dinous tribes that owed him allegiance, and with an
army which, according to a moderate calculation, amounted to two
hundred thousand men, chiefly cavalry, he fell upon the first division
of the Christian host in the valley of Dorylaeum. It was early in the
morning of the 1st of July 1097, when the crusaders saw the first
companies of the Turkish horsemen pouring down upon them from the
hills. Bohemund had hardly time to set himself in order, and transport
his sick and helpless to the rear, when the overwhelming force of the
Orientals was upon him. The Christian army, composed principally of men
on foot, gave way on all sides, and the hoofs of the Turkish steeds,
and the poisoned arrows of their bowmen, mowed them down by hundreds.
After having lost the flower of their chivalry, the Christians
retreated upon their baggage, when a dreadful slaughter took place.
Neither women nor children, nor the sick, were spared. Just as they
were reduced to the last extremity, Godfrey of Bouillon and the Count
of Toulouse made their appearance on the field, and turned the tide of
battle. After an obstinate engagement the Turks fled, and their rich
camp fell into the bands of the enemy. The loss of the crusaders
amounted to about four thousand men, with several chiefs of renown,
among whom were Count Robert of Paris and William the brother of
Tancred. The loss of the Turks, which did not exceed this number,
taught them to pursue a different mode of warfare. The Sultan was far
from being defeated. With his still gigantic army, he laid waste all
the country on either side of the crusaders. The latter, who were
unaware of the tactics of the enemy, found plenty of provisions in the
Turkish camp; but so far from economizing these resources, they gave
themselves up for several days to the most unbounded extravagance. They
soon paid dearly for their heedlessness. In the ravaged country of
Phrygia, through which they advanced towards Antiochetta, they suffered
dreadfully for want of food for themselves and pasture for their
cattle. Above them was a scorching sun, almost sufficient of itself to
dry up the freshness of the land, a task which the firebrands of the
Sultan had but too surely effected, and water was not to be had after
the first day of their march. The pilgrims died at the rate of five
hundred a-day. The horses of the knights perished on the road, and the
baggage which they had aided to transport, was either placed upon dogs,
sheep,