Henry (''Henricus de Ascha'') (d. after 1098), lord (or, in some accounts, count) of Esch, son of Fredelon of Esch. Henry was brother to

Godfrey of Esch Godfrey (Geoffrey) (''Filius Fredelonis, unus de collateralibus ducis Godefridi)'' (died after 1098), Lord of Esch and crusader, son of Fredelon of Esch. Godfrey was brother to Henry of Esch. His family held the castle of Esch-sur-Sûre in the ...

, and his family held the castle of

Esch-sur-Sûre Esch-sur-Sûre ( lb, Esch-Sauer, , german: Esch-Sauer ) is a commune and small town in north-western Luxembourg. It is part of the canton of Wiltz, which is part of the district of Diekirch. At one point it was the second smallest commune by area ...

in the Ardennes. He and his brother were vassals of

Henry III, Count of Luxembourg Henri III, Count of Luxembourg (died 1096) was count of Luxembourg from 1086 until his death. He succeeded his father, Conrad I. His mother was Clementia of Aquitaine. Henry III was the first count known to have established his permanent residen ...

, and his brother and successor

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

. His step-mother was Ermengarde, Countess of Clermont, widow of Gozelon, Count of Montaigu, the founder of the family of counts of Montaigu. Henry joined the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic ru ...

in the

army of Godfrey of Bouillon The army of Godfrey of Bouillon, the duke of Lower Lorraine, in response to the call by Pope Urban II to both liberate Jerusalem from Muslim forces and protect the Byzantine Empire from similar attacks. Godfrey and his army, one of several Frankis ...

, leaving for Jerusalem in August 1096. He accompanied Robert, Count of Flanders. to the Holy Land. In one account, he and Baldwin II, Count of Hainaut, were sent by Godfrey to secure the release of

Hugh the Great Hugh the Great (16 June 956) was the duke of the Franks and count of Paris. Biography Hugh was the son of King Robert I of France and Béatrice of Vermandois.Detlev Schwennicke, '' Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der E ...

who had been imprisoned by the Emperor Alexios. Runciman tells a different story. Rumors had it that arriving crusaders had been bestowed with bountiful gifts, and that Baldwin and Henry hastened to Constantinople to claim their share before the others could arrive, only to find the rumors false and Hugh in chains. It is reported that Godfrey was “somewhat disquieted” but it is not clear that his displeasure was with Hugh’s capture or with the haste of the departure of Baldwin and Henry. Henry and Hartmann, Count of Dillingen-Kyburg (''Heinricus de Ascha, Hartmannus comes, unus de majoribus Alemanniæ'') constructed a

siege engine A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. Some are immobile, constructed in place to attack enemy fortifications from a distance, while oth ...

known as the fox (''vulpem'') which collapsed when rushed into action at the

siege of Nicaea The siege of Nicaea was the first major battle of the First Crusade, taking place from 14 May to 19 June 1097. The city was under the control the Seljuk Turks who opted to surrender to the Byzantines in fear of the crusaders breaking into the ci ...

in 1097. Henry was among a group of knights who guarded

Adhémar de Monteil Adhemar (also known as Adémar, Aimar, or Aelarz) de Monteil (died 1 August 1098) was one of the principal figures of the First Crusade and was bishop of Puy-en-Velay from before 1087. He was the chosen representative of Pope Urban II for th ...

, Bishop of Puy-en-Valay, in the mountains above the port of St. Simeon after they discovered what they mistakenly believed to be the

Holy Lance The Holy Lance, also known as the Lance of Longinus (named after Saint Longinus), the Spear of Destiny, or the Holy Spear, is the lance that pierced the side of Jesus as he hung on the cross during his crucifixion. Biblical references The l ...

. The other knights guarding the bishop included Peter of

Dampierre-le-Château Dampierre-le-Château () is a Communes of France, commune of the Marne (department), Marne department in the Grand Est region of France. It is located on the Yèvre (Marne), Yèvre river. History Before the French Revolution, it was called "Dam ...

, Count of Astenois, his nephew Reinhard III, Count of Toul, Reinhard of Hamersbach,

Warner of Grez Warner of Grez (also Werner or Garnier of Grey or Gray) (died 22 or 23 July 1100) Count of Grez, was a French nobleman from Grez-Doiceau, currently in Walloon Brabant in Belgium. He was one of the participants in the army of Godfrey of Bouillon of ...

, and Walter,

avoué During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

of St. Valery-sur-Somme and viscount of

Domart-en-Ponthieu Domart-en-Ponthieu (, literally ''Domart in Ponthieu;'' Picard: ''Donmart-in-Pontiu'') is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography The commune is situated on the D216 road, some southeast of Abbeville ...

(husband of Hodierna, daughter of

Guy I of Montlhéry Guy I (died 1095) was the second lord of Bray and the second lord of Montlhéry (Latin: ''Monte Leterico''). He was probably the son of Thibaud of Montmorency, but some sources say that his father was named Milo. Thibaud may instead have been his ...

). The monk

Peter Bartholomew Peter Bartholomew (, died 20 April 1099) was a French soldier and mystic who was part of the First Crusade as part of the army of Raymond of Saint-Gilles. Peter was initially a servant to William, Lord of Cunhlat. Mysticism In December 1097 du ...

, discoverer of the lance, was also presumably present. Peter underwent an

ordeal by fire Trial by ordeal was an ancient judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused was determined by subjecting them to a painful, or at least an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience. In medieval Europe Europe is a large ...

to verify his claim, but did not survive his test of faith.

Albert of Aix Albert of Aix(-la-Chapelle) or Albert of Aachen; la, Albericus Aquensis; ''fl.'' c. 1100) was a historian of the First Crusade and the early Kingdom of Jerusalem. He was born during the later part of the 11th century, and afterwards became canon (p ...

recorded the death of Henry in the village of Turbaisel during an epidemic. It is not known for certain whether Henry had any children, although Godfrey II, Count of Esch, could have been his son as his parentage has not been verified.

Sources

Murray, Alan V.
"The Army of Godfrey of Bouillon, 1096–1099: Structure and Dynamics of a Contingent on the First Crusade" (PDF)
Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire 70 (2), 1992 Runciman, Steven, ''A History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1951 Riley-Smith, Jonathan, ''The First Crusaders, 1095-1131'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1997

''Adhémar de Monteil'', an article in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th Edition, Cambridge University Press, 1910-1911 Edgington, Susan, ''Albert of Aachen: Historia Ierosolimitana, History of the Journey to Jerusalem'', Clarendon Press, 2007 (available o
Google Books

References

{{Reflist Christians of the First Crusade