Free A History of the Crusades-Vol 2 by Steven Runciman Page B

on the peninsula of al-Mina. He had shown
considerable friendliness towards the Franks whenever they approached his
dominions. He had re-victualled the First Crusade, and he did not oppose its
leaders when they besieged his city of Arqa. He had given Baldwin of Boulogne
useful help during his perilous journey to assume the crown of Jerusalem. But
when the Crusaders receded into the distance he had quietly taken over the
cities of Tortosa and Maraclea which they had occupied. He thus controlled the
whole coast-road from Lattakieh and Jabala to the Fatimid dependency of Beirut.
    The alternative route from northern Syria to
Palestine ran up the valley of the Orontes, past the Munqidhite city of
Shaizar, past Hama, which owed allegiance to Ridwan, and Homs, where Ridwan’s
stepfather, Janah ad-Daulah reigned. There it divided. One branch, followed by
Raymond on the First Crusade, forked through the Buqaia to Tripoli and the
coast; the other went straight on, past the Damascene dependency of Baalbek, to
the head-waters of the Jordan.
    Raymond, whose ambitions were never modest,
contemplated the establishment of a principality that would command both the
coast-road and the Orontes, with its capital at Homs, the city that the Franks
called La Chamelle. But his first objective, determined probably by the
presence of Genoese ships that might help him, would be the cities of the
coast. On his release by Tancred, in the last days of 1101, he set out from
Antioch together with the surviving princes of the Crusades of 1101, Stephen of
Blois, William of Aquitaine, Welf of Bavaria and their comrades, who were
anxious to complete their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. At Lattakieh he was reunited
with his wife and with his troops, and with them he marched on to Tortosa. The
Genoese flotilla on whose help he counted anchored off the coast as he reached
the city walls. Before this double menace, the governor made little resistance.
About the middle of February Raymond entered Tortosa, together with his
fellow-travellers, who agreed without discussion that it should be his. They
supposed that he would then accompany them on to Jerusalem. On his refusal they
were angry and, according to Fulcher of Chartres, spoke blasphemous words
against him. But Raymond had decided that Tortosa should be the nucleus of his
dominion. So they took their leave of him and journeyed on to the south.
    Raymond had made no secret of his plans; and
the Moslem world was alarmed. Fakhr al-Mulk sent to warn the emirs of Homs and
Duqaq of Damascus. But when Raymond appeared before the walls of Tripoli, it
was seen that his army numbered little more than three hundred men. The Moslems
thought that now was the moment to destroy him. Duqaq hastily provided two
thousand horsemen, and Janah ad-Daulah as many more; and the whole army of the
Banu Ammar was collected. In all the Moslem host outnumbered Raymond’s by
twenty to one as it converged on him on the plain outside the city.
     
    1102: Raymond’s
Victory before Tripoli
    Raymond’s deeds were poorly reported by the
Crusader historians. It is from the Arab Ibn al-Athir that we learn of the
extraordinary battle that ensued. Raymond placed a hundred of his men to oppose
the Damascenes, a hundred to oppose the Banu Ammar, fifty to oppose the men of
Homs, and the remaining fifty to be his own bodyguard. The Homs soldiers began
the attack; but when it failed they suddenly panicked; and the panic spread
among the troops of Damascus. The Tripolitans were enjoying greater success,
when Raymond, finding his other foes in flight, swung his whole army against
them. The sudden shock was too much for them; and they too turned and fled. The
Frankish cavalry then swept over the battlefield, slaughtering all the Moslems
that could not escape. The Arab historian estimated that seven thousand of his
co-religionists perished.
    The victory not only re-established Raymond’s
reputation; it also ensured the survival of his Lebanese dominion. The