Capture of Jerusalem

After a month of siege punctuated by unsuccessful assaults, the crusaders relaunched the attack on July 15, 1099: the siege tower moved during the night by Godfrey and Tancred opened a breach near the gate of Saint-Étienne, while Raymond of Saint-Gilles fixed the defenders on Mount Sion. The Frankish troops then swept through the northern districts and, after two days of street fighting and massacres, Jerusalem fell, marking the triumphant completion of the First Crusade.

The march from Antioch to Jerusalem, marked by the capture of Arqa and the crossing of the coast, ended in June 1099 in front of a city recaptured by the Fatimids the previous year. The crusaders suffered cruelly from thirst and had to draw water from Bethlehem; However, a Genoese convoy landed in Jaffa brought wood, craftsmen and provisions. Penitential processions, command disputes between Raymond and Bohemond and the installation of catapults punctuated the siege before Iftikhar ad-Dawla refused any surrender.

The crusaders combined engineering and discipline: two siege towers were erected with the wood transported from Jaffa, then, on the advice of Genoese carpenters, Godfrey discreetly moved his towards the northwest sector, less well defended. The final assault combines covering fire from the mangonels, archers posted on the tower and simultaneous climbing of ladders. After the capture of the rampart, the knights broke through towards the Temple in tight columns while Raymond maintained a constant threat on the Zion Gate to prevent any coordinated counterattack.

The fall of Jerusalem led to the creation of the Latin kingdom: Godfrey accepted the title of “advocate of the Holy Sepulcher” and installed a mixed garrison around the Temple, while the Latin patriarchy was restored and the major relics were distributed among the princes. The massacre of the Muslim and Jewish inhabitants lastingly shocked the Middle East and pushed the Fatimid vizier Al-Afdal to raise the army which would confront the crusaders at Ascalon a few weeks later; the echo of victory triggered in the West the preaching of the crusade of 1101.