Distrust Between The Byzantine Empire And The Crusaders

In the late 11th century, the Byzantine Empire was under attack by the Turks and lost a lot of territories. The Emperor, Alexios I Komnenos, asked the Pope, Urban II, to send an army to help him. In the Council of Clermont, Urban II answered his request and gathered up an army called the Crusade to launch to the east and to reinforce the Byzantine Empire. Although the crusaders were supposed to help the Byzantine Empire, both sides did not have a strong relationship. The Byzantine Empire only wanted to maintain its kingdom while the crusaders wanted to go on a pilgrimage and to enjoy killing. When the crusaders and the Byzantine Empire first came to connect, they created a lot of conflicts. According to the primary sources, Alexiad, Gesta Francorum, and Historia de Hierosolymitano itinere, both sides had four different conflicts. Although they tried to make a compromise, at the end, because of so much distrust between them, the crusaders broke away from the Byzantine Empire. The origin of the weak Latin- Byzantine relations was that they had different purposes on the war.

The Byzantine Empire’s interest was to protect its kingdom.

In the later 11th century, the Turks kept attacking the eastern part of the Byzantine Empire and conquered Asia Minor. Alexios could not fight against the invasion. He needed help. Hence, he sent an embassy to Rome and asked Urban II for “military aid for the recovery of Asia Minor”. In his strategy, the western knights would serve in his army and would fight against the Turks under his name. After the war, Alexios would pay the western knights for protecting his kingdom. During the First Crusade, the Byzantine Empire’s interest was to use the Europeans to protect its

kingdom
The crusaders’ interest was to go on a pilgrimage and to fight. In the early 10th century, Western Europe was a poor and undeveloped area. The knights had to fight for lords to get land and wealth. This created a culture of violence. At the same time, the knights were afraid of getting excommunicated by killing immorally such as killing un-armed people and the clergy. Once they heard about the preaching of the crusade, they were so excited. When Urban II received the request from Alexios, he held the Council of Clermont to preach the First Crusade. Modern historians do not know what exactly the Pope said during the Council. However, according to different witnesses, the main points from this council were “the danger that the Eastern Church faced at the hands of the barbaric Turks; the sacred quality of Jerusalem for Christians, and the rewards to be gained by those who took the cross.” The Crusaders digested these messages and interpreted them differently. They thought that the purpose of the crusade was to go on a pilgrimage. In this pilgrimage, they would help the Greek Christians who suffered under the Muslims’ rule. More important was that they could kill morally. When they reached the east, the Greek Christians would welcome them, fight with them, and go on the pilgrimage with them. The crusaders’ interest was to go on a pilgrimage and to enjoy fighting.
The People’s Crusade started the distrust between the Latin crusaders and the Byzantine Empire. In the Pope’s mind, there would be a well-trained army to march to the east and to aid the Byzantine Empire under his banner. Nevertheless, a lot of people were self-appointed to become the commanders of the First Crusade, such as the People’s Crusade because they wanted to go on a pilgrimage. Peter the Hermit, a priest from “middle of nowhere”, organized a lot of un-armed people, including children and women, to go to the east. Because they did not have any military training, they made the mistake of traveling to the east over the winter. During the middle ages, there was limited food in the winter. They were starving. They chose to attack Hungary and killed a lot of people; they destroyed a Jewish community in the Rhine Valley. When they traveled to the east, they caused a lot of violence. Anna Comnena, a Greek princess, recorded the Byzantine Empire’s reaction to the People’s Crusade. According to Alexiad, Once the People’s Crusade got to Constantinople, Alexios was “feared the incursions of these people” because he “heard the rumors of the arrival of innumerable Frankish armies.” When Peter the Hermit tried to across the sea to fight against, the Emperor knew that the People’s Crusade were not strong enough to fight against the Turks, so he “urged him to await the arrival of the other counts.” Nevertheless, the People’s Crusade refused to take Alexios suggestion. At the end, the Turks destroyed the People’s Crusade. What Anna Comnena said about Alexios’s suggestion to the People’s Crusade might not be true since Alexios could simply refused to give ships to the People’s Crusade and forced them to wait for the other crusaders. One of the possible explanations is that Alexios actually sent the People’s Crusade across the sea and let the Turks to destroy them. The main interest of Alexios was to use the western knights to protect, not to destroy his kingdom. The interest of the Empire was valued above everything. He did not care why they wanted to go to the east. If they threatened his kingdom, he would fight back. Therefore, when the People’s Crusade reached Constantinople, Alexios only saw a number of unarmed people who could not help him. If he sent them across the sea, he would not have to supply them with food and money. He also did not want People’s Crusade bother his city and his kingdom because he did not want to see his city became another victim like the Jewish community in the Rhine Valley. However, if Anna Comnena wrote the truth, it would make Alexios looked like a selfish murder that only cared about his self-interest, not like a good Emperor that cared about his brothers from Europe. Hence, she wrote that the Alexios tried to stop them across the sea. The tragedy of the People’s Crusade created the first conflict in the Latin- Byzantine relation.
The conflict between Bohemund and the Byzantine Empire was the second conflict in the Latin- Byzantine relation and showed the different expectations of each side. In the Latin’s writing, Gesta Francorum, a Latin chronicle, reported that the Byzantine Empire and the Greek Christians did not trust Bohemund. In this chronicle, the purpose for Bohemund was to go to the east was to go on a pilgrimage. Hence, they did not want to hurt the Greek Christians. Bohemund ordered, “Seigniors, take heed all of you, for we are pilgrimages of God. We ought, therefore, to be better and more humble than before. Do not plunder this land, since it belongs to Christians, and let no one, at the cost of blessing, take more than he needs to eat”. Bohemund thought that the Emperor and his people were all Christians and their brothers and helpmates. He also thought that if the Latin crusaders were well behaved, the local people would welcome them. However, in fact, the Greek Christians did not welcome them. For example, when Bohemund reached Castoria, a Greek city, and “sought a market”, the people there were “unwilling to accord it” to the crusaders. At that time, the crusaders did not understand the situation. They were trying to go on a pilgrimage. They did not want to offend anyone especially the Greek Christians. However, the local people feared the crusaders “greatly” and thought that the crusaders were going to “devastate their lands and to killed them”. Later on, when the crusaders were kept moving, Thereupon, an army of the Emperor attacked them. Bohemund, again, did not understand why. He was here for a pilgrimage, not to fight with the Empire. He asked thereupon, “do you want to kill the Christ people? I have no quarrel with your Emperor!” This passage was to show that Bohemund was a good Christian and the Greek Christians were unreasonable. Nevertheless, Gesta Francorum did not show the whole story. First, according to Gesta Francorum, Bohemund did not hurt the people, but that information was not was not reliable. Due to the cultural difference, the crusaders probably took and stole from the Greek Christians. The Greek Christians had no choice but to fight back. Second, the Byzantine Empire and the people did not welcome Bohemund because their major interest was to protect themselves, not to help him to go on a pilgrimage. Due to the bad reputation of the People’s Crusade, the Greek Christians wanted to protect themselves first, so they were afraid of the Latin Crusaders and did not want to help them. Third, Bohemund had wars with the Byzantine Empire before.