Battle of Dorylaeum (1097): The First Crusade in Anatolia

The Battle of Dorylaeum was fought on 1 July 1097 near the town of Dorylaeum in north-western Anatolia, close to modern Eskişehir in Turkey. Crusaders of the First Crusade defeated the Seljuk sultan Kilij Arslan I after a hard fight that began as a surprise attack on their vanguard. The victory opened the road across Anatolia and made the march to Syria possible.

Background

Kilij Arslan I ruled the Seljuk sultanate based at Nicaea, carved out of former Byzantine territory after 1071. In October 1096 he had easily destroyed the People’s Crusade near Civetot, and he seems at first to have underestimated the princes’ armies that followed.

In May 1097 the crusaders and their Byzantine allies besieged Nicaea while the sultan was away fighting a rival Turkish dynasty, the Danishmendids. His attempt to relieve the city failed, and Nicaea surrendered to Emperor Alexios I on 19 June 1097. Kilij Arslan made peace with the Danishmendids and gathered a large army of mounted archers to strike the crusaders on the march.

The armies

Leaving Nicaea around 26 June, the crusaders split into two divisions, probably to ease supply. The vanguard included Bohemond of Taranto, his nephew Tancred, Robert of Normandy, Robert of Flanders and Stephen of Blois, with a Byzantine contingent under Tatikios. The second, larger division, under Godfrey of Bouillon, Raymond of Toulouse, Hugh of Vermandois and the papal legate Adhemar of Le Puy, followed some kilometres behind.

The Turkish army relied on fast horse archers who shot from the saddle, feigned retreat and encircled their enemies. The crusaders’ strength lay in heavily armoured knights whose charge could be decisive at close quarters, if it could reach the enemy.

The battle

At dawn on 1 July 1097 Kilij Arslan’s forces attacked Bohemond’s vanguard in the valley near Dorylaeum. Bohemond had the non-combatants and baggage placed in a camp beside a marsh or river, ordered the knights to dismount and form a defensive line, and sent riders to summon the second division.

For several hours the vanguard endured showers of arrows. Fulcher of Chartres, who was present, recalled that the women of the camp brought water to the fighting men. Some knights who charged out were cut down, and the crusaders were pushed back into their camp.

Around midday the second division arrived. Godfrey and Hugh led the knights into the fight, and a force under Adhemar of Le Puy, according to several accounts, appeared on the hills behind the Turkish lines. Caught between the two crusader forces, the Turkish army broke and fled, abandoning its camp with its tents, animals and treasure.

Key people

• Kilij Arslan I (sultan c. 1092–1107): Seljuk ruler of Rum, son of Suleiman ibn Qutulmish. After losing Nicaea and the battle he moved his capital to Iconium (Konya), which remained the centre of the Seljuk sultanate of Rum for two centuries.
• Bohemond of Taranto (c. 1054–1111): Norman leader of the vanguard, whose decision to hold a fortified camp rather than scatter saved his division.
• Godfrey of Bouillon and Hugh of Vermandois: led the first knights of the second division to reach the field.
• Adhemar of Le Puy (died 1098): bishop and papal legate, credited in several sources with the flank attack that decided the battle.
• Tatikios: Byzantine general who guided the crusaders on Emperor Alexios’s behalf.

Our knowledge of the battle comes mainly from three eyewitness Latin accounts: the anonymous Gesta Francorum, written by a knight in Bohemond’s army, Fulcher of Chartres and Raymond of Aguilers. Muslim sources say little about the battle itself, so the Turkish side of events is poorly known.

Casualties

Medieval figures are unreliable, and modern historians do not offer precise totals. Chroniclers suggest that the crusaders lost perhaps a few thousand people, including many non-combatants, and that Turkish losses were of a similar order. Among the crusader dead was Tancred’s brother William.

Consequences and legacy

Kilij Arslan withdrew and adopted a scorched-earth policy, stripping the land ahead of the crusaders rather than risking another battle. The march across the arid interior in high summer killed many people and most of the knights’ horses, but the crusaders reached Iconium (Konya) in August and won a smaller fight near Heraclea in September.

The battle gave the crusaders confidence that they could beat Turkish armies in the open. It also impressed contemporaries on both sides: the anonymous author of the Gesta Francorum praised the courage and skill of the Turks, writing that they claimed a common ancestry with the Franks. The crusaders went on to besiege Antioch from October 1097.

Timeline

• 1096, 21 October: Kilij Arslan destroys the People’s Crusade near Civetot.
• 1097, 14 May: The siege of Nicaea begins.
• 1097, 19 June: Nicaea surrenders to the Byzantines.
• 1097, c. 26 June: The crusaders leave Nicaea in two divisions.
• 1097, 1 July: Battle of Dorylaeum; the Turkish army is routed.
• 1097, August: The crusaders reach Iconium (Konya).
• 1097, 21 October: The siege of Antioch begins.

Why it matters

Dorylaeum was the first great field battle of the crusades. Had the crusaders lost, the expedition might have ended in Anatolia like the People’s Crusade; instead it showed that disciplined Western armies could survive Turkish tactics and carried the First Crusade on towards Syria and Jerusalem.