0:00:12 > 0:00:15On a late November morning in the year 1095, this man,
0:00:15 > 0:00:16Pope Urban II,
0:00:16 > 0:00:21delivered a sermon that would transform the history of Europe.
0:00:24 > 0:00:29His rousing words transfixed the crowd gathered here in the French town of Clermont.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32And in the months that followed,
0:00:32 > 0:00:34his message reverberated across the West.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39The age of the Crusades had begun.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50The Pope proclaimed a new holy war against Islam...
0:00:53 > 0:00:58..for control of the most hallowed site in the Christian cosmos -
0:00:58 > 0:01:02the sacred city of Jerusalem.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08Urban's call to arms initiated a struggle
0:01:08 > 0:01:11that would rage for two centuries -
0:01:11 > 0:01:14one that fires the imagination
0:01:14 > 0:01:17and fuels debate even today.
0:01:29 > 0:01:34The story of the Crusades is remembered as a tale of religious fanaticism
0:01:34 > 0:01:37and unspeakable violence,
0:01:37 > 0:01:42of medieval knights and jihadi warriors,
0:01:42 > 0:01:48of castles and kings, heroism, betrayal, and sacrifice.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53This feels like you're touching the past. It's an amazing feeling.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57But now fresh research, eyewitness testimony,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00and contemporary evidence
0:02:00 > 0:02:05from both the Christian and Islamic worlds sheds new light
0:02:05 > 0:02:08on how it was that these two great religions
0:02:08 > 0:02:12waged war in the name of God...
0:02:14 > 0:02:18..why hundreds of thousands of Christians and Muslims
0:02:18 > 0:02:21answered the call to Crusade and Jihad...
0:02:24 > 0:02:28..and who, ultimately, won the war for the Holy Land.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54From the summer of 1096,
0:02:54 > 0:02:56between 60,000 and 100,000 Christians -
0:02:56 > 0:03:01men, women and children - set out to walk some 2,500 miles
0:03:01 > 0:03:06across the face of the known world. Their goal? Jerusalem.
0:03:06 > 0:03:11Not since the distant glories of ancient Rome had a force of this size been assembled.
0:03:16 > 0:03:21Rich, and poor, peasants and knights, these were the First Crusaders...
0:03:24 > 0:03:29..Christian soldiers who endured unimaginable suffering and privation
0:03:29 > 0:03:33during an armed pilgrimage that lasted for three years.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39So who were they? And why did they fight?
0:03:44 > 0:03:48When Urban II became Pope, Christianity was in turmoil,
0:03:48 > 0:03:53split between the Greek Church of the East and the Latin West.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57The papacy itself stood on the brink of overthrow,
0:03:57 > 0:04:01embroiled in a long-standing feud with the German Empire.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07But Urban had a plan.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10Determined to reassert papal authority,
0:04:10 > 0:04:15in the autumn of 1095 he came to France, where he would launch
0:04:15 > 0:04:21a titanic armed pilgrimage, known to history as the First Crusade.
0:04:30 > 0:04:35By November 1095, the Pope was ready to unveil his plan.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Here in Clermont in Central France, he gathered 12 archbishops,
0:04:39 > 0:04:4180 bishops and 90 abbots
0:04:41 > 0:04:44for the largest clerical assembly of his career.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47After nine days of general ecclesiastical debate,
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Urban announced his intention to deliver a special sermon,
0:04:51 > 0:04:53and on the 27th of November,
0:04:53 > 0:04:58hundreds of people crowded into a field outside the town to hear him speak.
0:05:07 > 0:05:12"We want you to know what grievous cause leads us to your territory.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19"A grave report has come from the lands of Jerusalem
0:05:19 > 0:05:23"that a foreign race, a race absolutely alien to God,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26"has invaded the land of those Christians
0:05:26 > 0:05:31"and has reduced the people with sword, rapine and fire."
0:05:36 > 0:05:40Urban's speech was the moment of genesis for the concept of a crusade.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43It was primarily designed to meet the needs of the papacy.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47And it contained a brilliantly conceived hook.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50The coming expedition would target
0:05:50 > 0:05:55the greatest pilgrim destination in the Christian world -
0:05:55 > 0:05:57the Holy City of Jerusalem,
0:05:57 > 0:05:59which lay in the hands of Islam.
0:06:05 > 0:06:06But the Pope had a problem.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10Jerusalem had fallen to Islam more than 400 years earlier,
0:06:10 > 0:06:13so he could hardly claim this as a fresh crime.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15To lend urgency to his call,
0:06:15 > 0:06:21Urban therefore turned to one of the most powerful and dangerous forces in human history -
0:06:21 > 0:06:23the idea of otherness,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27of an alien enemy guilty of ghastly crimes who must be repelled.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33"These men have destroyed the altars
0:06:33 > 0:06:36"polluted by their foul practices.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41"They have circumcised the Christians,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45"either spreading the blood from the circumcisions on the altars
0:06:45 > 0:06:49"or pouring it into the baptismal fonts.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51"And they cut open the navels of those
0:06:51 > 0:06:54"who they choose to torment with loathsome death,
0:06:54 > 0:06:58"drag them around and flog them before killing them
0:06:58 > 0:07:02"as they lie prone on the ground with all their entrails out."
0:07:08 > 0:07:12The Pope created an anti-Islamic onslaught peppered with propaganda.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18His graphic imagery bore little relation to the reality of Muslim rule in the Holy Land.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Nor was Urban's call to arms
0:07:23 > 0:07:27directly inspired by any recent atrocity in the East.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33Nevertheless, his attack ignited a fire of vengeful passion,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37as news of the Crusade resounded across Western Christendom.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51The idea of the Crusade was unleashed in a spiritual age -
0:07:51 > 0:07:55an era that in many ways is wholly alien to our own.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58Today we might be acculturated to notions of tolerance,
0:07:58 > 0:08:02scepticism and religious difference, but a singular truth
0:08:02 > 0:08:07bound together almost every human being alive in 11th-century Europe,
0:08:07 > 0:08:12and that was unconditional and total belief in Christianity.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31At the core of medieval Christianity were the twinned opposing emotions
0:08:31 > 0:08:33of hope and fear,
0:08:33 > 0:08:37the promise of salvation and the threat of damnation.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45The Church taught that every human would face a moment of judgment,
0:08:45 > 0:08:46a weighing of souls.
0:08:46 > 0:08:47Those found to be pure
0:08:47 > 0:08:51would be rewarded with everlasting paradise in Heaven.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53But if you were a sinner,
0:08:53 > 0:08:55then you faced certain punishment -
0:08:55 > 0:08:58an eternity of gruesome torment in Hell.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23This magnificent sculpture cycle depicts the Last Judgment
0:09:23 > 0:09:27and it's the perfect evocation of the whole idea
0:09:27 > 0:09:30of agony and ecstasy in medieval Christianity.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37It was sculpted, we think, by one of the masters of medieval art -
0:09:37 > 0:09:39a man called Gislebertus.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43And we know this because he's left in his inscription
0:09:43 > 0:09:46"Gislebertus hocfecit" - "Gislebertus made this".
0:09:47 > 0:09:51Let's start with the good, let's start with salvation.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53What we see amongst the saved
0:09:53 > 0:09:57are three children being lifted to Heaven by an angle.
0:10:03 > 0:10:04And if we look above
0:10:04 > 0:10:09we can see beautiful, elongated angels lifting the saved up to paradise.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15On the other side, on Christ's left hand, we see those less fortunate,
0:10:15 > 0:10:20those who have sinned and will face an eternity of torment in Hell.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28We can see a man bearing a bag, probably a bag of money,
0:10:28 > 0:10:30meaning he's a miser or a moneylender.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33He's amongst the damned.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37And there we can see a woman with a pair of snakes
0:10:37 > 0:10:41gnawing on her bare breasts, showing that she was lusty or lewd.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46And perhaps most evocatively of all,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49a man with a look of fear and agony on his face
0:10:49 > 0:10:52as a pair of giant demonic hands reach down to strangle him
0:10:52 > 0:10:55and pull him through the gates of Hell.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11This is the tableau of horror laid out before you.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15This is what Gislebertus wanted his audience to understand -
0:11:15 > 0:11:19the consequences of sin in the medieval world.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35Primed to seek redemption,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38Western Christians were thus enthralled when Urban II
0:11:38 > 0:11:41announced his expedition to the Holy Land.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43The price would be huge.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46The faithful would have to give up everything
0:11:46 > 0:11:50to participate in a terrifying, near suicidal journey into the unknown,
0:11:50 > 0:11:53but in return, the Pope seemed to be promising
0:11:53 > 0:11:56a guarantee of eternal salvation.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03Tens of thousands of ordinary Christians
0:12:03 > 0:12:07responded to the Pope's brilliantly-conceived campaign.
0:12:10 > 0:12:15But Urban's target audience was the aristocracy of Western Europe -
0:12:15 > 0:12:18a violent warrior class
0:12:18 > 0:12:22fighting for survival in a world of bloodthirsty lawlessness.
0:12:26 > 0:12:31These warlords would become the Crusades' leaders -
0:12:31 > 0:12:35Christian knights for whom the Pope's call to arms solved a very particular dilemma.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44The Pope knew only too well the anxiety of Christian warriors
0:12:44 > 0:12:47trapped in a worldly profession imbued with violence,
0:12:47 > 0:12:50yet taught by the Church that bloodshed was sinful.
0:12:50 > 0:12:56The real genius of Urban's crusading ideal was that it solved this dilemma,
0:12:56 > 0:12:58reconciling faith and violence.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04Urban spoke of a new sacred struggle,
0:13:04 > 0:13:07in which fighting would not simply be permitted,
0:13:07 > 0:13:10but actively encouraged and even rewarded.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26The day after Pope Urban's sermon at Clermont,
0:13:26 > 0:13:27Count Raymond of Toulouse,
0:13:27 > 0:13:30the most powerful secular Lord in Southern France,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33became the first nobleman to commit to the Crusade.
0:13:38 > 0:13:43Determined to prepare his soul for the gruelling expedition ahead,
0:13:43 > 0:13:46Raymond then came here, to this cathedral in Le Puy.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55The Count made a large donation
0:13:55 > 0:13:58to secure the favourable intercession of the Virgin Mary,
0:13:58 > 0:14:01and according to one chronicle requested...
0:14:01 > 0:14:04"So long as I live a candle should burn for me incessantly,
0:14:04 > 0:14:06"day and night upon the altar
0:14:06 > 0:14:10"before the revered image of the Mother of God."
0:14:14 > 0:14:20Some Christian knights may have embarked upon the holy war believing they would reap rich rewards
0:14:20 > 0:14:24from conquest and plunder in the East.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28But the vast majority were primarily driven by faith
0:14:28 > 0:14:30and the promise of redemption.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36It's often argued that Raymond, and many like him,
0:14:36 > 0:14:39joined the Crusade in search of material gain.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41But I think this theory is simply unsustainable,
0:14:41 > 0:14:46given the vast weight of contemporary evidence that shows us the exact opposite.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51Raymond actually walked away from one of the richest lordships in Europe to join this expedition.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53And like many of his fellow Crusaders,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56he probably expected to die in the East.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59I think most people joined this Crusade
0:14:59 > 0:15:04because they earnestly believed that the coming campaign would cleanse their souls of sin.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08They were, I think, looking for redemption in the fire of holy war.
0:15:15 > 0:15:16For noblemen like Raymond,
0:15:16 > 0:15:21and the retinues of knights and infantry that came with them,
0:15:21 > 0:15:25the Crusade offered the promise of eternal salvation,
0:15:25 > 0:15:31and, in return, their personal fortunes would bankroll the sacred expedition.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Raymond of Toulouse became the Crusade's elder statesman,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39but he was just one of scores of rich and powerful noblemen
0:15:39 > 0:15:45for whom the combined allure of military conquest and religious redemption proved irresistible.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49There was Godfrey of Bouillon,
0:15:49 > 0:15:54a pious duke whose lands extended from North-Eastern France into the low countries of Germany.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57Despite a long-standing feud with the papacy,
0:15:57 > 0:16:02Godfrey was so enthralled by the crusading message that he joined the expedition to Jerusalem.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10There was the Southern-Italian Norman, Bohemond of Taranto,
0:16:10 > 0:16:14a guileful military genius, perhaps the greatest general of his age.
0:16:15 > 0:16:20And there was Stephen of Blois from Northern France, William the Conqueror's son-in-law.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23Stephen left his wife Adela behind to rule in his stead
0:16:23 > 0:16:27and later wrote her a series of extraordinary letters from the front line,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29describing his adventures in the East.
0:16:31 > 0:16:36"In fighting against these enemies of God and of our own, we have,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39"by God's grace, endured many sufferings
0:16:39 > 0:16:42"and innumerable evils up to the present time."
0:16:46 > 0:16:51'Stephen's words survive as a direct, eye-witness account of the Crusade.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54'But there were many other contemporaries
0:16:54 > 0:16:58'who also sought to chronicle this remarkable expedition.'
0:17:10 > 0:17:13This manuscript is a French copy
0:17:13 > 0:17:15of the Histoire d'Outremer.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19William of Tyre.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21It's illuminated.
0:17:24 > 0:17:30It is one of our most popular manuscripts
0:17:30 > 0:17:32for the story of Crusaders.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36This feels like you're touching the past.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38It's an amazing feeling.
0:17:41 > 0:17:47'This is an illustrated copy, produced in 1289,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50'of the most famous chronicle of the Crusades,
0:17:50 > 0:17:51'written by William of Tyre,
0:17:51 > 0:17:56'a Christian historian working in the Holy Land in the 12th century.'
0:18:02 > 0:18:06There's something absolutely extraordinary about being this close
0:18:06 > 0:18:09to an item of this kind of rarity.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12Such a precious manuscript - to actually be able to touch it,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15for me, it's almost electrifying.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20This is an absolute masterpiece in terms of depicting
0:18:20 > 0:18:23the start of the First Crusade.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26And what it shows is a series of knights riding out from Europe,
0:18:26 > 0:18:30preparing for their 3,000-mile journey to reach Jerusalem.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33And we can see Godfrey of Bouillon himself,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36one of the great leaders of the Crusade, in amongst this group.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39And he's against a golden background,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42and it's that gold that really sets this image alight.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45It makes it seem as if the horses themselves are moving,
0:18:45 > 0:18:47it gives action, gives life to the image.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52And it's that which conveys this sense of a journey beginning - the start of the Crusade.
0:18:57 > 0:19:02But this dignified procession belies the ramshackle reality of the First Crusade.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12For most people, embarking on a crusade was a colossal leap of faith.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15This would be a journey to a wholly alien and unknown world,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19attempted with little or no planning and no accurate maps.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24This was an extraordinary mass migration
0:19:24 > 0:19:28undertaken by over 60,000 people -
0:19:28 > 0:19:32an unprecedented tide of humankind.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41The first to depart were small groups of peasants and some knights.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45Too poor to pay for ships, their only option was to walk,
0:19:45 > 0:19:50dragging their few belongings behind on carts,
0:19:50 > 0:19:54living hand-to-mouth off the land.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00As they marched East, this rabble of Christian fanatics
0:20:00 > 0:20:05became embroiled in a series of murderous attacks on the Jews of Europe.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13The main contingents of knights soon followed.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16But it was only in the first months of 1097,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19almost a year after the first pilgrims set out,
0:20:19 > 0:20:24that the First Crusade finally united at Constantinople,
0:20:24 > 0:20:27capital of the Byzantine Empire.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33For most Crusaders, this was the end of the world as they knew it -
0:20:33 > 0:20:39a mighty metropolis ten times the size of any city in Western Europe.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43And it was the centre of the Greek Church in the East,
0:20:43 > 0:20:47the greatest Christian superpower of the medieval age.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56Constantinople boasted an unrivalled collection of sacred relics.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00It had the Crown of Thorns, locks of hair from the Virgin Mary,
0:21:00 > 0:21:03at least two heads of John the Baptist,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06and the bones of virtually all the apostles.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08And it had this - St Sophia,
0:21:08 > 0:21:13undoubtedly medieval Christendom's most spectacular church.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30"I arrived at Constantinople with great joy by the grace of God.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36"The Emperor verily received me with dignity and honour
0:21:36 > 0:21:40"and with the greatest affection as if I were his own son."
0:21:44 > 0:21:47The Crusaders had arrived at the gateway to the Orient,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49the frontier with Islam.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54The Byzantine Emperor had, for some time,
0:21:54 > 0:21:57been appealing to the West for help
0:21:57 > 0:21:59in defending Christendom's Eastern border.
0:22:05 > 0:22:10With the aid of his troops, the Crusaders targeted Nicaea,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13an Islamic foothold in Western Asia Minor.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21After a month-long siege, the city was conquered.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26The holy war had begun.
0:22:27 > 0:22:32But there was no immediate response to this audacious invasion.
0:22:32 > 0:22:38The Crusaders had, inadvertently, chosen the perfect moment to strike.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45The Muslim world was in a state of disarray,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48riven by religious and ethnic divisions.
0:22:49 > 0:22:54As yet, Islam could not draw upon the same profound sense of shared purpose
0:22:54 > 0:22:58that united the Crusaders,
0:22:58 > 0:23:04the dream that drove these Christians on towards their sacred objective.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07"I tell you, my beloved,"
0:23:07 > 0:23:10wrote Stephen of Blois to his wife back in France,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14"In five weeks, we will reach Jerusalem."
0:23:28 > 0:23:30Because of its vast size,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33the Crusade couldn't realistically move forward as a single force.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37A column of 60,000 people might take an entire day
0:23:37 > 0:23:39just to pass a single point.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43And foraging for food and supplies as they went,
0:23:43 > 0:23:47they might scour the surrounding landscape like a plague of locust.
0:23:47 > 0:23:52Instead, the Crusaders decided to divide their army in two.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59Led by Bohemond of Taranto,
0:23:59 > 0:24:03the first contingent set off, with a plan to regroup after four days,
0:24:03 > 0:24:07here at an abandoned Byzantine military camp,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10100 miles south-east of Nicaea.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17But the holy army never made its rendezvous.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22HORSE WHINNIES IN PANIC
0:24:25 > 0:24:29As the Crusaders marched across the plains of Asia Minor,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33they were ambushed by a ferocious band of nomadic warriors...
0:24:35 > 0:24:40..their first terrifying taste of Turkish horsemen in full flight.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44One of Bohemond's followers recalled the moment of horror
0:24:44 > 0:24:46as the Turks suddenly came into view
0:24:46 > 0:24:48and began to howl and gabble.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51HORSE WHINNIES IN PANIC
0:24:52 > 0:24:56Another eye-witness, caught in the thick of the fighting, wrote,
0:24:56 > 0:24:58"The Turks were howling like wolves."
0:24:58 > 0:25:02"They began shooting a cloud of arrows.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04"We were all stunned by this.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09"Because for all of us, this form of warfare was unknown."
0:25:13 > 0:25:17Ranged against a seemingly endless multitude of Turks,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20the Christians were thrown into disarray.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22Instead of chaotic retreat,
0:25:22 > 0:25:26Bohemond managed to establish a defensive formation.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30But isolated and exposed, the Crusaders faced disaster.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38"Huddled together like sheep in a fold,
0:25:38 > 0:25:42"we were trembling and frightened, surrounded on all sides by enemies
0:25:42 > 0:25:46"so that we couldn't turn in any direction," one Crusader later recalled.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51To strengthen their resolve,
0:25:51 > 0:25:55the Crusaders passed a morale-boosting message down the line.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59"Stand fast, trusting in Christ and the victory of the cross."
0:26:04 > 0:26:07One account described how the Turks burst into the camp,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10striking with arrows loosed from their horned bows,
0:26:10 > 0:26:16killing men, women and children indiscriminately and sparing no-one on grounds of age.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21Stunned and terrified by this hideous killing,
0:26:21 > 0:26:26girls who were delicate and nobly born were rushing to get themselves dressed up
0:26:26 > 0:26:28and offering themselves to the Turks.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32So that at least, appeased by their beauty,
0:26:32 > 0:26:34they may offer their prisoners some pity.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45This idea of Western women rushing into their tents
0:26:45 > 0:26:47to beautify themselves,
0:26:47 > 0:26:51all in the hope that they'd be taken slave rather than killed on the spot,
0:26:51 > 0:26:55can almost sound comical. But this anecdote is supposed to tell us something.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59It's supposed to reveal that the Crusaders were absolutely terrified
0:26:59 > 0:27:01by what they encountered at Dorylaeum.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05They'd come across an alien enemy - something they'd never experienced before.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08What's really extraordinary is that they didn't give up,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12they didn't buckle. Instead they managed to re-group,
0:27:12 > 0:27:15re-order their lines and hold their position for five hours
0:27:15 > 0:27:18until crusading reinforcements arrived.
0:27:21 > 0:27:26In the ensuing battle, as many as 4,000 Christians were killed.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30But, crucially, the Crusaders simply refused to give in.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35The Turks were not defeated at Dorylaeum,
0:27:35 > 0:27:37but their resistance was broken,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40and the route across Asia Minor opened up.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48Empowered by their faith, the Western invaders seemed invincible.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52In contrast, Islam's defence lay in the hands
0:27:52 > 0:27:55of a disparate array of squabbling warlords.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01But the Crusaders faced a different kind of enemy
0:28:01 > 0:28:03as they marched across Asia Minor,
0:28:03 > 0:28:07enduring the blistering heat of the summer months,
0:28:07 > 0:28:09plagued by starvation and thirst.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19For the first time, a lack of water became a real issue.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22The death rate skyrocketed and there's one thing that's
0:28:22 > 0:28:27really extraordinary about this period and that's that the eyewitness testimony
0:28:27 > 0:28:32seems to suggest that the Crusaders were almost as concerned, if not more concerned,
0:28:32 > 0:28:37about the death of animals as they were about those men and women who died through thirst.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40We've always thought that the Crusaders
0:28:40 > 0:28:44arrived in the Holy Land with their cavalry intact, the truth is
0:28:44 > 0:28:49that, crossing Asia Minor, almost all of these Western horses died.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51By the time they reached the Holy Land,
0:28:51 > 0:28:54the Crusaders were forced to ride, sometimes on donkeys
0:28:54 > 0:28:58with their feet dragging in the dirt, others were astride oxen.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02So this idea of an invincible military force,
0:29:02 > 0:29:04that the Crusade had at its fingertips, is an illusion.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15Christian numbers were severely depleted by an epic journey
0:29:15 > 0:29:19that concluded with a terrifying traverse of the Taurus Mountains.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26By the time the First Crusade reached northern Syria,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29in the autumn of 1097,
0:29:29 > 0:29:33only around half of those who had left Europe a year earlier survived.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41The crossing of Asia Minor had been an extraordinary feat in itself.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44But now, standing at the gateway to the Holy Land,
0:29:44 > 0:29:47the Crusaders faced a gargantuan task,
0:29:47 > 0:29:50one that eclipsed everything that had gone before.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54The conquest of one of the great cities of the Orient - Antioch.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05Antioch was a crucial staging post, as the Crusade now looked south
0:30:05 > 0:30:10to Jerusalem itself, perhaps less than a month's march away.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17But Antioch lay under the rule of Muslim Turks,
0:30:17 > 0:30:20shielded by two great mountains,
0:30:20 > 0:30:23and a ring of awesome battlements that made this
0:30:23 > 0:30:27one of the most strongly-fortified cities in the medieval world.
0:30:41 > 0:30:43So this is the iron gate.
0:30:43 > 0:30:48I absolutely love this place, because it's the perfect spot to come to if you want to
0:30:48 > 0:30:51understand what medieval Antioch would have looked like.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55And why the Crusaders thought this city was going to be impregnable.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04This is Antioch's last surviving gate, part of a series
0:31:04 > 0:31:08of formidable defences that made an immediate attack impossible.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14The city was garrisoned by around 5,000 Turks...
0:31:15 > 0:31:17..enough to mount a defence
0:31:17 > 0:31:22but not sufficient to confront the Crusaders in open battle.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27The result, an appalling stalemate that would test
0:31:27 > 0:31:29the Christians' faith to the limit.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35From the autumn of 1097 onwards, the Crusaders committed
0:31:35 > 0:31:40themselves to the grinding reality of a medieval encirclement siege -
0:31:40 > 0:31:43a devastating war of attrition that would last for eight months.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51That winter would prove to be a living hell for the Crusaders
0:31:51 > 0:31:56camped outside Antioch, facing illness, disease and starvation.
0:32:02 > 0:32:07The height of the Crusaders' suffering came in January 1098.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11Stephen of Blois, who managed to survive these darkest of days,
0:32:11 > 0:32:13later wrote in a letter,
0:32:13 > 0:32:16"Throughout that winter we suffered from excessive cold,
0:32:16 > 0:32:20"and enormous torrents of rain. What some say about the impossibility
0:32:20 > 0:32:24"of being able to bear the heat of the sun throughout Syria is untrue
0:32:24 > 0:32:28"because the winters there are very similar to our own in the West."
0:32:28 > 0:32:33That January, hundreds, perhaps thousands, lost their lives,
0:32:33 > 0:32:35not to the edge of a sword, but to illness,
0:32:35 > 0:32:37and malnourishment.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39Indeed, according to one account,
0:32:39 > 0:32:44food became so scarce that the poor were forced to eat dogs and rats,
0:32:44 > 0:32:48the skin of beasts and even seeds of grain found in manure.
0:32:52 > 0:32:58Many Christians began to question why God had abandoned the Crusade, his sacred venture.
0:33:01 > 0:33:05And when it seemed that things couldn't get any worse,
0:33:05 > 0:33:08the Muslim world finally appeared to unite.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18Just as the advent of spring began to shift the balance
0:33:18 > 0:33:20of the siege in the Crusaders' favour,
0:33:20 > 0:33:23a dread-laden rumour began to circulate.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27Scouts from the Christian camp revealed that they'd seen
0:33:27 > 0:33:28a Muslim army.
0:33:28 > 0:33:34Reportedly swarming over mountain paths. Like the sands of the sea.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44Kerbogha of Mosul, a fearsome Iraqi general,
0:33:44 > 0:33:47and some 40,000 Syrian and Mesopotamian troops were
0:33:47 > 0:33:51on the way, and now they were less than one week away from Antioch.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16This huge relief force, mobilised in response to desperate appeals
0:34:16 > 0:34:19for support from Antioch's Muslim leaders,
0:34:19 > 0:34:22outnumbered the Crusaders by two to one.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28Stranded outside the city,
0:34:28 > 0:34:32the Christian army would surely be crushed against Antioch's walls.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37Facing the very real threat of panic and mass desertion,
0:34:37 > 0:34:41the Crusade's leaders convened an emergency council.
0:34:43 > 0:34:49And Bohemond, the military genius who had taken command at Dorylaeum, stepped forward.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56Bohemond argued that whoever could orchestrate Antioch's fall
0:34:56 > 0:34:58should be given legal rights to the city.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02And it was only after the bargain had been sealed,
0:35:02 > 0:35:05that the wily Bohemond showed his hand.
0:35:10 > 0:35:16Bohemond had made contact with a renegade inside Antioch,
0:35:16 > 0:35:20an Armenian Christian tower commander named Firuz,
0:35:20 > 0:35:23who was willing to betray the city.
0:35:26 > 0:35:30Just a few short days after the Crusaders' emergency council,
0:35:30 > 0:35:34a small group of Bohemond's men stole up to the foot
0:35:34 > 0:35:37of an isolated section of the city's south-eastern walls.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40There, Firuz lowered a ladder.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49We know from eyewitness testimony that these men must have been
0:35:49 > 0:35:53absolutely terrified, most of them expecting to be killed as soon as
0:35:53 > 0:35:55they reached the top.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58As it turned out, they were able to despatch the guards
0:35:58 > 0:36:01at all the three surrounding towers in almost complete silence,
0:36:01 > 0:36:05and soon afterwards a small gate was opened below.
0:36:08 > 0:36:13The calm night air was suddenly shattered, a shrill bugle sounded
0:36:13 > 0:36:16to signal a wave of secondary attacks on other parts of the city.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22And the Christians began screaming out their battle cry,
0:36:22 > 0:36:24"God wills it! God wills it!"
0:36:26 > 0:36:29The Muslim garrison was thrown into a state of utter confusion
0:36:29 > 0:36:32and soon Antioch's remaining gates were thrown open
0:36:32 > 0:36:33and the Crusaders poured in.
0:36:33 > 0:36:38In the half light of dawn, a chaotic slaughter began
0:36:38 > 0:36:42as the Crusaders unleashed eight months of pent-up anger and aggression.
0:36:53 > 0:36:58This illumination depicts the fall of Antioch on the 3rd of June 1098.
0:36:58 > 0:37:00And I think it's an absolutely remarkable image.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04One Muslim is having a sword stabbed through his chest.
0:37:06 > 0:37:07Another is about to be decapitated.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12And I find this image quite troubling because in many ways it's very beautiful.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16The colour is extraordinary, it looks as if it was painted
0:37:16 > 0:37:18last week, not 800 years ago.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22But, at the same time, it's horrific.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25And I think, in a way, this cuts to the heart of the enigma
0:37:25 > 0:37:28of the First Crusade and the Crusades that would follow,
0:37:28 > 0:37:31because this is about violence that's enacted
0:37:31 > 0:37:33in the context of Holy War.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41And perhaps in that context the idea that that violence might be sinful,
0:37:41 > 0:37:44that it might be morally wrong, has been erased.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47Because this was now the work of God.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56Having spent eight months battling to gain entry to Antioch,
0:37:56 > 0:38:01the Crusaders now found themselves ensnared in a bizarre predicament.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10The very next day, Kerbogha's great army began to arrive.
0:38:10 > 0:38:15The first Crusaders were now trapped inside Antioch,
0:38:15 > 0:38:18the besiegers had become the besieged.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28Kerbogha's ferocious army formed a cordon around Antioch.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36Trapped inside a city already bereft of supplies,
0:38:36 > 0:38:41the Christians now faced the greatest test of their faith.
0:38:44 > 0:38:45Food very quickly ran short
0:38:45 > 0:38:48and starvation became endemic.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50It was said that the poor were forced
0:38:50 > 0:38:52to eat the leather of their own shoes,
0:38:52 > 0:38:56while others drank the blood from the few remaining horses to sustain themselves.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58Many Crusaders now deserted.
0:38:58 > 0:38:59Lowering ropes from the walls,
0:38:59 > 0:39:03and escaping under cover of darkness, these rope danglers,
0:39:03 > 0:39:06as they came to be known, included many well-known knights.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12The Crusaders had reached their lowest point.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15Weakened by hunger, utterly terrified of the enemy outside
0:39:15 > 0:39:20baying for their blood, they were in a state of total despair.
0:39:20 > 0:39:25It seemed that the First Crusade was about to end in disaster.
0:39:29 > 0:39:34Surely only a miracle could save the Christians now.
0:39:45 > 0:39:51In mid-June 1098, a southern French peasant named Peter Bartholomew came forward,
0:39:51 > 0:39:55announcing that he'd experienced a series of visions.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57In these, St Andrew revealed to him
0:39:57 > 0:40:03the resting place of an incredibly powerful spiritual weapon - the Holy Lance -
0:40:03 > 0:40:08the very spear that had pierced the side of Christ on the Cross.
0:40:19 > 0:40:21Peter Bartholomew led a group of Crusaders
0:40:21 > 0:40:26to the basilica of St Peter's in Antioch and began digging.
0:40:27 > 0:40:32One member of this party, Raymond of Aguilers, described the scene.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38"We'd been digging until evening when some of us
0:40:38 > 0:40:42"began to give up hope of unearthing the lance.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45"But Peter Bartholomew, seeing the exhaustion of our workers,
0:40:45 > 0:40:48"stripped off his outer garments and, clad only in a shirt
0:40:48 > 0:40:51"and bare-footed, dropped into the hole"
0:40:56 > 0:41:00"He then begged us to pray to God, to return his lance
0:41:00 > 0:41:03"and bring strength and victory to his people.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06"Finally, the Lord showed us his lance,
0:41:06 > 0:41:11"and I kissed its point as it barely protruded from the ground -
0:41:11 > 0:41:16"what great joy and exaltation filled the city."
0:41:24 > 0:41:28What Peter Bartholomew supposedly found was probably no more
0:41:28 > 0:41:31than a small shard of metal.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38But the idea that God might manifest his will on Earth
0:41:38 > 0:41:43through such sacred objects was part and parcel of medieval Christianity.
0:41:44 > 0:41:46And the ravings of a religious fanatic
0:41:46 > 0:41:51and the discovery of such a significant relic
0:41:51 > 0:41:55had the potential to reignite the Crusaders' belief
0:41:55 > 0:41:56in their holy mission.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02Most accounts indicate that the discovery of the Holy Lance had an electrifying effect
0:42:02 > 0:42:04on the Crusaders' state of mind.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09Even though they were exhausted, starving,
0:42:09 > 0:42:11and facing seemingly insurmountable odds,
0:42:11 > 0:42:15this seemingly irrefutable demonstration of divine support
0:42:15 > 0:42:20fired the Crusaders to take up arms and confront Kerbogha head on.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29On that day, they scored a miraculous victory,
0:42:29 > 0:42:32driving Kerbogha's horde from the field.
0:42:36 > 0:42:41Antioch was theirs, and the cult of the Holy Lance was born -
0:42:41 > 0:42:45a cult with the power to shape the future of the Crusade.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16I've always been captivated by the story of the Holy Lance
0:43:16 > 0:43:20and for a long time I believed, like everyone else, that the discovery
0:43:20 > 0:43:23of this relic provided an electrifying boost to Crusader morale,
0:43:23 > 0:43:26sending them sprinting out of Antioch to confront Kerbogha.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34I'd come to Venice to see perhaps the oldest surviving copy
0:43:34 > 0:43:38of a chronicle written by Matthew of Edessa,
0:43:38 > 0:43:43an Armenian historian who lived during the time of the First Crusade.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46It's really exciting to see this manuscript.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52Poised between the Western Christian and Muslim perspectives,
0:43:52 > 0:43:55Matthew's account offers a more neutral version of events.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58So this is the text.
0:43:58 > 0:44:00So one of the reasons that I've come here
0:44:00 > 0:44:05is because Matthew Of Edessa offer us a unique moment in his text
0:44:05 > 0:44:09where he describes what's actually happening in Antioch in June 1098.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12Can you show us that specific bit of evidence?
0:44:12 > 0:44:14This is the part.
0:44:15 > 0:44:19- And could you read the section actually in Armenian to me?- Yes.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27'The Franks became threatened with a famine, because provisions
0:44:27 > 0:44:30'in the city had long become exhausted.
0:44:30 > 0:44:35'More and more hard-pressed, they resolved to obtain from Kerbogha
0:44:35 > 0:44:40'a promise of amnesty on condition that they deliver the city
0:44:40 > 0:44:44'into his hands, and return to their own country.'
0:44:45 > 0:44:47So Matthew's telling us that the Crusaders
0:44:47 > 0:44:50in this month of June, that they actually tried to negotiate
0:44:50 > 0:44:55a surrender to be able to leave Antioch - to give up effectively?
0:44:55 > 0:45:00Yes, yes. And, er...to have his assurance
0:45:00 > 0:45:08that they could turn to their home in, er...Europe.
0:45:18 > 0:45:19For so long,
0:45:19 > 0:45:22the Crusaders' reaction to the discovery of the Holy Lance
0:45:22 > 0:45:23has been held up as proof
0:45:23 > 0:45:25of their unshakable, almost blind, piety
0:45:25 > 0:45:28but if they did indeed try to negotiate a surrender,
0:45:28 > 0:45:31then we're left with a very different image -
0:45:31 > 0:45:35one of medieval warriors still wracked by fear and doubt.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38For me, Matthew's account is so important - because it allows us
0:45:38 > 0:45:42to construct a more human and more nuanced image of these Crusaders.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49Kerbogha dismissed the Crusaders' terms of surrender,
0:45:49 > 0:45:53leaving the Christians with a hopeless choice -
0:45:53 > 0:45:57to die within the city from starvation, or to die fighting.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05In the end, the Crusaders did undoubtedly
0:46:05 > 0:46:08make an extraordinarily brave decision -
0:46:08 > 0:46:10to confront Kerbogha's hoard head on.
0:46:10 > 0:46:11But they seem to have done so
0:46:11 > 0:46:14not in a state of ecstatic religious fervour
0:46:14 > 0:46:18but in utter desperation, expecting to die.
0:46:21 > 0:46:25The Christians fought with a primal sense of desperation.
0:46:25 > 0:46:30Ironically, facing certain death, with nothing to lose, they won...
0:46:32 > 0:46:36..defeating an enemy that turned out to be anything but invincible.
0:46:41 > 0:46:43Far from being a united army,
0:46:43 > 0:46:48Kerbogha's force was actually a loose and fragile coalition of rival warlords,
0:46:48 > 0:46:53each suspicious that Kerbogha himself was hoping to use the Crusader invasion
0:46:53 > 0:46:56as a pretext to seize Antioch as his own.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59That was why the Muslim army shattered so readily
0:46:59 > 0:47:01when struck by the Christians charge,
0:47:01 > 0:47:03retreating in headlong defeat.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10For most Crusaders, the seemingly miraculous victory over Kerbogha
0:47:10 > 0:47:13was proof of the power of the Holy Lance,
0:47:13 > 0:47:17and the relic's most ardent advocate, Raymond of Toulouse,
0:47:17 > 0:47:21now asserted moral leadership over the expedition.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25But in the months that followed,
0:47:25 > 0:47:29some of the Crusades' leaders became increasingly greedy
0:47:29 > 0:47:30for power and plunder.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35Bohemond remained to rule Antioch,
0:47:35 > 0:47:40and instead of driving on to Jerusalem, the expedition's holy goal,
0:47:40 > 0:47:45Raymond insisted on pursuing further conquests in Syria and Lebanon.
0:47:55 > 0:47:59For many Christians, these delays were unforgivable.
0:48:00 > 0:48:05Some even began to question the authenticity of the Holy Lance,
0:48:05 > 0:48:11and the integrity of the increasingly delusional fanatic who had found it.
0:48:17 > 0:48:22Facing a barrage of criticism, Peter Bartholomew actually begged
0:48:22 > 0:48:26to undergo a potentially lethal trial by ordeal,
0:48:26 > 0:48:30all to prove his own innocence and the authenticity of the Holy Lance.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36On 10th April 1099,
0:48:36 > 0:48:39outside the city of Arqa in Lebanon,
0:48:39 > 0:48:43the peasant visionary began to prepare for a dramatic trial,
0:48:43 > 0:48:47the outcome of which would determine the fate of the First Crusade.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55Peter spent the next four days fasting to purify his soul
0:48:55 > 0:48:57and then on Good Friday,
0:48:57 > 0:49:00olive branches were stacked into two pyres,
0:49:00 > 0:49:04four feet in height and 13 feet in length.
0:49:29 > 0:49:30With the two pyres set alight,
0:49:30 > 0:49:34wearing a simple tunic and bearing the relic of the Holy Lance,
0:49:34 > 0:49:38Peter Bartholomew willingly walked into the heart of the inferno.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58Some of Peter Bartholomew's supporters later wrote
0:49:58 > 0:50:02that he managed to emerge miraculously from the flames unscathed,
0:50:02 > 0:50:05and it was only subsequently that a frenzied crowd mobbed him
0:50:05 > 0:50:08and broke the bones of his body,
0:50:08 > 0:50:11but a very different story was told by his opponents.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15They recorded that he emerged mortally wounded by burns.
0:50:15 > 0:50:21One thing's certain. The man who had found the Holy Lance in Antioch
0:50:21 > 0:50:24had died within 12 days of his ordeal.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31The spell of the Holy Lance was broken,
0:50:31 > 0:50:36and, with it, the reputation of Raymond of Toulouse.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43It was Godfrey of Bouillon who emerged as the Crusade's new leader,
0:50:43 > 0:50:49as after more than ten months of delay the Christians advanced with almost breakneck speed.
0:50:56 > 0:51:01Any thoughts of further conquests in Lebanon and Palestine were abandoned.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03And just three weeks later,
0:51:03 > 0:51:07on Tuesday, 6th June, in the year 1099,
0:51:07 > 0:51:08after three years
0:51:08 > 0:51:11and more than 2,000 miles,
0:51:11 > 0:51:13the First Crusade finally arrived
0:51:13 > 0:51:17at the spiritual centre of the Christian cosmos.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34Around 90% of those who had set out from Western Europe
0:51:34 > 0:51:39had been lost along the way, either to death or desertion.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45For those few who managed to make it this far,
0:51:45 > 0:51:50the sight long-awaited of Jerusalem must have been incredibly moving.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53But it wasn't just because the journey to get here
0:51:53 > 0:51:56had been so long and arduous -
0:51:56 > 0:52:01it was because this place was the most sacred Christian site on Earth.
0:52:01 > 0:52:07It was the place in which Christ had undergone his passion, his life, his death,
0:52:07 > 0:52:11and, perhaps most importantly of all, his resurrection.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14Many Crusaders believed that if they could conquer this city,
0:52:14 > 0:52:17it would become one with the heavenly Jerusalem,
0:52:17 > 0:52:20a glorious Christian paradise.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31Jerusalem's walls, and the Muslim garrison within,
0:52:31 > 0:52:35made it an even bigger obstacle than Antioch.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40But for the Crusaders, having come so far,
0:52:40 > 0:52:42defeat here was simply unthinkable.
0:52:45 > 0:52:47After a frantic six-week siege,
0:52:47 > 0:52:50Godfrey of Bouillon made the decisive breakthrough,
0:52:50 > 0:52:54breaching the city's inner defences.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07On the 15th July, 1099,
0:53:07 > 0:53:11the first Crusaders finally achieved their long-cherished dream -
0:53:11 > 0:53:13the liberation of Jerusalem.
0:53:16 > 0:53:21Surging through these streets in bloodthirsty ravening packs,
0:53:21 > 0:53:23they overran the Holy City.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31Fuelled by three years of unimaginable strife,
0:53:31 > 0:53:33privation and yearning,
0:53:33 > 0:53:39they unleashed a rampaging torrent of barbaric and indiscriminate slaughter.
0:53:45 > 0:53:49One Crusader joyfully reported "With the fall of Jerusalem,
0:53:49 > 0:53:52"one could see many marvellous works.
0:53:52 > 0:53:54"Some pagans were mercifully beheaded,
0:53:54 > 0:53:58"others pierced by arrows plunged from towers, yet others,
0:53:58 > 0:54:01"tortured for a long time, were burnt to death in searing flames".
0:54:03 > 0:54:06Piles of heads, hands and feet littered the streets,
0:54:06 > 0:54:10and even the soldiers carrying out the killing could hardly bear the stench
0:54:10 > 0:54:13rising from the blood lapping at their ankles.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18Jews as well as Muslims were butchered.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21This was holy war in all its horror.
0:54:25 > 0:54:30Many Muslims fled to Jerusalem's most hallowed ground,
0:54:30 > 0:54:35revered in Islam as the site of Mohammed's ascent to heaven.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43But the Christian warriors went after them,
0:54:43 > 0:54:47cutting them down as far as the famous Aqsa Mosque...
0:54:48 > 0:54:50..where there was such a massacre
0:54:50 > 0:54:54that the Crusaders were wading through their enemies' blood.
0:55:02 > 0:55:03The massacre that took place
0:55:03 > 0:55:08on the streets of Jerusalem was not simply a feral outpouring of pent-up rage.
0:55:08 > 0:55:13Instead, it was a much more calculated and prolonged campaign of killing,
0:55:13 > 0:55:15that lasted at least two days.
0:55:15 > 0:55:21It left this city awash with blood and strewn with corpses.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29In a moment that perfectly encapsulated the Crusade's extraordinary fusion
0:55:29 > 0:55:31of violence and faith...
0:55:33 > 0:55:37..at sunset on 15th July, 1099,
0:55:37 > 0:55:41the Crusaders, still covered in their enemies' blood,
0:55:41 > 0:55:45gathered here in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
0:55:45 > 0:55:49believed to be the site of Christ's death and resurrection,
0:55:49 > 0:55:51to give thanks to their God.
0:55:57 > 0:56:00For us today, the idea that the first Crusaders
0:56:00 > 0:56:03could present themselves as faithful Christians,
0:56:03 > 0:56:06even as they carried out acts of butchery
0:56:06 > 0:56:10might seem abhorrent, almost incomprehensible.
0:56:13 > 0:56:15But if we want to understand the first Crusaders,
0:56:15 > 0:56:19then we have to try to see the world as they saw it,
0:56:19 > 0:56:24to appreciate that they had a distinctly medieval conception of religion.
0:56:37 > 0:56:41All the best eyewitness and contemporary evidence
0:56:41 > 0:56:44indicates that they ardently believed in what they were doing,
0:56:44 > 0:56:49that for them killing for Christ was itself an act of devotion,
0:56:49 > 0:56:53an expression of faith that would open the gates of heaven.
0:56:58 > 0:57:04Four years after Pope Urban II delivered his dramatic call to arms,
0:57:04 > 0:57:07the First Crusaders had achieved their goal.
0:57:12 > 0:57:18Jerusalem was now undeniably in the hands of Western Christians.
0:57:23 > 0:57:27The success of the first Crusades stunned Christian Europe,
0:57:27 > 0:57:31and it became the most widely-recorded event of the Middle Ages.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34Contemporaries saw Jerusalem's seemingly miraculous conquest
0:57:34 > 0:57:37as an immutable proof that their God did indeed want them
0:57:37 > 0:57:40to embrace the idea of Holy War.
0:57:40 > 0:57:42This single moment of Christian triumph
0:57:42 > 0:57:46would fuel enthusiasm for the Crusades for centuries to come.
0:57:55 > 0:57:59But in the decades and centuries that followed, Islam came to regard
0:57:59 > 0:58:06the sack of Jerusalem as the central act of Crusader barbarity and defilement.
0:58:09 > 0:58:12The Middle East was now locked into a bitter struggle
0:58:12 > 0:58:14that would rage for 200 years,
0:58:14 > 0:58:19a conflict in which Muslims would embrace the cause of Jihad,
0:58:19 > 0:58:24uniting in pursuit of vengeance and the Holy Land's re-conquest.
0:58:42 > 0:58:44Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
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