Antioch, Syria, June 28, 1098

The large battle that was fought on this day constituted the great turning point of the First Crusade (1096-1099). The Christian army had besieged the city of Antioch for almost eight months before a renegade let them into the city on June 3.

Only two days later, a large Muslim relief army under the command of Kerbogha of Mosul arrived. The former besiegers were now themselves besieged within the city walls, and were not even in control of the citadel. The supply situation in the Crusader army had been desperate even before it was barred from the countryside, and no new supplies were found inside the city.² In this situation, on the brink of total annihilation, a number of visionaries emerged among the poor pilgrims and civilians that accompanied the armed Crusaders. Among them was Peter Bartholomew, a Frenchman of dubious reputation, who convinced some of the leaders that the Holy Lance of Christ was buried beneath the floor of the cathedral. Workmen then dug an

¹ This contribution is an outgrowth of the research project at the University of Copenhagen, headed by Peter Fibiger Bang: Rome in the World History of Universal Empire, financed by the Danish Council for Independent Research (Det Frie Forskningsrad). Among medieval historians there is a growing interest in global perspectives. My chapter, here, seeks to join these efforts. But unlike the perspective employed in e.g. The Global Middle Ages (Past & Present, 2018) the argument does not focus on connectivity and cross-cultural cultural borrowings. Instead, it high-lights similarities in cultural and political structures generated by comparatively similar development, ultimately caused by the logic and limitations of agrarianate societies.

² Bachrach 1999.

Jacob Tullberg, Caliphs, Popes, Emperors, Kings, and Sultans In: The Oxford World History ofEmpire.

Edited by: Peter Fibiger Bang, C.A. Bayly, Walter Scheidel, Oxford University Press (2021). © Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197532768.003.0021. excavation several feet down under the church floor, into which Peter Bartholomew descended and miraculously “found” the Holy Lance.^{^[1562]}

Even if some leaders remained unconvinced about the authenticity of the lance, most commoners seem to have been enthusiastic, and everyone realized that if the army were to have any chance of success, or simply just survival, it had to fight an open battle immediately against Kerbogha. From a purely military point of view, the odds were extremely unfavorable. Kerbogha's army was much larger than anything the Crusaders had encountered so far, and probably had a larger number of soldiers than the total number of knights, foot soldiers, servants, and poor civilians inside the walls. To this we can add the desperate provisional situation of the besieged. Not only people were starved, most animals had also been slaughtered, and the number of warhorses fit for fight was as low as 150-200. However, when the Christians deployed in six contingents outside the walls and advanced toward their enemy, Kerbogha's army disintegrated completely. Many large units retreated even before they came in close contact with the Crusaders; the rest were roundly beaten and fled in panic. For the victors, who also captured rich treasures and supplies, this was nothing less than another miracle, a sign of providence and justification for the entire venture.

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Source: Bang Peter F., Bayly C.A., Scheidel Walter (eds.). The Oxford World History of Empire. Volume Two: The History of Empires. Oxford University Press,2020. — 1352 p.. 2020

Antioch, Syria, June 28, 1098

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