The Battle of Philomelion (Philomelium in Latin,

Akşehir Akşehir is a town and district of Konya Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. According to 2000 census, population of the district is 114,918 of which 63,000 live in the town of Akşehir. The town is situated at the edge of a fertil ...

in Turkish) was a victory of the forces of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

over the Turkish forces of the

Sultanate of Rûm fa, سلجوقیان روم () , status = , government_type = Hereditary monarchy Triarchy (1249–1254)Diarchy (1257–1262) , year_start = 1077 , year_end = 1308 , p1 = ...

on 7 May 1190 during the

Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of Western Christianity (Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by ...

. In May 1189,

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...

began his expedition to the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

as part of the Third Crusade to recover the city of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

from the forces of

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...

. After an extended stay in the European territories of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

, the Imperial army crossed over to Asia at the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

from 22–28 March 1190. After surmounting opposition from Byzantine populations and Turkish irregulars, the Crusader army was surprised in camp by a 10,000-man Turkish force of the

Sultanate of Rûm fa, سلجوقیان روم () , status = , government_type = Hereditary monarchy Triarchy (1249–1254)Diarchy (1257–1262) , year_start = 1077 , year_end = 1308 , p1 = ...

near Philomelion on the evening of 7 May. The Crusader army counterattacked with 2,000 infantry and cavalry under the leadership of

Frederick VI, Duke of Swabia Frederick VI of Hohenstaufen (February 1167 – 20 January 1191) was duke of Swabia from 1170 until his death at the siege of Acre. Life Born in Modigliana in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, he was the third son of Frederick I Barbarossa a ...

and

Berthold, Duke of Merania Berthold IV (c. 1159 – 12 August 1204), a member of the House of Andechs, was Margrave of Istria and Carniola (as Berthold II). By about 1180/82 he assumed the title of Duke of Merania, referring to the Adriatic seacoast of Kvarner which his ...

, putting the Turks to flight and killing 4,174–5,000 of them.

Background

Pope

Gregory VIII Pope Gregory VIII ( la, Gregorius VIII; c. 1100/1105 – 17 December 1187), born Alberto di Morra, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States for two months in 1187. Becoming Pope after a long diplomatic career as Aposto ...

called for a

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...

to restore the city of

to Christian hands after its loss to

in 1187 and to help the remaining crusader strongholds in the

, a veteran of the

Second Crusade The Second Crusade (1145–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusa ...

, took up the Cross at the ''

Curia Christi The ''Curia Christi'' ("Court of Christ") or ''Curia Dei'' ("Court of God") was a diet or court day (''Hoftag'') of the Holy Roman Empire held in Mainz on 27 March 1188. It was so called because it was notionally under the presidency of Jesus Chr ...

'' (court of Christ) in

Mainz Cathedral , native_name_lang = , image = Mainzer Dom nw.jpg , imagesize = , imagelink = , imagealt = , caption = , pushpin map = , pushpin label position = , pushpin map alt = , pushpin mapsize = , relief = , map caption = , iso regi ...

on 27 March 1188 and was the first to set out for the Holy Land in May 1189 with an army of 12,000–15,000 men, including 4,000 knights. After marching through

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

and the

, the Imperial army crossed over the

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

by 28 March 1190. The Anatolian plateau was held by the

Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm fa, سلجوقیان روم () , status = , government_type = Hereditary monarchyTriarchy (1249–1254)Diarchy (1257–1262) , year_start = 1077 , year_end = 1308 , p1 = By ...

. The passage of the Crusader army provoked armed resistance from the local Byzantine populations in Anatolia. The Crusaders' horses suffered from a lack of grasslands. Having secured in advance Turkish promises of safe transit and the preparation of markets for the Crusader army, Frederick's troops were surprised by hit-and-run Turkish attacks on them upon entering Turkish territory. A Turkish attack on the Imperial camp was defeated on 30 April, with 500 Turks killed. On 2 May, the Crusaders defeated another Turkish attack and killed 300 Turks. The next day, the Imperial soldiers were ambushed by the Turks and hit with arrows and rocks. A knight named Werner was killed while

was wounded along with nine other knights. The Crusaders climbed up a mountain to reach the ambushers and killed sixty of them. They then proceeded to massacre Turkish women and small children in a fertile lowland area. The ''

Minnesänger (; "love song") was a tradition of lyric- and song-writing in Germany and Austria that flourished in the Middle High German period. This period of medieval German literature began in the 12th century and continued into the 14th. People who wr ...

Friedrich von Hausen Friedrich von Hausen (Middle High German: Friderich von Hûsen) was a medieval German poet, one of the earliest of the Minnesingers; born sometime between 1150–60; d. 6 May 1190. Life His name is mentioned frequently in legal documents, for the ...

died on 6 May. He accidentally fell from his horse while pursuing fleeing Turkish troops.

Battle

The Crusaders camped near the city of Philomelion on 7 May. The Turks believed the Imperials to be completely exhausted from hunger and attacked the camp with 10,000 cavalry and infantry in the evening. The attack was accompanied by missile fire and stones. The Crusader army sallied forth from the camp with 2,000 men, with the infantry followed by the cavalry. The Crusaders were led by

and

. The Turks were completely routed and the survivors were saved only by nightfall and the mountainous terrain.

Aftermath

The Crusaders passed Philomelion on 8 May, their ranks thinned by hunger. Turkish attacks continued. On 9–10 May, the Crusaders killed 64 Turkish soldiers and on 11 May about 250 Turks, mostly

horse archer A horse archer is a cavalryman armed with a bow and able to shoot while riding from horseback. Archery has occasionally been used from the backs of other riding animals. In large open areas, it was a highly successful technique for hunting, f ...

s, were added to the score. On 12 May, the Crusaders crossed a narrow bridge that left them highly vulnerable, but the Turks interfered only minimally, with 20 Turks slain that day. The crusaders continued their march until they reached the Seljuk

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, Department (country subdivision), department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city ...

Iconium Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...

on 13 May, where a major battle would be fought on 18 May.

Casualties

The Turks lost 4,174 killed according to the Turks' own body count of their fallen later on. The bodies of another 600 dead could not be recovered. A Crusader estimate put the Turkish death toll at 5,000.

Citations

References

* {{coord, 38, 21, 27, N, 31, 24, 59, E, display=title Philomelion 1190 History of Konya Province Philomelion 1190 Philomelion 1190 Philomelion 1190 Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor 1190s in the Holy Roman Empire 1190s in the Sultanate of Rum