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While Baldwin of Boulogne and Tancred headed east from Asia Minor to set up the County of Edessa, the main army of the First Crusade continued south to besiege Antioch. Bohemund of Taranto led the siege, beginning in October, 1097. With over four hundred towers, the city was almost impenetrable. The siege lasted throughout the winter, with much suffering among the Crusaders, who were often forced to eat their own horses, or, as legend has it, the bodies of their fellow Christians who had not survived.
However, Bohemund convinced a guard in one of the towers, a former Christian named Firouz, to let the Crusaders enter the city. He did so on June 3, 1098, and a massacre of the Muslim inhabitants followed. Only four days later, a Muslim army from MosulMosul ( Arabic: al Mawsil is a city in northern Iraq. It stands on the right bank of the Tigris River, some 220 miles northwest of Baghdad. The population of the area is largely Kurdish, but the majority of the city's inhabitants are Arabs. In 1987 the ci led by KerboghaKerbogha was Atabeg of Mosul during the First Crusade and was renowned as a soldier. In 1098, when he heard that the Crusaders had besieged Antioch, he gathered his troops and marched to relieve the city. By the time he arrived, on July 7, the Crusaders h arrived to besiege the Crusaders themselves. Alexius I ComnenusAlexius I ( 1048 August 15, 1118), Byzantine emperor ( 1081- 1118), was the third son of John Comnenus, nephew of Isaac I Comnenus (emperor 1057-1059). His father declined the throne on the abdication of Isaac, who was accordingly succeeded by four empero, the Byzantine emperor, was on his way to assist the Crusaders, but turned back when he heard the city had already been retaken.
However, the Crusaders were withstanding the siege, with help from a mystic named Peter BartholomewPeter Bartholomew was a poor monk and mystic from France who accompanied the knights of the First Crusade. In December, 1097, during the siege of Antioch, Peter began to have visions, mostly of St. Peter claimed St. Andrew took him to the Church of St.. Peter claimed he had been visited by St. AndrewSaint Andrew (Greek, Andreas "manly"), the Christian Apostle, brother of Saint Peter, was born at Bethsaida on the Lake of Galilee. He had been a disciple of John the Baptist ( John 1:37-40) and was one of the first to follow Jesus. He lived at Capernaum, who told him that the Holy LanceIn Christian mythology the Holy Lance is the lance used at the Crucifixion, which was later identified with a relic or relics that survive. The modern mythology elaborated on this theme is separately described at the entry Spear of Destiny. The Gospel of, which had pierced Christ's side as he was on the cross, was located in AntiochThis is about one of the cities called Antioch in Asia Minor, now Turkey. See Antioch (disambiguation) for other places called Antioch. The city of Antioch-on-the-Orontes (modern Antakya is located in what is now Turkey. It was founded near the end of the. The cathedral of St. Peter was excavated, and the Lance was discovered by Peter himself. Although Peter most likely planted it there himself (even the papal legate Adhemar of Le Puy believed this to be the case), it helped raise the spirits of the Crusaders. With the newly discovered relic at the head of the army, Bohemund marched out to meet Kerbogha, who was miraculously defeated - miraculously, according to the Crusaders, because an army of saints had appeared to help them on the battlefield.
There was a lengthy dispute over who should control the city. Bohemund and the other Italian Normans eventually won, and Bohemund named himself prince. Unlike Baldwin in Edessa, who was already a count in France, Bohemund did not hold the title of prince in Europe, but this did not deter the creation of a Principality. Meanwhile, an unknown epidemic spread throughout the Crusader camp; Adhemar of Le Puy was one of the victims.