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Bohemond, who had his hands full fighting the Turks, also had to deal with the Byzantines. Emperor Alexius demanded that the Franks hand over the towns they had liberated from the Turks, reminding them of the oath [496] they had sworn to him. When Bohemond refused, Alexius resorted to force and sent his fleet, commanded by Contacuzenus, to Laodicea to challenge him. Contacuzenus laid siege to the city, occupying the harbor, and immediately erected a citadel and chain of towers to keep the Franks' ships from leaving or entering. With Laodicea under siege, he tried to recover the fortresses of Argyrocastron, M'Arqab, and Gabala, which had formerly paid tribute to the Muslims, extending up to the border with Tripoli. Alexius had also sent a land force under Monastras, but before it reached Laodicea, Contacuzenus captured the harbor, although the citadel was still held by a Frankish force of 500 foot soldiers and 100 horsemen. Alarmed, Bohemond took his remaining men and hurried to Laodicea, where he had a futile meeting with Contacuzenus. Bohemond's force attacked the city; he was driven back by the Byzantines but forced his way into the citadel and brought provisions to the beleaguered Frankish garrison, then returned to Antioch, perhaps thinking there was no reason to doubt the loyalty of the men in the garrison (69). Fortunately for the Byzantines, the people of many towns in Cilicia revolted because of their bad treatment and expelled their Frankish garrisons. Monastras took advantage of the situation to occupy Longinia, Tarsus, Adana, and Mamistra (70).
The loss of these towns (especially Laodicea) concerned Bohemond, for he had no viable land or sea force to challenge both the Byzantines and the Turks. Meanwhile Raymond of Saint-Gilles, an ally of Emperor Alexius, was expanding his territories to the south of the principality of Antioch. With his army (which had suffered great losses at Harran) challenged by the Byzantines and his financial resources depleted, Bohemond realized that he had no choice but to go to the West to seek men and money, then return to the East to fight both the Turks and the Byzantines. He held a council in Antioch at the Church of St. Peter and invited Tancred. He explained that he was returning to Europe and had appointed his nephew Tancred to govern the principality of Antioch in his absence. In the autumn of 1104, he sailed for Italy, accompanied by his friend Patriarch Daimbert, and reportedly took with him a great number of jewels and precious gifts and a copy of the Gesta Francorum (71). Bohemond arrived in Bari in January 1105. He may [497] have visited Pope Paschal I with Daimbert and obtained his approval to conduct a crusade against Emperor Alexius (72). He went in March 1106 to France, where he married Constance, daughter of King Philip I (1060-1108) (73). Matthew of Edessa reports that the widow of Stephen of Blois asked Bohemond to take her as his wife, and when he refused, she had him thrown in chains. After several days, he finally gave in and married her (74).
Most of the time Bohemond was busy recruiting men for a new expedition. He returned to Apulia at the end of 1106 with a great number of men—French, Italians, Spanish, English, and Germans. Marching through Byzantine territory with his men, he attacked Durazzo (Dyrrachium), a Byzantine citadel on the Adriatic (75). But his expedition failed miserably, due to shortness of food and provisions, sickness among his men, and most of all a lack of sea power. Overwhelmed by Alexius's force, Bohemond surrendered and accepted the Peace of Devol, dictated by the emperor, whereby he would become the emperor's vassal and return all the towns he had captured in the East. He also agreed to the replacement of the Latin patriarch of Antioch by a Byzantine cleric. Finally, he pledged to fight against his nephew Tancred if he refused the conditions of this treaty. Bohemond swore solemnly on the cross that he would fulfill the provisions of the agreement (76). Thus, his hope of establishing a great Norman empire in the East was shattered. After his abject surrender he never returned to the East. The saga of this distinguished Norman ended when he fell ill and died at Apulia on March 7, 1111, leaving an heir, Bohemond II, by his wife Constance (77).
When Tancred went to Antioch in 1104 to take charge of his uncle's principality, he left in his place his cousin Richard of Salerno (Richard of the Principate) as count of Edessa (1104-1108). In Tancred's absence, [498] Richard treated the people of Edessa badly (78). According to Syriac sources, he was wicked, tyrannical, and avaricious. He humiliated and imprisoned many townspeople. He committed atrocities, despite being only a temporary ruler and not the true lord of Edessa (79). Many Armenians were dissatisfied with the way the Franks were treating them. Ibn al-Qalanisi states that when Tancred was at war with Fakhr al-Muluk Ridwan, the Turkish Seljukid lord of Aleppo (1095-1113), the Armenians of Artah, seeking to help Fakhr al-Mulk ibn Ammar, lord of Tripoli, against the Franks, delivered their town to Ridwan because of the grievous tyranny and injustice inflicted upon them by the Franks (80).
Although most sources do not specify what the Franks did, Matthew of Edessa describes their mistreatment of the Armenians in the town of Ablastain (Albistan, Arabissus, in West Armenia) in 1105-1106, after Richard of Salerno, the new count of Edessa, became involved in a conflict with Jekermish, Turkish lord of Mosul. The people of Ablastain, he says, suffered so much from the harassment and molestations of the Franks that they allied themselves to the "infidels" and secretly sent a messenger to ask the Turks to occupy their town. At the same time, they told the Frankish commander to leave the town before the Turks attacked it. On hearing this demand, he became furious and turned against the people, but he was defeated and most of his men were slaughtered. The Frankish forces killed as many as three hundred townspeople in a day. They devastated the country, and the land became desolate; vineyards withered, fields were covered with thistles, and springs dried up. Still worse, because of the Franks' heinous deeds, friendship and happiness gave way to hatred and discontent. Not even the church was immune to their evildoing. Churches were closed and people stopped going to them to pray. Altars and baptismal fonts were destroyed, and priests were humiliated and imprisoned. The mysteries of the Cross were hidden from view, and the fragrant incense used during holy services disappeared. Chapels were destroyed and priests scorned. Truth was subverted, righteousness rejected, and the dreadful judgment of Christ forgotten. All of these abominations, says Matthew, were caused by the raving Franks, whose leadership had passed into the hands of unworthy men. [499] His description of the hideous acts of the Franks recalls the lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah (81).
Baldwin of Le Bourg, who had been taken captive in 1104 by Sukman, the lord of Mardin, was kidnapped shortly afterwards by Jekermish and then fell into the hands of another Turk, Chavli (Jawli) Saqaveh, who ruled Mosul briefly in 1107. The Seljuk Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad, viewing Chavli as a threat, commissioned his general Sharaf al-Din Mawdud to take the city from him. Needing money and allies to fight Mawdud, Chavli left Mosul for Qal'at Ja'bar (Ja'bar Fortress) on the Euphrates, taking Baldwin with him. It was about this time that Joscelin I of Courtenay, lord of Tall Bashir, gained his freedom and tried to have Baldwin released. Michael Rabo says that a group of men from Tall Bashir, evidently Armenians, made a deal with Joscelin's captors to let him go; they themselves would stay as hostages until he returned with the ransom. The captors put the hostages in prison, awaiting Joscelin's return, but they made a hole in the prison wall and escaped. Thus, Joscelin gained his freedom without paying ransom (82).
Ibn al-Athir says Joscelin ransomed himself by paying 20,000 dinars, but gives no details. He adds that Chavli gave Baldwin gifts and released him with the proviso that he would pay a sum of money as ransom, support Chavli with money and men, and free the Muslim captives in his prison. When Chavli was sure that these conditions had been met, he sent Baldwin to Qal'at Ja'bar and delivered him to the hands of its governor, Salim ibn Malik. Soon Joscelin came to Qal'at Ja'bar and offered himself as a hostage in place of Baldwin, who was released and went to Antioch. Chavli later took Joscelin's brother-in-law and Baldwin's brother-in-law as hostages, and released Joscelin to urge Baldwin to fulfill the conditions he had imposed. But while Joscelin was on his way to Antioch, he attacked and pillaged Manbij. Some of Chavli's men, traveling with Joscelin, reproached him for his perfidy, but he answered that the city of Manbij did not belong to them (83). Bar Hebraeus says that after gaining his freedom, Joscelin immediately sought to ransom Baldwin. Realizing Chavli was in dire need of money, he reached an agreement whereby he would pay 30,000 dinars to free Baldwin, who then would release the Muslim captives in Edessa. The [500] agreement also stipulated that Baldwin would support Chavli with men and war materials against the Seljuks (84).
Other Syriac sources give a different account of how Joscelin ransomed Baldwin of Le Bourg. Through the mediation of the Muslim lord of Qal'at Ja'bar, Baldwin's ransom was fixed at 70,000 dinars. Joscelin managed to collect only part of this sum (Michael Rabo says 30,000 dinars, the Amonymous Edessan says 25,000). He delivered the money to the lord of Qal'at Ja'bar, offering himself as a hostage until he could come up with the rest of the ransom. When the lord of Mosul (Chavli) heard of this offer, he was anxious to see Joscelin, who he had heard was handsome and valiant. The lord of Qal'at Ja'bar gave Joscelin clothes, a horse, and Frankish arms, and sent him to Mosul. On seeing him, Chavli was so taken by his handsome figure that he reduced Baldwin's ransom by 10,000 dinars; Joscelin gratefully kissed the ground before him, and Chavli responded by reducing the ransom another 10,000 dinars. Then he invited Joscelin to a sumptuous feast. The next morning, the lord of Mosul went out in a parade with his army and (after having him disarmed) ordered Joscelin to ride with him. When the people saw how handsome and majestic Joscelin was, they were overwhelmed, and for this the lord of Mosul excused him from paying the remainder of Baldwin's ransom. Chavli showed Joscelin great kindness. They swore they would not fight each other so long as they lived, but rather help each other in time of need. Chavli gave Joscelin gifts, remitted the whole of Baldwin's ransom, and let Joscelin depart in safety (85).
Thus Baldwin of Le Bourg gained his freedom in 1108 after nearly five years of captivity. Surprisingly, although Joscelin strove to have Baldwin ransomed and released, Tancred and Bohemond did not trouble themselves to help him. Their indifference shows their jealousy and their ambition for power and possessions. Perhaps they considered Baldwin's captivity of great benefit to them (86). The Anonymous Edessan says that no one was concerned about the fate of Baldwin of Le Bourg and Joscelin, especially [501] Tancred, who resented them, and Richard of the Principate, who held their lands and used them as he liked (87).
Proving that politics makes strange bedfellows, the Muslim Turks now became allies of the Franks. Following his release, Baldwin went to Antioch to ask Tancred to return the principality of Edessa. Tancred refused, saying he had administered Edessa for four years and it would be difficult for him to give it up. He may have hoped to add Edessa and most of Cilicia to his principality. Seeking to pacify Baldwin and determined to keep Edessa, he offered him aid in the form of weapons and horses and (according to Ibn al-Athir) 30,000 dinars (88). Furious, Baldwin left Antioch and went to Tall Bashir to meet with Joscelin. Tancred followed him there, hoping to reconcile with him, but realized that he had no choice but to fight the joint forces of Baldwin and Joscelin if Baldwin insisted on keeping Edessa. The parties tried but failed to solve the problem through negotiations, and Tancred returned to Antioch. William of Tyre reports that Bernard, the Latin patriarch of Antioch, tried to reconcile Baldwin and Tancred and seemed for a while to have succeeded (89).
Ibn al-Athir also says that the patriarch, honored by his own people as Muslims honor an Imam, acted as peacemaker between the two parties. On September 18, 1108, he said that each man should return in peace to his principality. But when Baldwin returned to Edessa, he showed great tolerance and gratitude toward his new ally Chavli by releasing and arming 160 Muslim captives, mostly from the district of Aleppo. On September 28, 1108, he crossed the Euphrates to deliver the captives and money to Chavli, and on the way he released more Muslim captives from Harran and other towns. At about this time Baldwin became involved in a conflict over religious issues. There were 300 Muslims in Saruj, and Chavli had rebuilt their mosques. But when the Muslim lord of Saruj recanted Islam and embraced Christianity, Chavli's followers were enraged and beat him for abandoning and vilifying Islam. The Muslims and Franks were sharply divided because of this apostate. On learning of the controversy, Baldwin of Le Bourg [502] declared that the man was of no worth to the Franks or the Muslims and had him killed (90).
The peace between Baldwin and Tancred, effected by the good will of the Latin patriarch of Antioch, could not eradicate their feelings of animosity or prevent armed conflict between them. Baldwin called on Chavli to join him in his struggle against Tancred, and he complied (91). He found another strong ally in Kogh Vasil (Basil), the Armenian lord of Kesum and Ra'ban (d. 1112), with whom he had amicable relations and through whose efforts in fact he had been ransomed. When Baldwin asked for help in reclaiming Edessa, Kogh Vasil provided him with 1000 horsemen and 2000 foot soldiers (92). With Kogh Vasil on his side, Baldwin and Joscelin asked Chavli to join them in fighting Tancred, an action Matthew of Edessa calls a "wicked thing, something which was not pleasing in the eyes of God" (93). Ironically, Tancred sought the help of another Turk, Ridwan of Aleppo. In September 1108 the forces of Baldwin and Joscelin met those of Tancred and Ridwan near Manbij, on the road between Edessa and Aleppo. Tancred was victorious in the fierce battle that followed; Baldwin fled, taking refuge at the fortress of Ravendan (Rawandan), while Joscelin took shelter in Tall Bashir (94). It is estimated that the Christian forces lost about 2000 men (95).
When the people of Edessa learned of Baldwin's defeat, they were saddened, thinking he had died and fearing that Tancred or Richard of Salerno might be encouraged to take control of Edessa. They held a meeting at St. John's Church, attended by the Frankish chief priest Papios, to decide who should be lord of Edessa. While they were deliberating, Baldwin and Joscelin suddenly appeared and asked about the nature of the meeting. Told that the people were discussing who should rule the city, they took the gathering as an act of disloyalty. The two Frankish leaders became furious and wantonly pillaged everything in sight. They inflicted harsh punishment on the Christian inhabitants, even gouging the eyes of many. They attempted to gouge the eyes of the Armenian Bishop Stephen, but the people [503] saved him by paying a ransom of 1000 dahekans. Matthew of Edessa says the Franks committed these atrocities because they believed every vicious accusation against the townspeople and did not hesitate to shed innocent blood (96). Whatever friendly relations had existed between the Franks and Armenians in Edessa now gave way to distrust. The Armenians saw the Franks as people whose hostility surpassed that of the Muslim Turks, with whom they had once allied themselves against their fellow Christians (97). In the conflict between the Franks and the Turks, the Armenians paid a heavy price. In 1109 Chavli was replaced as governor of Mosul by Sharaf al-Din Mawdud Altontash (al-Tuwaynaki) (98). The following year the Seljuk Sultan Muhammad, son of Malikshah, commissioned Mawdud to fight the Franks, hoping to curtail their advances into Syria. His first target was Edessa (99). Matthew of Edessa says Mawdud attacked there because Baldwin of Le Bourg wanted to engage Tancred in a second war. So, motivated by arrogance, he and Joscelin conceived a plan unworthy of any Christian and invited Mawdud, a mighty and ferocious warrior, to come to their aid. Mawdud agreed and raised an army of 100,000 men to invade Edessa.100 He was joined by Sukman al-Qutbi (Sukman ibn Artuk), lord of Khilat and Miyafarqin (1100-1110), and Najm al-Din Il-Ghazi ibn Artuk, lord of Mardin (1107-1122) (101).
When the Muslim army reached Harran, Mawdud summoned Baldwin to call on him, but Baldwin, fearful, refused. Mawdud believed that he had been deceived by Baldwin and marched against Edessa. Baldwin asked his cousin, King Baldwin of Jerusalem, to come to his aid and dispatched Joscelin to obtain reinforcements (102). But the king was then engaged in besieging Beirut, which was about to fall into his hands when he received the message. Finally, after capturing the city in May 1110, he marched with his [504] army to rescue Edessa. He was joined by Bertram, son of Raymond of Saint-Gilles, count of Tripoli (1109-1121) (103). Tancred apparently did not care about helping to save Edessa, and Baldwin of Le Bourg reportedly accused him of plotting with the Muslims against him and his principality (104). Fulcher of Chartres, however, says that Tancred appealed to King Baldwin of Jerusalem to aid the Christian cause, and that Baldwin entrusted his kingdom to caretakers and hastened to war, bringing with him Bertrand (Bertram), count of Tripoli (105).
The Muslim army laid siege to Edessa in April-May 1110. They devastated the countryside, destroyed the monasteries, and cut down the orchards around Edessa. Many of the villagers were shut up in the town and, along with the citizens of the city, suffered from a shortage of food (106). Meanwhile, the armies of Baldwin of Boulogne and Bertram, on the way to Edessa, were joined near Samosata by the Armenian leaders Kogh Vasil and Abu al-Gharib. Even Tancred, who had seemed reluctant to join the Frankish forces, yielded and joined them with 1100 horsemen (107). As Ibn al-Qalanisi observes, the Franks forgot their differences and animosities and agreed solemnly with one another to remain steadfast in battle and to meet adversity resolutely (108).
When the Christian forces reached Edessa, Mawdud lifted the siege and withdrew to Harran, clearly trying to draw the Franks into unknown territory where he could more easily defeat them (109). When Baldwin saw Mawdud's treacherous plan, he turned back and camped opposite the fortress of Shenaw, northwest of Harran, in Muslim territory. At about this time Tancred arrived with his forces. Baldwin planned to have a pitched battle with Mawdud, but decided first to supply Edessa with provisions and escort those citizens who so desired to leave the city, for they were near starvation and wanted to escape this tribulation. A great number of townspeople and villagers departed for Samosata. At this point, says Matthew of [505] Edessa, two apostate Franks went to Mawdud and maliciously told him that the entire Frankish army had withdrawn and fled. On hearing this report, Mawdud pursued the Franks and massacred many of them like a butcher, without mercy. Those who fled jumped into the river and were drowned. The Turks pillaged their possessions, as the Franks on the other side of the Euphrates helplessly witnessed the horror. Mawdud returned afterwards to Harran and then to his own territory, laden with captives and countless booty (110). Apparently satisfied that he had dispersed the Franks, he did not track them down. He had devastated the whole region and left Edessa in ruins. So there was nothing more for him to do but return to his own country. King Baldwin went back to Jerusalem, Tancred to Antioch, and Baldwin of Le Bourg to Edessa (111).
Mawdud's campaign against the Franks and Edessa apparently did not satisfy those zealous Muslims who wanted an all-out jihad. Their feelings were further inflamed when an ambassador of the Emperor Alexius arrived in Baghdad. Ibn al-Qalanisi says the conflict between the Byzantines and Franks at the time was so vehement that "mutamallik al-Rum (Emperor Alexius)" dispatched a messenger to the Seljuk Sultan Muhammad, urging him to fight the Franks and expel them from Syria before they could establish a threatening position in the country (112). The emperor said he had gone to war to prevent the Franks from traversing his dominion, but that if they continued to have designs on the land of Islam, he would give them free passage and assistance (113).
[506] Shortly after the Byzantine ambassador arrived, a group of prominent Hashimite Sharif Muslims from Aleppo and some Sufi (mystic) merchants and jurists came to Baghdad and met at the sultan's mosque on February 17, 1111. Weeping and lamenting the Franks' humiliation of Islam, the slaughter of Muslim men, and the enslavement of women and children, they appealed to the caliph to defend Islam. They were so distraught that they prevented the people from praying in the mosque and even broke the pulpit. According to Ibn al-Athir, the people of Baghdad cried to the sultan, "Don't fear Allah! The king of the Rum (Emperor Alexius) has more zeal for Islam than you, for he sent you an ambassador urging you to fight [the Franks]" (114). Asked by the caliph al-Mustazhir bi Allah to take care of this matter, the Seljuk Sultan Mahmoud readied another expedition, commanded by his son Mas'ud and Sharaf al-Din Mawdud, atabeg of Mosul, to march against the Franks in 1111 (115). Clearly the emperor would support the Franks, his coreligionists, in their fight against the Muslims. But he wanted them out of Syria because the country belonged to him, and they had not kept their oath to restore to him all the land and cities they captured. His appeal to the Seljuk sultan should be viewed in this context.
The expedition led by Mawdud and Mas'ud was joined by Sukman al-Qutbi, lord of Khilat; Aylingi and Zangi, the sons of Bursuq and lords of Hamadhan and Khuzistan; the Kurdish Ahmad Beg (Ahmadil), lord of Maragha in Azerbayjan; Kutib Abu al-Hayja, lord of Arbil; and Iyaz, son of Il-Ghazi of Mardin. The Muslim forces massed near Sinjar in northern Iraq and then marched on Edessa in the spring of 1111. They camped there for five days but could not capture the city. They withdrew and, before crossing the Euphrates, laid siege to Tall Bashir, whose lord was Joscelin of Courtenay (116). Fortunately for Joscelin, the Muslims were not of one mind. After forty-five days, he gave a large sum of money to Ahmad Beg; he in turn convinced the Turks to lift the siege and go to Aleppo to relieve its lord Ridwan, who had asked them for help against Tancred (117).
[507] When the Turkish forces reached Aleppo, they ravaged the country, killed many people, and took others captive. Ridwan, fearing the Turks more than he did Tancred, shut the gates of the city before them and made an alliance with his foe Tancred (118). Some citizens of Aleppo did not like what Ridwan had done and tried to oppose him, but he captured some and imprisoned them in the citadel of Aleppo, and stationed some of his troops and others belonging to the Batini sect to guard the city walls. The gates of Aleppo stayed shut before the Turkish forces for seventeen days (119). The Turkish army withdrew and went to the district of Ma'arrat al-Nu'man, to reclaim what Tancred had captured. There Mawdud was joined by Tughtigin, the lord of Damascus, who was expected to add more strength to the Muslim forces. But Tughtigin grew suspicious that the other Muslim leaders, especially Mawdud, intended to take Damascus from him (120). The expedition was a failure because of the dissension among the Muslim leaders. They not only did not trust each other but allied themselves with the Franks against one another.
During this time, Matthew of Edessa reports, Tancred treated Kogh Vasil, ruler of Kesum and Ra'ban, rather badly (121). Having failed in his fight against Baldwin of Le Bourg for control of Edessa, he turned his military activities against his Muslim neighbors. He intended to expand the principality of Antioch by capturing as much as he could of the domains of Aleppo and Edessa. He tried to impose his authority on the principality of Tripoli but was challenged by Bertram, son of Raymond of Saint-Gilles, who had come to Syria in 1108 to take his father's place in Tripoli. Tancred met him when he arrived in the port of Saint Simeon (al-Suwaydiyya), but then expelled him from Antioch when he refused to join in an alliance against the Byzantines (122). To save Tripoli from Tancred, Bertram placed it under the protection of King Baldwin of Jerusalem, who warned Tancred to cease hostilities against Bertram. Eventually, both men declared their [508] allegiance to the king (123). In 1109 Tancred seized Banyas, on the Mediterranean between Laodicea and Antartus, and annexed it to his principality. Next he took Jabala, then ruled by Fakhr al-Mulk ibn Ammar, the former lord of Tripoli. The town, suffering from a food shortage, could not resist. Tancred easily occupied it on July 12, 1110, as Ibn Ammar escaped safely (124).
Still full of ambition, Tancred began to attack the emirate of Aleppo, ruled by Ridwan. He marched against Atharb and offered safety to its Muslim farmers. Ridwan, forced to make peace, paid Tancred an enormous sum of money, surrendered the fortress of Zardana, and released the Armenian captives held in Aleppo. Conditions in Aleppo deteriorated so much that most of its inhabitants fled (125). But Ridwan soon formed an alliance with Tughtigin, lord of Damascus. The two pledged to support each other with money and men (126). Facing united opposition, Tancred gave up attacking Ridwan's domains and decided instead to attack the Armenian Kogh Vasil, probably in the summer of 1112. Matthew of Edessa says he attacked and conquered the city of Ra'ban. Then he marched against Kesum, camping on the plain below a spring near the town of Thil. Kogh Vasil assembled 5000 men but still did not venture to engage Tancred in battle. Finally, the two made peace; Tancred gave Ra'ban to Kogh Vasil, and the Armenian prince handed over the district of Hisn Mansur, along with the fortified towns of Persin, Raghtip, Hartan, Toresh, and Uremn. Tancred returned peacefully to Antioch (127).
In 1112, says Matthew of Edessa, the "vicious and bloodthirsty beast Mawdud" led yet another expedition against Edessa, this time without help from other Muslim amirs. He split his army into two forces, leaving one at Edessa while the other attacked Saruj. Joscelin, taking 100 horsemen and 100 foot soldiers, entered Saruj and attacked the Turks, killing 150 of their men and taking five of their officers as captives; the rest fled to Mawdud's camp near Edessa. As Mawdud marched on the city, whose inhabitants were not expecting an attack, certain perfidious citizens told him, "Have compassion on us and we will deliver Edessa into your hands." But [509] Joscelin, who had returned to Edessa, rushed against Mawdud's men, assaulted a tower they had captured, and hurled them all from the walls, saving Edessa from the clutches of the Turks by his bravery. After eight days, having failed to capture the well-fortified city, Mawdud withdrew and returned to his country, humiliated and discredited (128). Ibn al-Athir says Mawdud had not taken sufficient precaution and was surprised and overwhelmed by Joscelin. The Franks took a great number of horses and massacred many soldiers (129). Michael Rabo, whose account is close to that of Matthew of Edessa, says that some Armenians, seeing that the Turks invading the area of Edessa had reached its wall, plotted with them and helped them enter one of the fortresses, believing they would occupy the city in the absence of its leader (130).
The Anonymous Edessan gives a slightly different account. He says that Mawdud came to Edessa during the harvest season and camped outside the city. He laid waste the land and crops, cut down the trees, and told the citizens, who were in great distress, that they would receive many benefits if they surrendered the city to him. At this time, ten perfidious Armenians conspired with Mawdud to betray the city to him. But Joscelin, acting heroically, scaled the wall and approached the enemy. When the Turks in the tower saw him, they showered him with arrows and stones. He managed to enter the tower and cut down the ladder with his sword, and the Turks on it fell to their deaths. Then he climbed onto the roof alongside the Turks. Twice they struck him from above and broke his shield. To protect himself, he took a sack full of chaff (on which the guards had slept), held it above his head, and climbed bravely among them. The Turks fled; he struck some with his sword, others threw themselves down and were killed. Mawdud, having failed to capture Edessa, returned to his country. Meanwhile Joscelin, angry at the conspirators, turned against all the citizens of Edessa, causing much bloodshed. The Franks sought out those who had betrayed them and seized many people, without regard for their guilt. They burned, tortured, and executed many townspeople, and cut off the hands and noses and put out the eyes of many others (131). It is thus clear that some Armenians were unhappy enough with their Frankish rulers to seek the Turks' help [510] against them. Although the conspiracy of the Armenians of Edessa with Mawdud failed, it points up the unstable internal situation and the chasm between the Franks and the native Christians. The Armenians were displeased by the way they were treated not only in Edessa but throughout the region, and especially by the way the Franks, especially Tancred, treated their leader, Kogh Vasil, for no reason except that he intended to affirm the Armenian entity and supremacy in the region. Mawdud, committed to jihad against the Franks, continued to fight them despite his failure in the campaign against Edessa. In 1113, "the bloodthirsty and savage amir Mawdud" again marched against Edessa with a tremendous number of troops, while Baldwin of Le Bourg was in the town of Tall Bashir. Some perfidious, evil-thinking Franks reported to Baldwin that many Armenians were plotting to hand the city over to Mawdud. Baldwin believed them and sent Paynes, count of Saruj, to Edessa with orders to expel all the inhabitants. He apparently carried out the order, and the Franks put the helpless inhabitants to the sword, shedding much innocent blood. Most of those evicted from Edessa went to live in Samosata. Those who stayed in the city took refuge in the Church of St. Theodore, then were moved to the citadel under strict guard. Baldwin found he could not rule a nearly empty city with the few remaining Syrians and loyal Armenians. The administration of the city became a burden to him, and he decided in February 1114 to call back the exiles from Samosata. Many returned, but the relations between Baldwin and the Armenians were permanently strained. They considered him their persecutor and hated the Franks for treating them badly. Matthew of Edessa says the Franks' actions revealed their perverse nature and contempt for others: "In return for all the benefices the inhabitants of Edessa showed the Franks, the Franks recompensed the faithful Christians of this city with evil and malice" (132).
Whereas Matthew of Edessa says Mawdud's 1113 expedition targeted Edessa, Ibn al-Athir says that it was aimed at King Baldwin of Jerusalem and Joscelin, with the main encounter near Tiberias in Palestine. He asserts that King Baldwin's incursions against Bilad al-Sham (Syria) had caused the prices of commodities to soar. After Tughtigin, lord of Damascus, apprised Mawdud of the situation, they raised a great army and marched to fight the Franks. They camped near Tiberias for twenty-six days and cut off the food supply, vainly hoping to draw the Franks into a fight. The Muslims [511] eventually left and ravaged Baysan and other towns, and their leaders returned to Damascus (133).
The Armenian exiles returned to Edessa and kept their peace, but they could not forgive the Franks for ill-treating them. Soon they tried to spite the Franks by allying themselves with the Seljuk Turks. The Seljuks' attack on Edessa offered them such an opportunity. After Mawdud was assassinated by a Batini (Isma'ili Shi'ite) in Damascus on October 2, 1113, the Seljuk Sultan Muhammad entrusted the city of Mosul to a new governor, Qasim al-Dawla Aksunkur, whom he ordered to continue the fight against the Franks (134). In 1114 Aksunkur led a great army, joined by the forces of Tamirek, governor of Sinjar in northern Iraq, and others, including his son Imad al-Din Zangi, of whom we shall say much later. Aksunkur marched against Jazirat ibn Umar, whose governor, the deputy of Mawdud, surrendered to him and joined his army, and then against Mardin, whose governor also joined forces with him. He had 15,000 cavalry when he attacked Edessa in May 1114. He besieged the city for more than two months, fighting the Franks and the Armenians (135). The Franks captured nine of Aksunkur's men and crucified them on the city walls; aroused by this act, the Muslims fought with great determination and killed fifty prominent Frank knights, but then began to suffer a food shortage and were forced to lift the siege and depart (136).
It was at this point that the Armenian King Dgha Vasil, the adopted son of Kogh Vasil, sent a messenger to Aksunkur al-Bursuki proposing an alliance against the Franks. Matthew of Edessa says that Dgha Vasil and his father's widow, who had inherited and jointly ruled the independent principality of Kesum and Ra'ban after Kogh Vasil died in October 1112, having learned that Tancred of Antioch (who had already captured Kesum) desired to possess their principality, viewed Aksunkur as an ally who could save them from Tancred (137). Aksunkur accepted Dgha Vasil's offer, on the [512] condition that he be allowed to collect the Jizya to demonstrate that Kesum and Ra'ban had become his vassal principality. Ibn al-Athir says that upon the death of Kawasil (Kogh Vasil), his widow, who ruled the kingdom of Kesum, Ra'ban and Mar'ash, communicated with Aksunkur her intention of submitting to his authority, and he in turn sent the amir Sunkur Darraz ("the Tall"), whom she received with honor and lavished with gifts (138).
When Baldwin of Le Bourg learned of the proposed alliance of Dgha Vasil and his father's widow with the Seljuk Turks, he became furious, regarding their action as a great treachery against Christianity and a threat to the Latin principalities in Syria and lower Asia Minor. He invaded the Armenian principality of Kesum and Ra'ban in 1115, but without great success. Apparently Dgha Vasil appealed to the Armenian Thoros I, son of Constantine, Roupenid ruler of Partzapert (1100-1129) in Cilicia. Matthew of Edessa says Thoros summoned Dgha Vasil, treacherously seized him, and delivered him to Baldwin, who tortured him and took all his territories by force, thus destroying Armenian sovereignty in Kesum and Ra'ban. Betrayed and deprived of his possessions, Dgha Vasil went with some troops to Constantinople, where they were received by the Byzantine emperor with great honor (139). Kogh Vasil's widow was an ambitious woman who sought to control the territory of her late husband. While she negotiated with the Seljuks, she pressured Kourtig, guardian of the boy Dgha Vasil, to pillage the monasteries of the Syrians, who shared the Armenians' religious beliefs and like them had been victimized by the Byzantines and the Turks. Kourtig, whom Michael Rabo calls an evil man who hated the Syrians, usurped the Red Monastery from the Syrians in Kesum, expelled the inmates, and handed over the monastery to the Armenian Catholicos Gregorius and the Armenian monks. He also expelled Syrian monks from five monasteries in the region of Zabar, called the Monasteries of Beth Qinaya [The Reed Monasteries] which were under the control of Baldwin, lord of Kesum and Mar'ash (140).
After Kesum and Ra'ban fell into his hands, Baldwin of Le Bourg felt encouraged to seize other Armenian principalities, especially the citadel of [513] Birta (Arabic al-Bira), ruled by the Armenian Abu al-Gharib. Accompanied by his nephew Galeran, count of Saruj, and a host of Frankish forces, Baldwin attacked al-Bira, thus engendering "more hatred against the Christians than against the Turks" (141). Abu al-Gharib resisted bravely, but finally surrendered in 1117 after a year-long siege. The Anonymous Edessan says that when he realized that the siege would be prolonged and no one would come to his rescue, he agreed to surrender the citadel to Baldwin on condition that Galeran marry his daughter. The condition was accepted; Galeran married Abu al-Gharib's daughter and received Birta and all the surrounding territory as her dowry (142).
Matthew of Edessa says Baldwin of Le Bourg overthrew the Armenian princes one by one, dealing with them more harshly than the Muslims had. He harassed those princes who were not under the Turks' rule and sent them into exile. He destroyed Kogh Vasil's principality and expelled its leaders, who took refuge in Constantinople. Still not satisfied, he ruined the Armenian Prince Bagrat, who lived in Ravendan (Rawandan), not far from Cyrrhus near Aleppo, and pillaged his principality. He captured Constantine, the Armenian lord of Gargar, and threw him in chains into prison in the citadel of Samosata, where he died; following a great earthquake, his body was found on the bank of the Euphrates (143). The Franks were apparently motivated by a desire to seize the Armenians' treasures. Matthew of Edessa says he would write more about their evil deeds but did not dare because the Armenians were under their authority and power (144).
Having subjugated the Armenian princes and taken control of their territories, Baldwin of Le Bourg by now felt more secure than ever in his principality. In complete confidence he left Edessa in 1118 to become the ruler of the kingdom of Jerusalem (145). He felt no one was better qualified to succeed him as lord of Edessa and defend the northeast front of the Latins' domains than Joscelin I of Courtenay. Thus Joscelin replaced Baldwin in Edessa, and the two leaders were finally reconciled (146).
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