e First Crusade
succeeded in crossing Asia Minor, which the Crusades of 1101, 1147 and
1189 failed to accomplish. A _politique_, Bohemund was resolved to
engineer the enthusiasm of the crusaders to his own ends; and when his
nephew Tancred left the main army at Heraclea, and attempted to
establish a footing in Cilicia, the movement may have been already
intended as a preparation for Bohemund's eastern principality. Bohemund
was the first to get into position before Antioch (October 1097), and he
took a great part in the siege, beating off the Mahommedan attempts at
relief from the east, and connecting the besiegers on the west with the
port of St Simeon and the Italian ships which lay there. The capture of
Antioch was due to his connexion with Firuz, one of the commanders in
the city; but he would not bring matters to an issue until the
possession of the city was assured him (May 1098), under the terror of
the approach of Kerbogha with a great army of relief, and with a
reservation in favour of Alexius, if Alexius should fulfil his promise
to aid the crusaders. But Bohemund was not secure in the possession of
Antioch, even after its surrender and the defeat of Kerbogha; he had to
make good his claims against Raymund of Toulouse, who championed the
rights of Alexius. He obtained full possession in January 1099, and
stayed in the neighbourhood of Antioch to secure his position, while the
other crusaders moved southward to the capture of Jerusalem. He came to
Jerusalem at Christmas 1099, and had Dagobert of Pisa elected as
patriarch, perhaps in order to check the growth of a strong Lotharingian
power in the city. It might seem in 1100 that Bohemund was destined to
found a great principality in Antioch, which would dwarf Jerusalem; he
had a fine territory, a good strategical position and a strong army. But
he had to face two great forces--the East Roman empire, which claimed
the whole of his territories and was supported in its claim by Raymund
of Toulouse, and the strong Mahommedan principalities in the north-east
of Syria. Against these two forces he failed. In 1100 he was captured by
Danishmend of Sivas, and he languished in prison till 1103. Tancred took
his place; but meanwhile Raymund established himself with the aid of
Alexius in Tripoli, and was able to check the expansion of Antioch to
the south. Ransomed in 1103 by the generosity of an Armenian prince,
Bohemund made it his first object to attack the neighbouring Mah