The Siege of Antioch, 1097-98: Starvation and the Holy Lance

Written by Simon Williams

The Siege of Antioch lasted eight brutal months and nearly destroyed the First Crusade through starvation and desertion, before a secret betrayal let the crusaders inside. Days later they found themselves besieged in turn, saved only by a disputed relic and a desperate final battle.

• Siege began: 20 October 1097
• City taken: 3 June 1098
• Crusader inside man: Firouz, an Armenian commander of the Gate of Two Sisters
• Relief army: Led by Kerbogha of Mosul, arrived within days of the city's capture
• Disputed relic: The Holy Lance, discovered by Peter Bartholomew in June 1098
• Outcome: Principality of Antioch established under Bohemond of Taranto

By the winter of 1097, the crusading army camped outside Antioch's walls was dying by inches. One source claims that as many as one in five crusaders had already died of starvation, their horses reduced from thousands to a few hundred, and desertions had become a regular, demoralising occurrence among a force meant to be marching to Jerusalem, not slowly starving to death outside a Syrian city.

What followed was one of the strangest reversals of the entire crusading era. A secret betrayal finally let the crusaders inside Antioch's walls, only for a new Turkish relief army to arrive within days and besiege the exhausted crusaders in turn, trapping them inside the very city they had just spent eight months trying to capture.

This is the story of how an army that should have collapsed from hunger and despair instead fought its way through one of the most improbable sieges of the medieval world, and the disputed relic that some crusaders credited with saving them.

A City Too Strong to Storm

Antioch presented the crusading army with defences unlike anything it had previously faced on the march from Constantinople. The city's walls, studded with hundreds of towers and running for miles across difficult terrain, were far too extensive for the crusaders to fully encircle, and the garrison inside was well prepared for a long siege. Rather than attempt a direct assault against such formidable fortifications, the crusader leadership settled in for a blockade beginning on 20 October 1097, a decision that would cost them far more than anyone anticipated at the time.

The siege dragged on through the winter of 1097 into 1098, with the surrounding countryside steadily stripped bare of food by both the besieging army and the city's foraging defenders, leaving neither side with an easy path to victory and both facing a long, grinding contest of endurance rather than a quick decision, with reinforcement for either side uncertain and far away.

Starvation Outside the Walls

Conditions in the crusader camp deteriorated badly as the siege wore on. The chronicler Matthew of Edessa later claimed that as many as one in five crusaders died of starvation during the siege, and the army's horses, essential for both scouting and battle, dwindled from an initial force of thousands down to roughly seven hundred by the time the siege finally broke, a devastating loss for an army that depended on cavalry.

Morale collapsed alongside the food supply. Notable figures including Peter the Hermit, who had led the earlier and disastrous People's Crusade, and the knight William the Carpenter attempted to desert the army in January 1098, and were only reluctantly persuaded or forced to return. The Byzantine commander Tatikios, who had accompanied the crusade as an imperial representative, abandoned the siege entirely in February 1098 after his repeated advice to shift to a long-distance blockade was ignored by the crusader leadership.

Bohemond's Inside Man

The breakthrough, when it finally came, owed nothing to military force. Bohemond of Taranto, one of the crusade's most capable and ambitious leaders, made secret contact with Firouz, an Armenian Christian officer who commanded a tower along Antioch's wall known as the Gate of Two Sisters. In exchange for promises Bohemond had negotiated, largely centred on his own future control of the city, Firouz agreed to open his section of the wall to the crusaders under cover of darkness.

On the night of 2 to 3 June 1098, Firouz's betrayal let crusader troops climb into the city while most of its defenders slept. Once inside, they threw open the gates to the rest of the army, and a chaotic massacre of the city's Turkish garrison and population followed as the crusaders finally took the city they had besieged for eight exhausting months, a victory that owed almost nothing to the siege tactics they had actually planned for.

Besieged by the Besiegers

The crusaders' triumph lasted barely two days. A massive relief army led by Kerbogha, the Turkish governor of Mosul, arrived outside Antioch almost immediately after its capture, trapping the crusaders inside the very walls they had just fought so hard to breach, now with badly depleted supplies of their own and no time to properly resupply the city before the new siege began.

Despair set in quickly. Stephen of Blois, one of the crusade's senior leaders, had already left the siege before the city fell and, upon seeing Kerbogha's enormous relief force from a nearby vantage point, concluded the crusade was doomed. Travelling back toward Constantinople, Stephen met the Byzantine emperor Alexios, who was marching to reinforce the crusaders, and convinced him that the entire crusading army was as good as dead, an act of pessimism that caused Alexios to turn back rather than come to their aid at what would have been a critical moment.

The Holy Lance and the Battle

With the crusaders trapped and starving once again, this time inside the city rather than outside it, a pilgrim named Peter Bartholomew claimed a series of visions revealing the location of the Holy Lance, the relic believed to have pierced the side of Christ during the Crucifixion, hidden beneath the floor of the Church of Saint Peter. The lance was duly unearthed in June 1098, and whatever its true origin, its discovery produced a dramatic surge in crusader morale at exactly the moment it was needed most, when despair might otherwise have taken hold entirely.

On 28 June 1098, the crusading army marched out of Antioch to face Kerbogha's forces directly, carrying the newly discovered lance as a standard. Despite being significantly outnumbered, the crusaders' charge scattered Kerbogha's lightly armed cavalry, and disputes and desertions within the Turkish coalition compounded the rout, leading to a decisive crusader victory that broke the siege for good and secured the city.

A Discredited Relic, A New Principality

The Holy Lance's authenticity never went unchallenged. Rival lances already existed in Constantinople and among the Holy Roman Emperors' regalia, and scepticism about Peter Bartholomew's visions grew as he continued producing them and attacking respected figures within the crusader leadership. On 8 April 1099, Peter agreed to an ordeal by fire to prove his claims, walking between two piles of blazing wood while carrying the lance. He survived the passage itself but died from his injuries on 20 April, a death his critics treated as God's verdict on the relic's authenticity, though his supporters continued to defend both Peter and the lance regardless of how his final days had unfolded.

Antioch itself became the seat of a new Crusader state, the Principality of Antioch, ruled by Bohemond of Taranto in reward for his decisive role in the city's capture. Readers wanting to explore the wider network of figures, sieges, and castles from this campaign will find further reading in the Histories and Castles Crusades collection, alongside a free illustrated guide to Richard the Lionheart.

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This article is part of the Crusades series. Read all articles at https://historiesandcastles.com/blogs/the-crusades.

Deepen Your Understanding

→ The History of the Crusades: the full sweep of the crusading era, from Urban II's call at Clermont to the fall of Acre in 1291

→ The Siege of Jerusalem, 1099: the siege that followed Antioch's capture, bringing the First Crusade to its final objective a year later

→ The Crusader Kingdoms: Daily Life in Outremer: the wider network of states, including the Principality of Antioch founded after this siege, that made up Outremer

→ Godfrey of Bouillon: The Crusader Who Refused a Crown: the crusader leader who marched with the army through the Antioch campaign toward Jerusalem

→ The People's Crusade: Peter the Hermit's March to Disaster: the earlier, unofficial crusade Peter the Hermit led before rejoining the army at this siege

→ Pope Urban II: The Pope Who Launched the Crusades: the pope whose 1095 call set this entire campaign, including the siege at Antioch, in motion

People Also Ask

How long did the Siege of Antioch last?

The Siege of Antioch lasted approximately eight months, beginning on 20 October 1097 and ending with the city's capture on 3 June 1098. The crusaders spent most of that time in a costly blockade, unable to fully encircle or storm the city's extensive fortifications, and conditions in their camp deteriorated badly from starvation and disease as the siege dragged on through the winter months, killing a significant share of the besieging army before it ever reached the walls or fired a single arrow at the defenders.

How did the crusaders finally capture Antioch?

The crusaders captured Antioch through betrayal rather than direct assault. Bohemond of Taranto secretly negotiated with Firouz, an Armenian Christian officer who commanded a section of the city's wall known as the Gate of Two Sisters, and on the night of 2 to 3 June 1098, Firouz allowed crusader troops to climb into the city, after which they opened the gates to the rest of the army and overran the garrison in a chaotic night assault that ended eight months of fruitless siege warfare.

What was the Holy Lance found at Antioch?

The Holy Lance was a relic believed to be the spear that pierced the side of Christ during the Crucifixion, discovered in June 1098 beneath the Church of Saint Peter in Antioch following visions reported by a pilgrim named Peter Bartholomew. Its discovery significantly boosted crusader morale at a critical moment when the army was besieged in turn by Kerbogha's relief force, though its authenticity was disputed from the start, given the existence of rival lances already held in Constantinople and among the Holy Roman Emperors' regalia.

What happened to Peter Bartholomew after the Holy Lance was found?

As scepticism grew about his continuing visions and attacks on respected crusader leaders, Peter Bartholomew agreed to an ordeal by fire on 8 April 1099 to prove the Holy Lance's authenticity, walking between two piles of blazing wood while carrying the relic. He survived the passage itself but died from his injuries on 20 April, a death his critics treated as clear evidence against the lance's legitimacy, though his remaining supporters continued to defend both Peter and the relic even after his death.

What happened to Antioch after the crusaders captured it?

Following its capture, Antioch became the seat of a new Crusader state, the Principality of Antioch, ruled by Bohemond of Taranto in recognition of his decisive role in negotiating the city's fall. The principality became one of the four Crusader Kingdoms that made up Outremer, and it endured, through numerous later conflicts, until the wider collapse of crusader rule in the region in the late thirteenth century brought the whole of Outremer, and this campaign's legacy with it, to its final end.

Primary Sources and Further Reading

• Raymond of Aguilers: Historia Francorum qui ceperunt Iherusalem, an eyewitness chronicle by a chaplain who marched with the crusade and was a firm believer in the Holy Lance's authenticity, providing a detailed first-hand account of the siege and the lance's discovery.
• Gesta Francorum: "The Deeds of the Franks", an anonymous eyewitness account by a participant in the First Crusade, another key primary source for the siege and the subsequent battle against Kerbogha.
• Asbridge, Thomas (2000): The Creation of the Principality of Antioch, 1098–1130, Boydell Press. A detailed modern academic study of the siege's aftermath and the Crusader state it produced.

Note: the true origin and authenticity of the Holy Lance, along with the precise sincerity or otherwise of Peter Bartholomew's visions, were disputed even among contemporaries and remain a genuinely open question in modern scholarship rather than a settled fact. This article presents the widely accepted narrative of events while treating the relic's authenticity as a matter of ongoing historical debate.

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