The Battle of Dorylaeum took place during the First Crusade on July 1, 1097, between the crusaders and the Seljuk Turks, near Dorylaeum in Anatolia.

Background

The crusaders had left Nicaea on June 26, with a deep distrust of the Byzantines, who had taken the city without their knowledge after a long siege. They had split into two groups: Bohemund of Taranto, his nephew Tancred, Robert Curthose, Robert of Flanders, and the Byzantine general Taticius in the vanguard, and Godfrey of Bouillon, his brother Baldwin of Boulogne, Raymond IV of Toulouse, Stephen, and Hugh of Vermandois in the rear.

On June 29 they learned that the Turks were planning an ambush near Dorylaeum. The Turkish force, consisting of Kilij Arslan I and his ally Hasan of Cappadocia, along with help from the Danishmendids, the Persians, and the Caucasian Albanians, numbered about 150 000 men according to Raymond of Aguilers (Fulcher of Chartres gives the exaggerated number of 360 000).

Battle

On July 1 Bohemund's force was surrounded outside Dorylaeum by Kilij Arslan. Godfrey and Raymond had separated from the vanguard at Leuce. Bohemund gathered the foot-soldiers and the non-combatants into the centre of the camp; the women acted as water-carriers throughout the battle. The Turkish mounted archers attacked in their usual style - charging in, firing their arrows, and quickly retreating before the crusaders could counterattack. The archers did little damage to the heavily armoured knights, but they inflicted heavy casualties on the horses and unarmoured foot soldiers.

Later in the morning Godfrey, Raymond, and Hugh arrived, after receiving a message from Bohemund. The relieving force broke through the Turkish ranks, allowing the crusaders to join their armies in a single line of battle against the Turks; Bohemund, Tancred, Robert of Normandy, and Stephen formed the left wing, with Raymond, Robert of Flanders in the centre and Godfrey, Robert of Flanders, and Hugh on the right. They rallied agains the Turks, proclaiming "hodie omnes divites si Deo placet effecti eritis" ("today if it pleases God you will all become rich"). However, they were unable to dislodge the Turks until Adhemar of Le Puy's force arrived, outflanking the archers on the left. Adhemar captured the Turkish camp, abandoned by the panicked troops whom Kilij Arslan could not prevent from retreating.

Aftermath

The crusaders did indeed become rich, at least for a short time, after capturing Kilij Arslan's treasury. The Turks fled and Arslan turned to other concerns in his eastern territory, and the crusaders were allowed to march virtually unopposed through Anatolia on their way to Antioch. It took almost three months to cross Anatolia in the heat of the summer, and in October they began the siege of Antioch.

Second battle of Dorylaeum

The second Battle of Dorylaeum took place at Dorylaeum on October 25, 1147, during the Second Crusade. Conrad III, running out of provisions, stopped there to rest, and his army was annihilated by the Turks. The Germans were unable to continue the Crusade, and Conrad made his way to the army led by Louis VII of France, although the Crusade eventually failed completely.

Sources

• Albert of Aix, Historia Hierosolymitana
• Fulcher of Chartres, Historia Hierosolymitana
• Gesta Francorum
• Hans E. Mayer, The Crusades. Oxford, 1965.
• Raymond of Aguilers, Historia francorum qui ceperunt Jerusalem
• Jonathan Riley-Smith , The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading. Philadelphia, 1999.
• Steven Runciman, The First Crusaders, 1095-1131. Cambridge University Press, 1951.
• Kenneth Setton, ed., A History of the Crusades. Madison, 1969-1989 (available online).