Battle of Heraclea

In mid-August 1101, the contingents led by William IX of Aquitaine, Stephen of Blois and Hugh of Vermandois were surprised near Heraclea of ​​Cappadocia: forced to cross a narrow gorge, they were surrounded by Kilij Arslan and his Danishmendide allies. After two days of harassing combat, the crusader columns gave way, the cavalry was isolated and the army was almost wiped out, with only a handful of lords reaching the Byzantine asylum of Germanicaea.

This first army of the crusade of 1101 had taken Ancyra with Byzantine support before setting out towards Cilicia, hoping to join the prisoner Bohemond and free Antioch. The leaders ignored the disappearance of the Turkish scouts and advanced without cohesion through the foothills of the Taurus, exhausted by the heat and the shortage of forage. Kilij Arslan, reconstituted after 1097, coordinated his horsemen with the emir of Danishmend to occupy the passes around Heraclea and cut off the water points.

Kilij Arslan alternates feints of retreat and incessant harassment: mounted archers maintain a curtain of arrows while heavier groups cut the rearguard and seize the convoys. When the Western cavalry charged, the Turks dispersed and then closed the net in the ravines. The Franks, deprived of water, tried to form an entrenched camp, but the fires lit by the Turks and the loss of livestock caused the line to break and the knights to be massively captured.

The destruction of this first contingent caused the death of Hugh of Vermandois and the shameful flight of Stephen of Blois, whose reputation was irreparably damaged. The Seljuks recovered weapons, mounts and considerable ransoms, ensuring control of the Anatolian plateaus. The news of the debacle, transmitted to Constantinople, undermined the trust between the following crusaders and the emperor Alexis I, who hesitated to provide new guides.