20. The Weasel’s Son Went From the Byzantines’ Sworn Enemy to Swearing to Help the Byzantine Emperor
Pope Urban II’s appeal at Clermont was wildly successful. Thousands took the cross and took to arms, and kicked off centuries of warfare that came to be known as the Crusades. After an early disorganized mob of religious enthusiasts led by an eccentric named Peter the Hermit was massacred, a more disciplined force of knights and men at arms, led by great lords such as the Weasel’s son, Bohemond, arrived at Constantinople. That put the Byzantine emperor in a quandary, because the new arrivals had divided loyalties, to say the least. Some, like Bohemond who had fought the Byzantines for decades at his father’s side, had been sworn enemies until quite recently.
So the emperor made Bohemond and the others swear an oath to return to his empire all territories recaptured from the Turks. Bohemond, who saw the Crusade merely as an opportunity to win himself a realm, swore. The Crusaders were then ferried across the Bosporus into Anatolia, and marched south. In October, 1097, Bohemond and his Normans were the first to arrive at Antioch, which they immediately besieged. He played a leading role in the siege and in beating back Muslim attempts to relieve the city. Bohemond eventually contacted a Muslim commander inside the city, who helped him and his men scale the walls at night and seize Antioch.