—indeed, open warfare followed, which he was powerless to withstand. They then proposed, “Whatever of the Byzantine lands we conquer shall be yours, and whatever of Syrian territory we seize shall belong to us.”

It is reported that their host numbered four hundred thousand. They captured, by the sword, part of the dominions of Sultan Qilij Arslan, whereupon he gathered his forces, met them in 490 AH, and was on the verge of victory. The Franks, however, routed him; multitudes of his soldiers were slain, and he fled, appealing to the surrounding Muslim rulers for help in the calamity that had struck Islam. His letters reached Aleppo blackened and torn, with strands of women’s hair enclosed, and the populace was thrown into panic.

The Franks then marched on greater Syria. People reckoned their numbers at Antioch to exceed three hundred thousand souls. They spread havoc, laid waste to the land, and dispersed, but the Muslims surprised them. Tumults and battles took place that defy description. Antioch was stormed and taken by the sword in 491 AH; its ruler was killed, and many of the leading Franks likewise perished. Command first passed to Kundufri (Godfrey), then to his brother Baldwin and to Bohemond, and after them to his nephew Tancred and to Saint-Gilles—these were their kings.

Later Muslim forces hastened to relieve Antioch, though it had already fallen. They fought the enemy for several days and prevailed; countless Franks were slain, hunger consumed them, and further skirmishes beyond the pitched battles took place.