Hugh of Vermandois. He was the brother of Philip I, king of France (1052-1108). Hugh partook to the first crusade (1096-1099).
Those of the Langue d'Oil had gone before, and under the guidance of Hugh, Count of Vermandois, had been the first of all the Crusaders to take the field. " Hugh," writes a contemporary, " was first to cross the sea to Durazzo, where the citizens took him prisoner, and sent him to the Emperor at Constantinople." How he was released from his captivity we have already seen.
Hugh of Vermandois and the Expeditions of 1101:
Hugh the Great, who had been sent to Constantinople after the fall of Antioch, shared in the disastrous expedition of 1101 and died at Tarsus. The recreant Count Stephen of Blois, driven back to the East by his wife's reproaches, took part in the same expedition, and was slain in the great battle of Ramleh (1102). This expedition, which ended so disastrously for the two French counts, must detain us for a little.
The conquest of Jerusalem kindled a warlike enthusiasm in many hearts which had been cold to the impassioned pleading of Urban and Peter. Amongst those who now took up arms was the powerful Duke William of Aquitaine. Religious feeling had not restrained him from the endeavour to turn Count Raymond's absence on the Crusade to his own profit He is perhaps the first of all the Crusading chiefs who undertook the expedition in the frivolous spirit of the mere adventurer eager for some new thing. The details of this crusade, or series of crusades, are difficult to follow ; but first of all a large and unruly horde of Lombards reached Constantinople, and after some riotous conduct, in the course of which they broke into the palace and killed one of the Emperor's pet lions, crossed the Bosphorus. At Nicomedia they were joined by Conrad the Constable of the Emperor Henry, and the two Stephens of Blois and Burgundy.
¬It was now Whitsuntide, 1101, and the Crusaders, eager to depart, begged Alexius for a guide. He offered them Raymond of St. Gilles, who was present at Constantinople But when the time for departure arrived a feud broke out between the two divisions. Stephen of Blois was for following the old Crusading track through Iconium to Antioch. The Lombards, however, were seized with a wild desire to push across the highlands of Asia Minor to the realm of Chorazan, by which they probably understood Persia or the region of the Lower Tigris. There they hoped to rescue Bohemond from captivity or, happier still, to seize Bagdad itself. Others, among whom was Ekkehard, our chief authority for this expedition, took alarm at a reported speech of the Emperor Alexius, to the effect that he would let the Franks and the Turks devour one another like dogs ; these went by sea from one or other of the Greek ports, and, as Ekkehard says, " Through the Divine mercy, after six weeks we reached the haven of Jaffa."
References:
Archer (T. A.), The Crusades; the story of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, London, 1894.
Riley-Smith (J.), The First Crusade and Idea of Crusading, New York, 1993.
Murray (A. V.), The Crusades: an encyclopedia, CA : ABC-CLIO, 2006.
Those of the Langue d'Oil had gone before, and under the guidance of Hugh, Count of Vermandois, had been the first of all the Crusaders to take the field. " Hugh," writes a contemporary, " was first to cross the sea to Durazzo, where the citizens took him prisoner, and sent him to the Emperor at Constantinople." How he was released from his captivity we have already seen.
Hugh of Vermandois and the Expeditions of 1101:
Hugh the Great, who had been sent to Constantinople after the fall of Antioch, shared in the disastrous expedition of 1101 and died at Tarsus. The recreant Count Stephen of Blois, driven back to the East by his wife's reproaches, took part in the same expedition, and was slain in the great battle of Ramleh (1102). This expedition, which ended so disastrously for the two French counts, must detain us for a little.
The conquest of Jerusalem kindled a warlike enthusiasm in many hearts which had been cold to the impassioned pleading of Urban and Peter. Amongst those who now took up arms was the powerful Duke William of Aquitaine. Religious feeling had not restrained him from the endeavour to turn Count Raymond's absence on the Crusade to his own profit He is perhaps the first of all the Crusading chiefs who undertook the expedition in the frivolous spirit of the mere adventurer eager for some new thing. The details of this crusade, or series of crusades, are difficult to follow ; but first of all a large and unruly horde of Lombards reached Constantinople, and after some riotous conduct, in the course of which they broke into the palace and killed one of the Emperor's pet lions, crossed the Bosphorus. At Nicomedia they were joined by Conrad the Constable of the Emperor Henry, and the two Stephens of Blois and Burgundy.
¬It was now Whitsuntide, 1101, and the Crusaders, eager to depart, begged Alexius for a guide. He offered them Raymond of St. Gilles, who was present at Constantinople But when the time for departure arrived a feud broke out between the two divisions. Stephen of Blois was for following the old Crusading track through Iconium to Antioch. The Lombards, however, were seized with a wild desire to push across the highlands of Asia Minor to the realm of Chorazan, by which they probably understood Persia or the region of the Lower Tigris. There they hoped to rescue Bohemond from captivity or, happier still, to seize Bagdad itself. Others, among whom was Ekkehard, our chief authority for this expedition, took alarm at a reported speech of the Emperor Alexius, to the effect that he would let the Franks and the Turks devour one another like dogs ; these went by sea from one or other of the Greek ports, and, as Ekkehard says, " Through the Divine mercy, after six weeks we reached the haven of Jaffa."
References:
Archer (T. A.), The Crusades; the story of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, London, 1894.
Riley-Smith (J.), The First Crusade and Idea of Crusading, New York, 1993.
Murray (A. V.), The Crusades: an encyclopedia, CA : ABC-CLIO, 2006.