The First Crusade Takes Antioch After a Long Siege

On 21 October 1097, armies of the First Crusade arrived outside Antioch, a heavily fortified city nestled in the Orontes River valley. Enclosed by extensive Byzantine-era stone walls studded with hundreds of towers, Antioch commanded the principal access routes leading south toward Judea. The local Seljuk governor, Yaghi-Siyan, had spent months preparing for their arrival by gathering supplies, imprisoning the patriarch, expelling leading Christian residents, and sending urgent pleas for military assistance to neighboring Muslim rulers across the region.

Recognizing that a direct assault against the formidable fortifications was impractical, the crusaders settled into a protracted blockade along the northern walls. The besiegers quickly found themselves enduring extreme privation as winter arrived and the surrounding countryside was stripped of food. Foraging parties were regularly ambushed, and by early 1098, starvation and cold decimated the camps and killed many of the besiegers. The harsh conditions sparked waves of desertion, while the crusaders had to defeat two separate Seljuk relief armies, led respectively by Duqaq of Damascus and Ridwan of Aleppo.