Antioch being gloriously rich, pilgrims stuffed their pockets. However they did not find much to eat. They learned that the citizens had been as hungry as themselves. And they learned that in darkness they had slain many of their own.
Streets, courtyards, and houses soon began to stink since ten thousand infidels rightly met the sword. Pilgrims scarcely could walk a dozen steps without sloshing through pools of blood or trampling on bodies alive with insects. But what of Yaghi Siyan? He wakened to the blast of oliphants and fled on horseback. At some mountain village he was recognized by Armenian woodcutters who lopped off his head, which they delivered to Bohemond for a reward. These woodcutters sold the governor’s ornamental belt and the sheath of his scimitar for sixty gold bezants. Is it not a tribute to the omnipotence of our Savior that he who caused many Armenians to lose their heads should be deprived of his own by one of them?
Yet according to the monk Albert, three Syrians traveling through the mountains recognized Yaghi Siyan a long way off. Behold! said they. Is Antioch captured? Our lord and governor looks intent on flight. Considering how we have sustained tyranny and sharp practices he will not escape our hands. So these travelers approached thick with deceit, showing false reverence. And coming near they snatched Yaghi Siyan’s sword out of the sheath, flung him down from his mule and sliced off his head, which they put in their bag. They took his head to Antioch for Christians to see. Yaghi Siyan’s head was enormous, ears broad and hairy, while from his chin a white beard flowed down as far as his navel.
The second day after Antioch was subjugated, while Christ’s army searched for provisions and labored at strengthening the walls, being much afraid of Kerbogha, several Turkish knights appeared on the plain. They came near the city, riding splendid chargers. They trotted insolently to and fro, which angered the Christians. And since it would be disgraceful not to refute this challenge Roger de Barneville rode fiercely out the gate accompanied by fifteen knights. And the Saracens, pretending fright, whirled and galloped off with Christians at their heels. Then unexpectedly three hundred more Saracens rose up. Roger fell with an arrow through his heart. He was a most valiant knight from the retinue of Count Robert the Norman and faithfully had carried out the aims of pilgrimage. The Turks made off with his head. As soon as they were out of sight Roger’s comrades brought back his corpse, which they entombed in the basilica of Saint Peter, a holy place containing the chair once occupied by the Prince of Apostles.
Next day at sunrise here came the black banners of Kerbogha. His multitude of cavalry in white robes astonished all. The wide plain scarcely was large enough to accommodate his army. When they encamped their tents reached up toward the hills. Some few separated themselves and rode close to Antioch where they dismounted as though in contempt before launching arrows. Tancred charged from the east gate and killed six. Because Roger de Barneville ascended to glory near this place Tancred cut off the heads of these six and bore them into the city for consolation.
Now as it suited him, Kerbogha advanced. Presently those who had besieged Antioch and took it through force of arms were themselves encircled and menaced. Nor had they food enough. Before long a single egg cost two sous. Intestine of a goat, five sous. One denier for a nut. Rotting carcasses of dogs fetched huge prices. Head of a horse without the tongue, three silver deniers. Fig leaf, thistle, vine, camel hide, all were boiled and eaten. Low people as well as knights who had once been rich could be seen hobbling about, leaning on sticks. Some asked feebly for bread. Others withdrew from sight, starving in private rooms to hide their shame. Next to arrive was that brother of famine, plague. Out of three hundred thousand Franks who undertook this pilgrimage, no more than sixty thousand could be counted.
What of Stephen, Comte de Blois? While the battle raged at Dorylaeum he could not be found. Here, one day before Lord Bohemond scaled the wall, Stephen pretended to be sick and retreated to the fortified town of Alexandretta, taking with him four thousand soldiers. There he meant to await the outcome. Should the army of God triumph, he would return to Antioch claiming his health had much improved. Or if heathen force prevailed, then would he quickly embark to France. But as he waited with folded arms beside the port he learned of Kerbogha. They say he climbed a mountain to observe the enemy camp and seeing the number of tents thought it best to retreat toward Constantinople. Why he did so has been much discussed. According to Fulcher de Chartres, all in the pilgrim army felt aggrieved because Stephen was a man of eminent virtue. Nor could he afterward explain to his wife Adela why he avoided the battle of Antioch. She is said to have berated him without mercy as they lay on the conjugal bed. Fulcher, making note, chose to call Stephen sagacious and high born, yet declined to call him brave.
This defection gnawed at the vitals of those he left behind. They asked one another why they should be trapped like vermin inside Antioch while Stephen de Blois brushed his hair beside the sea. They contemplated their misery and wondered what to do. They saw themselves languishing from plague and hunger, encircled by Turks. Outside
