200:12:50.580 –> 00:12:55.030Ray Harris: for the food. I know you can eat, but but your ass is paying. So charge.
12300:12:55.030 –> 00:12:59.250Cameron Reilly: Here’s the bill, if I have to, if I have to, on up.
12400:12:59.250 –> 00:13:08.060Ray Harris: No, so slowly. Slowly, some of the Armenian monks start sending supplies. Some of the Christians, Armenians, and Syrians
12500:13:08.220 –> 00:13:16.700Ray Harris: scrap just whatever they can get together, and they start to send it to the to the Crusaders, and as they get there the Crusaders are going. Thank
12600:13:16.750 –> 00:13:43.020Ray Harris: thank you. Thank God! Thank Christ! They’re like, up, up, up, not so fast. You are Crusaders. You’ve been sacking towns left and right. You got cash, so we got food. You got cash. Hmm. Maybe we can work something out, so they say, for one donkey load of supplies it will cost you 8. Is that bizance again? This is a decent amount of money. The Christians
12700:13:43.120 –> 00:13:55.220Ray Harris: hate giving up any kind of cash, but they do because they’re starving. The problem is only the wealthy soldiers can afford this. So, as as is normal in human history, the wealthy eat.
12800:13:55.390 –> 00:14:06.970Ray Harris: poor, starve, the horses start dying, and pretty soon they’re only down to 700 horses, but so so other Christians come to help them, but it comes at a price literally.
12900:14:08.590 –> 00:14:22.610Cameron Reilly: Well, we said a few episodes ago about a Byzant. A Byzant was a gold coin used widely across the Byzantine Empire, Byzant, Byzantine Empire. So that’s where the word comes from.
13000:14:23.530 –> 00:14:28.640Cameron Reilly: Weighed roughly 4 and a half grams of nearly pure gold. So
13100:14:29.130 –> 00:14:36.059Cameron Reilly: one Byzant, back in the day the purchasing power was enormous. You could.
13200:14:36.290 –> 00:14:41.059Cameron Reilly: It was a small fortune, a single bazette. You could buy supplies for an army
13300:14:41.290 –> 00:14:43.169Cameron Reilly: with a single bazant or.
13400:14:43.170 –> 00:14:43.669Ray Harris: Do you stay?
13500:14:43.670 –> 00:14:45.889Cameron Reilly: In a family for months.
13600:14:45.890 –> 00:14:46.640Ray Harris: Right.
13700:14:46.640 –> 00:14:48.260Cameron Reilly: So.
13800:14:48.260 –> 00:14:50.089Ray Harris: 8 pizettes.
13900:14:50.090 –> 00:14:50.720Cameron Reilly: Yeah.
14000:14:50.720 –> 00:14:51.660Ray Harris: Frolic.
14100:14:51.660 –> 00:14:54.560Cameron Reilly: Converted into
14200:14:55.770 –> 00:15:08.199Cameron Reilly: modern currency. The estimate that I came up with using Chatgpt a few months ago was a single Byzant would be worth somewhere between 10 to 15,000 Us. Dollars a single Byzant.
14300:15:08.200 –> 00:15:09.609Ray Harris: Jesus Christ.
14400:15:10.270 –> 00:15:15.589Cameron Reilly: So these guys are selling a donkey’s worth of food for, let’s say, 100.
14500:15:15.850 –> 00:15:16.350Ray Harris: Rogers.
14600:15:16.350 –> 00:15:18.169Cameron Reilly: Grand. How about do you want it.
14700:15:18.170 –> 00:15:19.959Cameron Reilly: grand for one donkey’s worth of food?
14800:15:19.960 –> 00:15:20.310Ray Harris: Yeah.
14900:15:20.310 –> 00:15:21.639Cameron Reilly: Yeah, they’re like, Hey.
15000:15:21.640 –> 00:15:22.400Ray Harris: What’s it worth to you.
15100:15:22.400 –> 00:15:24.740Cameron Reilly: Capitalism, bitch, yellow.
15200:15:24.740 –> 00:15:26.700Ray Harris: The way gone, intended, so.
15300:15:26.700 –> 00:15:41.659Cameron Reilly: That’s it. Don’t blame me. Jesus invented capitalism at the point. I don’t think you mentioned this, but one out of 7 men was dying of hunger, not to mention the horses.
15400:15:41.660 –> 00:15:42.779Cameron Reilly: Yes, this is real
15500:15:42.780 –> 00:15:51.819Cameron Reilly: dying at a greater rate, because they were getting none of the food, and then they were eating. The horses, like Napoleon’s troops, had to do in the retreat from Russia in 1812.
15600:15:53.550 –> 00:16:02.980Cameron Reilly: So, and, unlike Napoleon’s troops, these guys didn’t have gunpowder to put on the horse meat to.
15700:16:03.330 –> 00:16:07.630Ray Harris: Hide the taste right fuck
15800:16:09.520 –> 00:16:11.619Cameron Reilly: You know your your heart up when.
15900:16:11.620 –> 00:16:12.090Ray Harris: When you.
16000:16:12.090 –> 00:16:17.440Cameron Reilly: Gunpowder is what you’re using to hide the taste you want to.
16100:16:17.440 –> 00:16:19.529Cameron Reilly: That’s your name.
16200:16:20.870 –> 00:16:24.129Cameron Reilly: It’s not the best of spices.
16300:16:24.180 –> 00:16:48.839Ray Harris: When I bite into a raw or cooked horse leg. The 1st thing I say is, you know what you know, what this could use. This could use some fucking gunpowder. That’s what I’m saying, you know, just to finish off the taste. But no, so they are truly hard up. Men are dying. But again, it’s all for religious reasons. So I like to think they’re going right to heaven. I don’t know I wasn’t there, but it’s bad. It’s bad.
16400:16:50.580 –> 00:17:14.389Cameron Reilly: So they’re sending envoys further and further away, as far away as the Taurus Mountains to try and get some food. But it’s still very, very tough, I think. At this stage there are only about 7 between the disaster, with the attack on December 29th and the horses dying of starvation.
16500:17:14.410 –> 00:17:21.680Cameron Reilly: There’s only about 700 horses left, so their cavalry now is down to 700 riders.
16600:17:21.680 –> 00:17:31.270Ray Harris: Yeah, I was going to say, if you’re a knight, do you need a horse if you don’t have a horse? Are you still technically a knight, or could you use 2 coconuts? I mean what
16700:17:31.460 –> 00:17:32.640Ray Harris: horses import.
16800:17:32.640 –> 00:17:33.669Cameron Reilly: No, I dish.
16900:17:33.670 –> 00:17:34.690Ray Harris: I did.
17000:17:34.690 –> 00:17:35.460Cameron Reilly: Good night.
17100:17:35.460 –> 00:17:36.420Ray Harris: Night, light.
17200:17:36.420 –> 00:17:39.779Cameron Reilly: Nightlight, nightlight.
17300:17:40.010 –> 00:17:40.620Ray Harris: Oh, fuck!
17400:17:40.620 –> 00:17:41.160Cameron Reilly: Yeah.
17500:17:42.730 –> 00:17:44.540Ray Harris: Anyway, it sucks to be.
17600:17:44.540 –> 00:17:49.180Cameron Reilly: You stand in front of the enemy and go. Listen. I just want you to close your eyes.
17700:17:49.180 –> 00:17:50.090Ray Harris: Picture.
17800:17:50.090 –> 00:17:52.390Cameron Reilly: Breathe deeply. Picture this.
17900:17:53.040 –> 00:17:56.319Cameron Reilly: I want you to imagine for a moment, if you wish.
18000:17:56.890 –> 00:17:58.290Ray Harris: Right, right.
18100:17:58.960 –> 00:18:01.740Cameron Reilly: That we’re all riding fearsome mounts.
18200:18:01.740 –> 00:18:04.020Ray Harris: Steeds. Yes.
18300:18:04.020 –> 00:18:08.830Cameron Reilly: Over the course of the next few hours battle. Can you please just ignore the fact
18400:18:09.030 –> 00:18:15.149Cameron Reilly: that we’re using coconuts? It would be great if you could accommodate us in this fashion right.
18500:18:15.150 –> 00:18:16.149Ray Harris: That’s only fair.
18600:18:16.587 –> 00:18:17.900Cameron Reilly: Genuinely appreciate it.
18700:18:17.900 –> 00:18:27.249Ray Harris: Or even better, if you could just go ahead, hop off your horse, and that’s a fair fight, because because you got a god, and I got a god. It’s a fair fight.
18800:18:27.250 –> 00:18:27.950Cameron Reilly: Yeah.
18900:18:29.280 –> 00:18:38.189Cameron Reilly: Now, fortunately, the Bishop of Lapoy had been able to establish contact with the former patriarch of Jerusalem, a guy by the name of Simeon.
19000:18:38.420 –> 00:18:45.770Cameron Reilly: who had retired from Jerusalem when things got a little bit too hairy there, and was now in Cyprus.
19100:18:45.770 –> 00:18:48.589Cameron Reilly: Yes, just in the middle of the the
19200:18:49.070 –> 00:18:53.260Cameron Reilly: Mediterranean Sea. I think it still is at that point. Right.
19300:18:53.260 –> 00:19:08.109Cameron Reilly: And he was sending them now the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Not a big fan of the Catholic Church. But you know he Christians, you know, enemy of
19400:19:08.260 –> 00:19:20.809Cameron Reilly: my enemy, is my friend. Sort of thing. He’s like, okay, he’s going to send them stuff from Cyprus, all of the food and wine that yeah, he could spare. But even that wasn’t really enough.
19500:19:21.170 –> 00:19:31.549Ray Harris: Wasn’t doing it. Yeah. So he actually sends a report with the Bishop of La Poi back to the West, how the Christians are doing.
19600:19:31.550 –> 00:19:54.020Ray Harris: And yeah, like you said, he’s gathering everything up. He’s letting Europe know what’s going on. But as we showed earlier with the two-year delay, it takes time for war to get there. It takes time for them to do something about it if they’re going to do anything about it, and it takes time to come back. So again, it’s about surviving right now. But still you do what you got to do, but you also have to survive in the moment.
19700:19:56.220 –> 00:20:02.890Cameron Reilly: So people are abandoning the army. They’re like fuck
19800:20:03.290 –> 00:20:05.690Cameron Reilly: the horse that he rode in on.
19900:20:05.690 –> 00:20:06.730Ray Harris: Because I ate it.
20000:20:06.910 –> 00:20:09.300Cameron Reilly: I hate God’s horse. Yeah.
20100:20:11.270 –> 00:20:12.130Ray Harris: And.
20200:20:13.100 –> 00:20:19.579Cameron Reilly: 2 of the people who deserted were Peter the Hermit.
20300:20:19.750 –> 00:20:20.250Ray Harris: Yeah.
20400:20:20.250 –> 00:20:24.540Cameron Reilly: The guy who led the People’s Crusade, which got destroyed.
20500:20:24.540 –> 00:20:25.330Ray Harris: Right.
20600:20:25.330 –> 00:20:25.810Cameron Reilly: And then he.
20700:20:25.810 –> 00:20:26.230Ray Harris: Oh!
20800:20:26.260 –> 00:20:33.800Cameron Reilly: Fled back to Constantinople, and now has joined and had joined the Prince’s crusade, you know, second time.
20900:20:34.040 –> 00:20:34.410Ray Harris: Yeah.
21000:20:34.410 –> 00:20:35.310Cameron Reilly: Second time. Lucky.
21100:20:35.310 –> 00:20:43.309Ray Harris: I think his settling point was, Hey, I’m a good luck, charm. Take me with you. It’s gonna.
21200:20:43.820 –> 00:20:48.729Cameron Reilly: He’s like, I’ve got it. Okay. I fucked up the 1st time. I’ll be the 1st person to admit that.
21300:20:49.020 –> 00:20:50.770Cameron Reilly: but I figured out what I did.
21400:20:50.770 –> 00:20:51.170Ray Harris: Papa.
21500:20:51.170 –> 00:20:52.059Cameron Reilly: I there you go!
21600:20:52.060 –> 00:20:52.549Ray Harris: I’ve got.
21700:20:52.550 –> 00:20:54.430Cameron Reilly: My family all out. Yeah, yeah.
21800:20:55.770 –> 00:21:01.540Cameron Reilly: And he was a accompanied by a guy called William the Carpenter.
21900:21:01.730 –> 00:21:02.879Ray Harris: I don’t think we’ve.
22000:21:02.880 –> 00:21:03.450Cameron Reilly: We?
22100:21:04.030 –> 00:21:10.099Cameron Reilly: I don’t think we’ve talked about him before, but he was the viscount of a place called Meloum.
22200:21:10.320 –> 00:21:19.839Cameron Reilly: which was in France these days. It’s sort of on the outskirts of Paris. French nobleman,
22300:21:21.120 –> 00:21:23.640Cameron Reilly: Was part of the 1st Crusade. He
22400:21:23.830 –> 00:21:27.619Cameron Reilly: was known for his strength in battle, which is why.
22500:21:28.563 –> 00:21:30.579Cameron Reilly: the carpenter. He was just
22600:21:30.940 –> 00:21:36.140Cameron Reilly: chopping them down like they were trees and blocks of wood.
22700:21:36.140 –> 00:21:37.320Ray Harris: Look, look.
22800:21:37.580 –> 00:21:51.350Cameron Reilly: According to the 12th century, Monk Guibert of Nogent. William was powerful in words, but less so in action. A man who set out to do things too great for him.
22900:21:51.540 –> 00:21:52.420Ray Harris: Oh, pike!
23000:21:52.420 –> 00:21:54.349Cameron Reilly: That’s true, right.
23100:21:58.210 –> 00:21:58.960Cameron Reilly: He.
23200:21:59.910 –> 00:22:15.780Cameron Reilly: you know he he had a reputation back home. He was accused of criminal looting of the countryside. Oh, he. When he joined the 1st Crusade, he took from his poor neighbours the little they had
23300:22:16.000 –> 00:22:29.899Cameron Reilly: to provide himself shamefully with provisions for the journey. He took part on the attacks of the Jews and mines. You know he was. He was.
23400:22:29.900 –> 00:22:30.610Ray Harris: Opportunist.
23500:22:30.610 –> 00:22:36.139Cameron Reilly: Yeah, he wasn’t the nicest of Christians.
23600:22:37.050 –> 00:22:41.960Cameron Reilly: So, anyway, he decides, fuck this bullshit I’m out of here.
23700:22:42.250 –> 00:22:48.579Cameron Reilly: and he runs off with Peter the Hermit, and they try and escape. In the middle of the night.
23800:22:48.920 –> 00:23:11.919Ray Harris: But no one quits God again, I think that’s 1 of the commandments. Something like that. So Tanker, Mr. Gentle, and others are sent out to bring them back. They are grabbed up, they are brought back, and I’m going to let you tell the story. But Peter the Hermit, I guess he had a better Pr team, or whatever it’s like, you know, everybody kind of knows him. So we’re going to take it easy on this guy.
23900:23:12.220 –> 00:23:21.219Ray Harris: Not so much the other one. But but we’re going to get Peter a pass. And he became known as Peter the past. But the point is, they got to punish them somehow.
24000:23:22.200 –> 00:23:23.020Cameron Reilly: Hmm!
24100:23:23.540 –> 00:23:29.740Cameron Reilly: Well, Peter the Hermit gets pardoned.
24200:23:30.050 –> 00:23:38.439Cameron Reilly: He’s sort of still along with the Bishop of Lapoy. Who’s the Pope’s representative? Peter is still sort of. He’s the mascot.
24300:23:38.590 –> 00:23:44.940Cameron Reilly: They dressed him up in like a chicken outfit. It was a goose. It was the holy goose that he had on his.
24400:23:44.940 –> 00:23:46.639Ray Harris: There we go! There we go!
24500:23:46.640 –> 00:23:57.830Cameron Reilly: They dressed him up as the goose. He’s sort of like the holy mascot of the Crusade, so they don’t want word to get out that the most faithful of the faithful.
24600:23:57.830 –> 00:24:01.030Ray Harris: Bangs, Peter this and tried to ski
24700:24:01.030 –> 00:24:02.849Ray Harris: slap Peter around. Yeah, you can’t.
24800:24:02.850 –> 00:24:05.270Cameron Reilly: He was wearing the rock hard for Peter. Are you Rock?
24900:24:05.270 –> 00:24:10.450Ray Harris: You can’t touch him if he’s wearing that. I think we all agree on that one.
25000:24:10.450 –> 00:24:12.759Cameron Reilly: He? He couldn’t really.
25100:24:12.870 –> 00:24:18.449Cameron Reilly: He didn’t want to make that known too publicly. But William the carpenter, on the other hand.
25200:24:18.450 –> 00:24:19.070Ray Harris: Fuck him!
25300:24:19.070 –> 00:24:30.989Cameron Reilly: According. Yeah, according to one of the sources, he spent the whole. After he was captured he spent the whole of the night in Bohemian’s tent lying on the ground like a piece of garbage.
25400:24:31.900 –> 00:24:32.810Cameron Reilly: Bohemian
25500:24:32.810 –> 00:24:39.899Cameron Reilly: made him wait all night, and then rebuked him as a wretched disgrace to the whole Frankish army
25600:24:40.330 –> 00:24:47.259Cameron Reilly: mentioned how he had deserted the French army in Spain in 1087.
25700:24:47.260 –> 00:24:49.040Ray Harris: Oh! Oh!
25800:24:49.328 –> 00:24:51.920Cameron Reilly: So he had a. He had a history of.
25900:24:51.920 –> 00:24:52.590Ray Harris: True.
26000:24:52.590 –> 00:24:55.250Cameron Reilly: Other leaders asked Bohemian to spare him.
26100:24:55.620 –> 00:25:03.919Cameron Reilly: and he suffered no further punishment and then deserted the army.
26200:25:05.630 –> 00:25:07.279Cameron Reilly: He promised not to.
26300:25:07.280 –> 00:25:08.890Cameron Reilly: June of 1098.
26400:25:08.890 –> 00:25:21.020Ray Harris: But he had his fingers behind his back. So I think we all know promise doesn’t count. So currently, it’s January 1098, right in the middle of fucking winter again he promises never to leave again.
26500:25:21.570 –> 00:25:39.189Ray Harris: and then he leaves again. So you know. But again the army is starving. There are other deserters. This just sucks again. The Bishop of La Poi is sending out more requests to the West for reinforcements, and again, it’s just a shit time to be a part of this crusading army.
26600:25:40.750 –> 00:25:51.199Cameron Reilly: Interestingly, when the Bishop of Lapoy is sending requests back to Europe for support, he’s writing them in the name of the Patriarch of Jerusalem.
26700:25:51.520 –> 00:25:52.090Ray Harris: Hmm.
26800:25:52.090 –> 00:25:54.710Cameron Reilly: We would imagine, with his. With his permission.
26900:25:54.870 –> 00:25:56.100Ray Harris: When would that?
27000:25:56.500 –> 00:26:07.710Cameron Reilly: It’s fascinating, because obviously the Bishop of Lapoy, Adamah is part of the the Pope’s brigade. He’s the Pope’s representative.
27100:26:08.649 –> 00:26:13.920Cameron Reilly: The Pope’s a Catholic. Don’t know if anyone I don’t know if you knew that. But
27200:26:14.480 –> 00:26:19.600Cameron Reilly: your brief time as a Catholic, you might have heard about that the Pope is a Catholic, supposedly.
27300:26:19.600 –> 00:26:21.980Ray Harris: I did something something, anyway.
27400:26:21.980 –> 00:26:36.489Cameron Reilly: A lot of Catholics aren’t very happy. I know Catholics who are not happy with the current Pope at all. They’re trump supporting Catholics who think the Pope is a complete tool because he criticizes trump.
27500:26:36.490 –> 00:26:37.470Cameron Reilly: don’t yeah.
27600:26:37.733 –> 00:26:41.650Cameron Reilly: And then the real truce know? Yeah.
27700:26:41.650 –> 00:26:42.230Ray Harris: Closer to God.
27800:26:42.230 –> 00:26:43.340Cameron Reilly: Yay
27900:26:45.000 –> 00:27:01.960Cameron Reilly: and the Patriarch was the Pope of the East. Basically, of course, the Eastern Church schismed from the Western Church. Their rivals. They both consider themselves the leader of Christianity, but he’s appealing on behalf of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, which is an interesting dance to do.
28000:27:02.380 –> 00:27:02.930Ray Harris: Good point.
28100:27:03.445 –> 00:27:12.350Cameron Reilly: And at this point in time the Crusaders, they’re starving and they’re starting to become
28200:27:12.530 –> 00:27:14.750Cameron Reilly: conspiracy theorists. They’re all.
28300:27:14.750 –> 00:27:18.779Ray Harris: Oh, yes, all the conspiracy subreddits.
28400:27:18.780 –> 00:27:24.750Cameron Reilly: They’re watching fox news. There’s some Qanon update.
28500:27:24.750 –> 00:27:25.570Ray Harris: Yeah.
28600:27:25.993 –> 00:27:26.840Cameron Reilly: They’re blaming.
28700:27:26.840 –> 00:27:27.340Ray Harris: 1 million dollars.
28800:27:27.340 –> 00:27:29.720Cameron Reilly: Fauci exactly blaming
28900:27:29.720 –> 00:27:46.040Cameron Reilly: China. They believe that Bill Gates is putting computer chips in their head that 5G cell towers are causing cancer and autism. They’re, you know, they’re starting to lose their damn minds.
29000:27:46.040 –> 00:27:58.820Ray Harris: Well, they’ve got too much time on their hands, I mean an idle army. I think history shows it can be very dangerous to the surrounding area and to itself. And there’s nothing good going on, and they just got time to sit around and
29100:27:59.120 –> 00:28:02.720Ray Harris: make up shit. And that’s exactly what they’re doing.
29200:28:03.680 –> 00:28:12.560Cameron Reilly: And they’re starting to blame the Emperor Alexius back in Constantinople for all of their problems. What happened is early in February.
29300:28:12.810 –> 00:28:24.180Cameron Reilly: so they’ve been here since November. Yeah, late October, early November early February. Nothing’s happened. They’re still just sitting there with their dicks in their hands.
29400:28:24.180 –> 00:28:24.540Ray Harris: Did you.
29500:28:25.610 –> 00:28:33.799Cameron Reilly: The Emperor’s representative, Titychius suddenly leaves and goes back to Constantinople.
29600:28:34.210 –> 00:28:34.880Ray Harris: Hmm.
29700:28:34.880 –> 00:28:35.540Cameron Reilly: Now.
29800:28:35.540 –> 00:28:36.080Ray Harris: Hmm.
29900:28:36.240 –> 00:28:46.819Cameron Reilly: He had a small staff with him that had joined them in Nicaea, mostly guides and engineers, people who knew the lay of the land. He’d been on good terms with the leaders.
30000:28:47.180 –> 00:28:54.800Cameron Reilly: Now, when he gets back to Constantinople, the story he tells the Emperor is that Bohemian
30100:28:54.940 –> 00:29:01.999Cameron Reilly: had called for him one day told him that the
30200:29:02.180 –> 00:29:08.410Cameron Reilly: it was known inside the army that the Turks had troops coming to support them.
30300:29:08.770 –> 00:29:17.990Cameron Reilly: and that the leaders, the other leaders of the Crusader army believed that the Emperor was encouraging the Turks
30400:29:18.540 –> 00:29:21.539Cameron Reilly: because he hated the Crusaders, and he.
30500:29:21.540 –> 00:29:21.960Ray Harris: Right.
30600:29:21.960 –> 00:29:29.169Cameron Reilly: Was talking behind their backs with the Turks plotting to destroy them. That’s why he hadn’t sent them
30700:29:29.780 –> 00:29:37.070Cameron Reilly: supplies. It’s why he hadn’t sent them siege engines. It’s why he hadn’t sent them, you know more men, more troops.
30800:29:37.590 –> 00:29:45.839Cameron Reilly: and that Tatychius believed these stories enough to get the fuck out of Dodge.
30900:29:46.040 –> 00:30:02.789Ray Harris: Oh, I’m in danger. I better get the hell out of there. But as a I don’t know if you want to call this a gesture of goodwill or cuntiness. I’ll let the listener decide. But when Tacticus leaves as a gesture of goodwill, he leaves his small staff behind, to which I’m sure they said.
31000:30:03.140 –> 00:30:29.630Ray Harris: thank you. But the point is, he leaves, and this is how bad it’s gotten. Tacticus can’t win for losing as soon as he leaves Bohemian’s captains and some of the other royals go. Aha! See! He fled. He fled, because he’s either a fucking coward, and you know God doesn’t like fucking cowards, or it proves his treachery. So again, they are just willing. They’re at the point where they’re just believing the worst
31100:30:29.850 –> 00:30:49.220Ray Harris: and their own allies. But here’s the kicker, and you’ve got to love this. I don’t know if this is a Christian thing. I don’t know if this is a capitalist thing or a Christian capitalist. But they said, Wait a minute, wait a minute, let’s take it the next step. If the Emperor is betraying us, then that breaks our oath to him. So if if
31200:30:49.540 –> 00:30:53.649Ray Harris: God is on our side and God is good, if we do take Antioch.
31300:30:54.200 –> 00:31:07.419Ray Harris: doesn’t that mean we don’t have to give it to him. So they’re able to take this paranoia delusion whatever, and they can still turn it to their economic advantage. You’ve got to fucking love that.
31400:31:09.230 –> 00:31:11.369Cameron Reilly: Yeah, they’re like, well.
31500:31:11.550 –> 00:31:21.010Cameron Reilly: fuck our oaths to Alexis that we would hand over any territory we captured to him. That’s done. Now. Anything that we got is now. Of course.
31600:31:21.370 –> 00:31:31.439Cameron Reilly: they had already intended to do that, as we know, and Alec Baldwin had already taken Odessa and gone fuck the Emperor. So this is just a good way of justifying
31700:31:31.670 –> 00:31:37.679Cameron Reilly: their treachery against the Emperor, which had been the intention all along. Next
31800:31:37.900 –> 00:31:41.909Cameron Reilly: Bohemon decides the time is right.
31900:31:41.910 –> 00:31:47.050Cameron Reilly: Yeah, they weakened. They’re demoralised. People are deserting. Tatychius has left
32000:31:47.640 –> 00:31:56.210Cameron Reilly: that. It’s time for him to start spreading a rumor around the camp that he also was thinking of departing. The.
32100:31:56.210 –> 00:31:57.670Ray Harris: It’s time. It’s time.
32200:31:57.670 –> 00:32:00.920Cameron Reilly: He had. He had to get back home. He had things to take care of.
32300:32:01.150 –> 00:32:03.650Ray Harris: I got shit to do right.
32400:32:03.650 –> 00:32:05.650Cameron Reilly: I just realized I left the gas on.
32500:32:07.010 –> 00:32:07.840Ray Harris: I better get.
32600:32:07.840 –> 00:32:09.320Cameron Reilly: Back and take care of it.
32700:32:10.199 –> 00:32:12.530Cameron Reilly: Why would he spread?
32800:32:12.530 –> 00:32:14.180Cameron Reilly: That’s a story, Ory. Do you think right?
32900:32:14.180 –> 00:32:17.490Ray Harris: Oh, my God! I I think
33000:32:17.700 –> 00:32:23.249Ray Harris: now that they’ve officially well, not officially. Now that the nobles, the royals have, said
33100:32:23.440 –> 00:32:45.950Ray Harris: Fuck Alexios, we’re not giving him shit now he’s really. I guess he wants to make his move, or the next step into getting ready. So if they do take Antioch, it will be him. So he’s like, you know, I gotta go. I got too much shit. I gotta go. This isn’t working out. However, however, if if you give me Antioch. That will compensate me enough.
33200:32:46.080 –> 00:32:51.619Ray Harris: and I’ll stay, and I’m kind of like the military genius here. Now all the other nobles are like
33300:32:51.730 –> 00:33:21.239Ray Harris: fuck this guy, I mean, they can see right through it. But the commoners, the poor, the average soldier. They fall for this. He gets a lot of sympathy. He gets a lot of support. But the point is is, he’s setting up the conditions that if they should take Antioch and he makes a claim for it. He’s already like it’s like a trial balloon they’re all like. No, no, he should. He should have it, because, remember, he was going to leave, and this was the only way we could get him to stay. So give him Antioch. It’s a brilliant political move
33400:33:21.680 –> 00:33:23.100Ray Harris: if it works.
33500:33:23.370 –> 00:33:25.620Ray Harris: That’s yeah. That’s what I think he’s doing.
33600:33:25.620 –> 00:33:28.760Cameron Reilly: Yeah, clever strategy exactly.
33700:33:28.760 –> 00:33:29.720Cameron Reilly: Meanwhile
33800:33:29.850 –> 00:33:41.610Cameron Reilly: the Turks are still waiting for their relief forces to arrive. But they, du Kock and his guys from Damascus have decided. Yeah, fuck that shit. They’ve gone home. They’re not.
33900:33:41.610 –> 00:33:42.260Ray Harris: Yeah.
34000:33:42.480 –> 00:33:43.290Ray Harris: New.
34100:33:43.290 –> 00:33:48.270Cameron Reilly: So Yogi Bear turns to his former boss, Ridwan of Aleppo.
34200:33:48.960 –> 00:33:55.239Cameron Reilly: who by now seems to have regretted not coming in to support him. In the 1st place.
34300:33:55.240 –> 00:33:56.130Ray Harris: Yeah.
34400:33:56.130 –> 00:34:01.499Cameron Reilly: And he forces Yogi Bear to bend the knee
34500:34:02.250 –> 00:34:14.819Cameron Reilly: and swear again an oath of loyalty again, and he sends a troop to come to their rescue.
34600:34:15.040 –> 00:34:21.660Cameron Reilly: assisted by his cousin Sukuman, the Ottokid, and his father-in-law, the Emir of Hama.
34700:34:23.830 –> 00:34:34.110Cameron Reilly: And by early February they’re ready to attack the Crusaders camp. Now. When the Crusaders heard about this, they held another prince’s council.
34800:34:34.280 –> 00:34:41.880Cameron Reilly: It was there that Bohemians suggested that what they have left of infantry, 700 or so guys
34900:34:42.989 –> 00:34:53.129Cameron Reilly: should make a surprise attack on the invading army whilst the infantry stayed to protect the camp.
35000:34:53.460 –> 00:35:21.810Ray Harris: Right. I think you meant the cavalry of 700. Yep, cavalry will go attack the no, the cavalry will attack the relief force. The infantry will stay here to keep the soldiers in the city in check, and if we can surprise them, then maybe we can wipe out this relief force. And again, it’s not really going to help us have food. But again, we’re not going to die so. And again, this is a pretty solid plan. So they all agree. So on the night of February 8th the Frankish cavalry
35100:35:21.980 –> 00:35:48.850Ray Harris: sneak out. They cross the bridge of boats, which is not the main road, and they’re able to sneak around. And yeah, the next morning they’re able to lay in wait. The Turkish relief force comes into view. The knights attack right away. And normally, what would happen at this point. And we’ve all seen this a billion times in movies. Certainly. Think of Ashincourt or Braveheart that normally you would line up the Turkish army would line up there. Many numbers of archers
35200:35:49.210 –> 00:35:53.449Ray Harris: throw a whole bunch of arrows into the air, and just come down on the knights.
35300:35:53.560 –> 00:36:08.639Ray Harris: but they don’t have time. The crusading cavalry are coming too quickly, and they’re able to hit the Turks before the archers could line up. And now they’re the ones who are panicking. So again, this plan has worked brilliantly so far.
35400:36:09.930 –> 00:36:16.160Cameron Reilly: Yeah, I think the Turks were also advancing across the iron bridge when the Crusaders attacked.
35500:36:16.160 –> 00:36:16.570Ray Harris: So.
35600:36:17.030 –> 00:36:23.970Cameron Reilly: You know they can’t get into formation. All of that kind of stuff is going on. Some of them are on the bridge, anyway. A large number of them.
35700:36:24.100 –> 00:36:25.200Ray Harris: Right, so.
35800:36:26.118 –> 00:36:42.019Cameron Reilly: The the cavalry attack the Turks. They can’t break them, though, and they withdrew, but in doing so lured the Turks into the battleground that they had chosen, where they had a lake on the left and the river on the right.
35900:36:42.270 –> 00:36:56.010Cameron Reilly: It prevented the Turks from being able to outflank them. And so the knights charge again, this time in full force, and this time the Turks broke and fled.
36000:36:56.150 –> 00:36:59.600Cameron Reilly: spread confusion in the lines behind them.
36100:36:59.740 –> 00:37:02.640Cameron Reilly: and the whole of Ridwan’s army
36200:37:02.910 –> 00:37:06.500Cameron Reilly: is in full retreat back to Aleppo.
36300:37:06.990 –> 00:37:28.879Ray Harris: It’s just chaos. And the garrison they had taken over they had reconquered and set men there, joined them on their way back. And, like you, said they literally panic all the way back to Aleppo. So this is another relief force that is defeated by brilliant tactics, desperate but brilliant tactics. Again. It doesn’t change the overall board.
36400:37:28.880 –> 00:37:42.000Ray Harris: It doesn’t create food out of nowhere. But the point is, it worked so the infantry. So the cavalry is starting to come back. But meanwhile the infantry still at camp has their own drama going on.
36500:37:43.310 –> 00:37:48.520Cameron Reilly: Yeah. But like, just for a second, let’s give Bohemian.
36600:37:48.520 –> 00:37:51.780Cameron Reilly: Oh, yeah, you like stuff cavalry.
36700:37:52.010 –> 00:37:52.440Ray Harris: Yeah.
36800:37:52.440 –> 00:38:04.109Cameron Reilly: To break this army and send them back like Bohemian with his tactics, waiting till they’re on the bridge, attacking, then drawing them, then like running away.
36900:38:04.110 –> 00:38:04.789Ray Harris: Yeah. Run away.
37000:38:04.790 –> 00:38:12.389Cameron Reilly: Them back to a battleground that you’ve chosen, where they can’t outflank you with their greater numbers, and then just hit them with the full force of your cavalry. This is.
37100:38:12.390 –> 00:38:12.710Ray Harris: Brilliant.
37200:38:12.710 –> 00:38:18.500Cameron Reilly: Alexander or Napoleon level genius. This guy
37300:38:18.620 –> 00:38:20.450Cameron Reilly: knew what he was doing. Like. He was.
37400:38:20.450 –> 00:38:21.200Ray Harris: Is really.
37500:38:21.700 –> 00:38:22.860Cameron Reilly: Badass.
37600:38:22.860 –> 00:38:23.230Ray Harris: Yes.
37700:38:23.230 –> 00:38:40.600Cameron Reilly: Of using smaller numbers to defeat a greater force by picking your battleground, picking your tactics, hitting them at the right time in the right place in the right way. The guy deserves the sort of
37800:38:41.070 –> 00:38:48.679Cameron Reilly: credit that history gives him for being a tactical military genius.
37900:38:48.680 –> 00:38:54.979Ray Harris: Yeah. And just deception is a wonderful ploy to use in battle, and he does it brilliantly.
38000:38:55.570 –> 00:39:08.790Cameron Reilly: Yeah, he’s he’s studied the best he knows what he’s doing. So meanwhile, with the cavalry away, Yogi Bear saw his chance and attacked the camp. The infantry who remained there had
38100:39:09.550 –> 00:39:13.879Cameron Reilly: put up a brave battle. But we’re beginning to lose ground
38200:39:14.070 –> 00:39:28.080Cameron Reilly: when, late in the day, a bit like at the battle of Waterloo. Their troops return, and as they get closer, Yogi Bear understands that his relief army was beaten.
38300:39:28.770 –> 00:39:29.150Ray Harris: Right.
38400:39:29.150 –> 00:39:33.430Cameron Reilly: His men back within the walls of Antioch. It’s like Napoleon at Waterloo.
38500:39:34.210 –> 00:39:40.059Cameron Reilly: Late in the day. It’s 4 o’clock. He’s thinks he’s won. He’s defeated.
38600:39:40.550 –> 00:39:40.890Ray Harris: Yeah.
38700:39:40.890 –> 00:39:47.500Cameron Reilly: Wellington in the British, and it’s all tied up nice and neatly with a bow and.
38800:39:47.500 –> 00:39:48.720Ray Harris: Right.
38900:39:49.580 –> 00:39:50.700Cameron Reilly: The fucking process.
39000:39:50.820 –> 00:39:52.889Ray Harris: To come in last minute.
39100:39:52.890 –> 00:39:54.230Cameron Reilly: And he’s like, Oh, fuck!
39200:39:54.320 –> 00:40:12.169Ray Harris: I had this, I had this. But but yeah, that’s what it’s about. So now that this attempt well, one, the relief force, is removed to the troops. The Turkish troops coming out of the city are checked. They’re sent back into the city. So the entire situation goes back
39300:40:12.170 –> 00:40:41.819Ray Harris: to the question of supplies. So supplies are still coming in by ship. But again, there’s like that 12 mile road from the coast to the camp. The Turks are watching it. They try to raid as these supplies are coming in, and not only that, but Yogi Bear is still able to get his own supplies in through the gate of St. George. So again, because no one can win an overall outright military victory, it now it reverts back to being about supplies.
39400:40:43.550 –> 00:40:50.180Cameron Reilly: Yeah, the Crusaders have had a couple of victories, and so morale is lifted. But they’re still starving. So
39500:40:50.520 –> 00:40:55.270Cameron Reilly: that’s not good. However, at this time
39600:40:55.660 –> 00:41:05.680Cameron Reilly: supplies are still coming in from Cyprus, also coming in from maybe to Tichius, sending stuff from Constantinople.
39700:41:06.870 –> 00:41:21.319Cameron Reilly: But the road down to the sea, where the supplies are coming in from Cyprus, and and maybe from Constantinople, getting raided by parties that are slipping out of Antioch through the unguarded gate of St. George
39800:41:21.440 –> 00:41:31.129Cameron Reilly: across the fortified bridge. But then, on the 4th of March, 1098, a fleet, manned by Englishmen.
39900:41:31.920 –> 00:41:41.990Cameron Reilly: commanded by the exiled claimant to the throne. Edgar Atheling, sail into St. Simeon.
40000:41:42.230 –> 00:41:45.759Cameron Reilly: How much do you know about Edgar Atheling?
40100:41:46.030 –> 00:42:15.160Ray Harris: I don’t know much. I know that he is the son of Edward the exile, who himself is the son of King Edmund Ironside, which is a pretty cool, fucking name. So when Edmund Ironside dies, Edward the exile, our Edgar’s father, gets refuge in Hungary, and he was actually made. Excuse me. He was elected the King by the Witten, the council of King of the Anglo-saxon government, but he’s never crowned.
40200:42:15.160 –> 00:42:25.010Ray Harris: and the Danish king, Knut, in 1016 is able to take the English throne. So the point is, he was technically, it’s almost like
40300:42:25.030 –> 00:42:36.760Ray Harris: I was going to make a Bush gore joke. But anyway. So he technically he was voted in by one council to be king. But he’s never crowned, and I guess, what is he just looking to make his way in the world, being a king
40400:42:37.020 –> 00:42:38.450Ray Harris: who’s not a king.
40500:42:40.810 –> 00:42:44.339Cameron Reilly: He had an interesting relationship with the Normans.
40600:42:44.800 –> 00:42:51.800Cameron Reilly: Sort of exiled there at 1 point, and then fought against them. Sort of
40700:42:52.040 –> 00:43:02.770Cameron Reilly: had a deal with William the Conqueror that went sour. And yeah, so he sort of had sort of fractures, relationships with the Normans.
40800:43:02.980 –> 00:43:03.490Ray Harris: Right.
40900:43:03.980 –> 00:43:10.369Cameron Reilly: But now he turns up with an English fleet to support them.
41000:43:10.760 –> 00:43:12.000Ray Harris: Now.
41100:43:12.360 –> 00:43:17.790Cameron Reilly: When it arrives it not only brings men.
41200:43:18.260 –> 00:43:29.119Cameron Reilly: They had pilgrims from Italy that were on their way. He had stopped at Constantinople, placed himself under the orders of the Emperor and the ships, the fleet, probably
41300:43:29.380 –> 00:43:34.459Cameron Reilly: because of Tacticus saying to the Emperor, Hey, these guys are going to fail if we don’t help.
41400:43:34.460 –> 00:43:34.880Ray Harris: Right.
41500:43:35.430 –> 00:43:42.940Cameron Reilly: It had been loaded with siege engines, siege materials, and mechanics who arrived so finally.
41600:43:43.100 –> 00:43:51.590Cameron Reilly: Yes, the Crusaders have siege engines. The thing that they’ve needed for how many months now is like December?
41700:43:52.080 –> 00:43:54.120Cameron Reilly: Doesn’t February.
41800:43:54.120 –> 00:43:54.590Ray Harris: 5 months.
41900:43:54.590 –> 00:43:58.570Cameron Reilly: 4, 4 and a bit months they’ve been sitting there.
42000:43:58.570 –> 00:43:59.600Cameron Reilly: Yeah, we did.
42100:43:59.600 –> 00:44:01.100Cameron Reilly: Thanks in the hands. Now.
42200:44:01.100 –> 00:44:03.859Ray Harris: Had stage agents now, and this.
42300:44:03.860 –> 00:44:07.710Cameron Reilly: Were provided by the Emperor, exactly tried them.
42400:44:07.710 –> 00:44:08.710Ray Harris: Right. It’s it’s.
42500:44:08.710 –> 00:44:09.570Cameron Reilly: Sort of like.
42600:44:09.570 –> 00:44:10.030Ray Harris: It’s complicated.
42700:44:10.030 –> 00:44:12.930Cameron Reilly: Yeah, wow, yeah, let’s let’s let’s we don’t
42800:44:12.930 –> 00:44:17.689Cameron Reilly: say who sent them. Let’s just you don’t do sent them really.
42900:44:17.690 –> 00:44:20.069Ray Harris: Right if you think about it. Was it was God.
43000:44:20.070 –> 00:44:25.949Cameron Reilly: You think about it? Yeah. So should we reswear our oaths of loyalty to the Emperor who saved the day.
43100:44:25.950 –> 00:44:28.840Ray Harris: No fuck. No.
43200:44:29.150 –> 00:44:46.280Ray Harris: but you’re right between between the siege materials and the mechanics who are the ones who will be operating this. This is really good news. In fact, this is such good news. Raymond and Bohemian make up Nope. That’s actually not true at all. They still fucking hate each other. In fact, they don’t trust each other so much. They both
43300:44:46.280 –> 00:45:09.140Ray Harris: go to the coast one. They want to recruit some of the men who are on these ships and 2. Obviously they both want to bring their own men to escort these materials and the mechanics back to the camp again. They’re literally keeping an eye on each other because they don’t trust each other, and in early March, on March 6th they’re on their way back to camp. But, as we said before.
43400:45:09.250 –> 00:45:11.089Ray Harris: the the troop
43500:45:14.280 –> 00:45:18.419Ray Harris: carrying Turkish units who have come out of the city once again.
43600:45:19.850 –> 00:45:20.720Cameron Reilly: Yeah.
43700:45:21.530 –> 00:45:36.430Cameron Reilly: so they get attacked. They are taken by surprise. The troops fled in panic, leaving all of the siege engines and everything else in the hands of the Turks.
43800:45:36.430 –> 00:45:38.280Ray Harris: Fuck, right.
43900:45:38.280 –> 00:45:46.569Cameron Reilly: Few stragglers rushed into camp and spread the rumor that both Raymond and Bohemon had been killed.
44000:45:48.240 –> 00:45:48.700Ray Harris: Oh, shit.
44100:45:48.700 –> 00:45:56.490Cameron Reilly: Godfrey, who had not been well. We haven’t heard much from Godfrey for a while, but Godfrey prepares his troops to go out.
44200:45:56.490 –> 00:45:56.990Ray Harris: The run.
44300:45:56.990 –> 00:46:00.460Cameron Reilly: What’s left of the left of the army.
44400:46:02.070 –> 00:46:02.880Ray Harris: Right.
44500:46:03.710 –> 00:46:05.349Cameron Reilly: While he’s going out.
44600:46:05.350 –> 00:46:05.670Ray Harris: Yeah.
44700:46:05.670 –> 00:46:06.600Cameron Reilly: Defend them.
44800:46:06.840 –> 00:46:12.040Cameron Reilly: Yogi Bear makes a sudden attack from the city against the camp
44900:46:12.200 –> 00:46:19.300Cameron Reilly: to provide cover for the raid party who are now returning with the siege engines and the rest of the booty.
45000:46:19.700 –> 00:46:20.290Ray Harris: Going, for.
45100:46:20.290 –> 00:46:32.970Cameron Reilly: His men are already armed. So they’re about to, you know. Go off to sort of support their guys. They’re able to hold back the attack as they’re doing that Raymond and Behemond appear.
45200:46:33.490 –> 00:46:34.880Cameron Reilly: But she was dead right.
45300:46:36.380 –> 00:46:37.330Ray Harris: Not today, betch.
45400:46:37.330 –> 00:46:37.819Cameron Reilly: That’s what.
45500:46:37.820 –> 00:46:38.200Ray Harris: Right.
45600:46:38.200 –> 00:46:39.480Cameron Reilly: Greatly exaggerated. Yeah.
45700:46:41.150 –> 00:46:42.429Cameron Reilly: Come back with their.
45800:46:42.580 –> 00:46:44.200Ray Harris: Surviving forces.
45900:46:44.850 –> 00:46:53.969Cameron Reilly: They’re weakened, but they’re able to help Godfrey drive the Turks back into the city. Then they united to intercept the raiders that have the.
46000:46:54.220 –> 00:46:55.030Ray Harris: Yes.
46100:46:55.150 –> 00:46:57.700Cameron Reilly: Booty and the right right.
46200:46:57.700 –> 00:47:02.960Cameron Reilly: and who aren’t able to move quickly because they’ve got the booty. So then they’re out manoeuvred.
46300:47:02.960 –> 00:47:03.360Ray Harris: Right.
46400:47:03.360 –> 00:47:11.579Cameron Reilly: And massacred as they try and reach the bridge. So the siege engine materials are recovered by the Crusaders.
46500:47:11.790 –> 00:47:17.359Cameron Reilly: It said that 1,500 Turks were killed, many of them drowned, trying to cross the river.
46600:47:17.610 –> 00:47:23.749Cameron Reilly: and among the dead were 9 Emirs. So a lot of the leadership of the Turks are dead.
46700:47:24.280 –> 00:47:31.410Cameron Reilly: and I like this story. That evening members of the Turkish garrison crept out to bear.
46800:47:31.410 –> 00:47:31.820Ray Harris: Right.
46900:47:31.820 –> 00:47:37.670Cameron Reilly: Dead in the Muslim cemetery that was on the north bank of the river. The Crusaders watched them and didn’t.
47000:47:37.670 –> 00:47:38.170Cameron Reilly: Right.
47100:47:38.170 –> 00:47:40.990Cameron Reilly: Yeah, see respect morning.
47200:47:40.990 –> 00:47:42.560Ray Harris: Respect! Oh! Oh!
47300:47:42.560 –> 00:47:43.240Cameron Reilly: All respect.
47400:47:43.240 –> 00:47:44.330Ray Harris: Sorry.
47500:47:44.510 –> 00:47:45.850Cameron Reilly: They were just tired.
47600:47:46.010 –> 00:47:48.210Cameron Reilly: The next morning they went out and.
47700:47:48.210 –> 00:47:48.620Ray Harris: Brook.
47800:47:48.620 –> 00:47:50.490Cameron Reilly: Up the corpses.
47900:47:50.490 –> 00:47:51.650Ray Harris: Look, and stole.
48000:47:51.650 –> 00:47:52.340Cameron Reilly: Can’t be right.
48100:47:52.340 –> 00:47:56.799Cameron Reilly: Gold and silver ornaments that they were buried with, because, you know, fuck.
48200:47:57.910 –> 00:48:17.379Ray Harris: Fuck a follow-up question, if I may, when Stan and Barry write the script because this is fucking awesome this right here this night alone, the fight, the going back and forth when the movie comes out in 2026, should this part of it, where they’re literally digging up corpses looking for
48300:48:17.510 –> 00:48:20.009Ray Harris: gold and silver on their bodies.
48400:48:20.190 –> 00:48:42.989Ray Harris: Do we include that? Do we feel like maybe that will get us a tougher rating? I don’t know but this is going to be. This is going to be a kick-ass movie. I just can’t wait. So they literally dig up the corpses to look corpses to look for this. So the point is, remember, way way back, when Raymond said, Hey, we should build a fortress to kind of, you know. Check some of these other gates they went well, dumbass. We don’t have any material
48500:48:42.990 –> 00:48:54.899Ray Harris: now. They’ve got materials. Now they’ve got mechanics, so they’re going to build a fortress to control the approach to the fortified bridge. So again, not a ton of food. But things are looking up.
48600:48:56.290 –> 00:49:00.909Cameron Reilly: And they called it this fortress La Mahomeri.
48700:49:01.060 –> 00:49:16.410Cameron Reilly: which was from the old French word for mosque, because it was quite close to the mosque and the burial ground as we’ve just mentioned, but it was unofficially known as the Castle of Raymond, because it was Raymond’s idea. Now I believe that’s what your house is called.
48800:49:16.560 –> 00:49:17.990Cameron Reilly: It is the conflict.
48900:49:17.990 –> 00:49:19.319Ray Harris: Payment right?
49000:49:19.320 –> 00:49:29.299Ray Harris: I used to, but the land around it is called Heather’s Hills. We don’t have to go into that, but it’s something I’m very proud of, and the Castle of Raymond was.
49100:49:29.300 –> 00:49:33.659Cameron Reilly: And, as we know, when you 1st got together with it, took you 5 years for you to.
49200:49:33.660 –> 00:49:34.559Ray Harris: You mount those hills.
49300:49:34.560 –> 00:49:35.060Cameron Reilly: Valley.
49400:49:35.060 –> 00:49:38.600Ray Harris: But I made it unlike these Crusaders.
49500:49:38.600 –> 00:49:39.169Cameron Reilly: Was it worth it.
49600:49:39.170 –> 00:49:40.180Ray Harris: I’ve been.
49700:49:40.180 –> 00:49:40.990Cameron Reilly: Betha white.
49800:49:41.230 –> 00:49:54.880Ray Harris: I’d say, Yeah, I’d say, Yeah, we’ll go into that later. I’ll show you some videos. But the point is, the Castle of Raymond was built, and it was finished by March 19.th So not in the dead of winter anymore. But food is still an issue.
49900:49:55.990 –> 00:49:59.179Cameron Reilly: Well, it’s they’re in spring now, and.
50000:49:59.180 –> 00:49:59.700Ray Harris: Forgetting.
50100:49:59.700 –> 00:50:09.460Cameron Reilly: It’s getting a little bit easier to go and forage for food. They’ve got a castle to defend themselves, to stop raiding parties coming out from the city
50200:50:09.510 –> 00:50:30.419Cameron Reilly: prevented any access to that gate out of the city. The bridge gate, but the gate of St. George, the one that backs onto the mountains is still open, so they decide to build a castle on that side of Antioch. There’s an old convent on the hill that they take over and turn into a castle. It was completed in April.
50300:50:30.760 –> 00:50:31.370Ray Harris: Yeah.
50400:50:31.370 –> 00:50:33.269Cameron Reilly: And entrusted to Tanker.
50500:50:33.420 –> 00:50:37.290Cameron Reilly: So from that moment on, by April 1098.
50600:50:37.560 –> 00:50:37.950Ray Harris: Yes.
50700:50:37.950 –> 00:50:51.730Cameron Reilly: No convoys of food are able to reach the city. Its inhabitants couldn’t send their flocks out to pasture outside of the walls on the mountainous side. Individual raiders could still climb over the walls or get
50800:50:51.730 –> 00:50:52.110Cameron Reilly: yeah.
50900:50:52.110 –> 00:51:01.219Cameron Reilly: the narrow iron gate. But there’s no longer any way for them to send out organised sorties to attack
51000:51:01.440 –> 00:51:11.980Cameron Reilly: foraging parties for the Crusaders, or to attack the Crusaders themselves. They’re locked in. The Turks are locked into Antioch. They can’t get support. They can’t get food.
51100:51:12.090 –> 00:51:15.320Cameron Reilly: they begin to suffer from hunger.
51200:51:15.590 –> 00:51:21.450Cameron Reilly: as the Crusaders are starting to be able to forage more and more with the arrival of spring.
51300:51:21.580 –> 00:51:29.429Cameron Reilly: Yeah, so. And soon after that there’s a huge consignment of food that was destined for Antioch.
51400:51:29.610 –> 00:51:32.470Cameron Reilly: Ming can fade by Christian merchants.
51500:51:33.530 –> 00:51:40.379Cameron Reilly: Tanker is able to capture that hell. Yeah, he’s like, and he’s not paying a beez it for a donkey. Now.
51600:51:40.380 –> 00:51:40.910Ray Harris: Thank you.
51700:51:40.910 –> 00:51:41.889Cameron Reilly: Which is.
51800:51:41.890 –> 00:51:42.650Ray Harris: You got a sword.
51900:51:42.650 –> 00:51:53.030Cameron Reilly: The in and the out. He’s like Motherfucker. No one else is buying your food, so either you sell it at reasonable prices, or we just kill you and take it, anyway.
52000:51:53.240 –> 00:51:53.660Ray Harris: Exactly.
52100:51:53.660 –> 00:51:59.249Cameron Reilly: So they’re in a Crusaders are in a good position. However.
52200:51:59.520 –> 00:52:12.080Cameron Reilly: at this point they still believe that Kurboga of Mosul is on his way with a huge army that he has been gathering all the way from Iraq.
52300:52:12.350 –> 00:52:22.139Cameron Reilly: So that is still the big issue. They got a little bit more food. They’ve locked down Antioch, but they still need to worry about.
52400:52:22.260 –> 00:52:24.960Cameron Reilly: and we will talk about what happens next.
52500:52:25.200 –> 00:52:27.839Cameron Reilly: In the next episode.
The post Renaissance #210 – Jesus Starves (The Crusades part 19) appeared first on The Renaissance Times.