By the time of Bohemond's arrival in Constantinople, the original purpose of the expedition from the West had been lost; 1095 marked the beginning of the Crusades, a series of wars in which popes and rulers in Western Europe attempted to seize control of the Holy Land (Palestine) from the Muslim Turks. The First Crusade, which resulted in the capture of Jerusalem and other cities, would mark the high point of this effort.
Bohemond became ruler over one of those captured cities, Antioch, yet he did not stop when he was ahead. First he was captured by the Turks in a failed attack on another city in 1099, then in 1107 he launched an unsuccessful attack against his old foe Alexis. Alexis got the better of him, more through superior mental skill than through the use of his
Crusading peasants and troops. Alexis's enemy Bohemond fought in the First Crusade in between attempts to overthrow the Byzantine Empire. Reproduced by permission of the New York Public Library Picture Collection.
Armies, and forced Bohemond to sign a treaty in which he recognized Alexis as the superior ruler.
The Crusades themselves, which continued until 1291, were a disaster for Byzantium. The Fourth Crusade (1202-04) ended with the capture of Constantinople by Western Europeans, and the establishment of the so-called Latin Empire. The Comnenus family went on to rule a breakaway
Bohemond
Bohemond I—his name can also be spelled "Bohemund," as Anna Comnena rendered it—was a member of a group called the Normans, descendants of the Vikings. He had grown up fighting in the army of his father Robert Guiscard (gee-SKARD; c. 1015-1085), who drove the forces of the Byzantine Empire from Italy and later conquered Sicily, a large island off the Italian coast. In 1081, Robert and Bohe-mond launched a series of unsuccessful campaigns against the Byzantines in southeastern Europe.
In 1096, Bohemond joined the First Crusade (1095-99), an effort to seize control of the Holy Land, or Palestine, from the Muslim Turks. In 1098 he led the crusaders in the capture of Antioch (AN-tee-ahk), a
City on the border between Turkey and Syria, and went on to become ruler of Antioch. In the following year, however, he engaged in an unsuccessful attempt to take another Muslim-controlled city, and was captured by the Turks.
Released in 1103, Bohemond returned to Europe, where he tried to gather support for another campaign against the Byzantines. By now he was well into his fifties and unmarried, but in 1 1 06, King Philip I of France gave him the hand of his daughter Constance—an important match for Bohemond. Confident in the support of his powerful father-in-law, he went on to make war against the Byzantines in 1107, but failed to gain victory.
Byzantine state called Trebizond, which lasted until 1461. In the meantime, the Byzantines recaptured Constantinople in 1261, but they had been so badly weakened that they were easily defeated by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. The Turks gave Constantinople its present name of Istanbul.
Did you know...
• Anna Comnena wrote of one unnamed prince of the "Franks" who was so uncouth that he sat down on Emperor Alexis's throne. When one of his wiser comrades suggested he move, he said of Alexis, "This must be a rude fellow who would alone remain seated when so many brave warriors are standing up." Anna said that when he learned of this, Alexis "did not complain... although he did not forget the matter."
•Despite his bad relations with most of the Western European leaders, Alexis took a deep and genuine liking to Raymond of Toulouse (tuh-LOOS; 1042-1105). The emperor took the young French count, destined for glory in the Crusades, under his wing and warned him to steer clear of Bohemond. Anna wrote of Raymond, "He was as far superior to all the Latins... as the sun is above the other stars."
World History
