The siege of Edessa in October–November 1146 marked the permanent end of the rule of the Frankish
Counts of Edessa
The County of Edessa ( Latin: ''Comitatus Edessanus'') was one of the Crusader states in the 12th century. Ferdinandi, Sergio (2017). La Contea Franca di Edessa. Fondazione e Profilo Storico del Primo Principato Crociato nel Levante (1098-11 ...
in the city on the eve 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 Cru ...
. It was the second siege the city had suffered in as many years, the first siege of Edessa having ended in December 1144. In 1146, Joscelyn II of Edessa and Baldwin of Marash recaptured the city by stealth but could not take or even properly besiege the citadel. After a brief counter-siege,
Zangid
The Zengid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Oghuz Turkic origin, which ruled parts of the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia on behalf of the Seljuk Empire and eventually seized control of Egypt in 1169. In 1174 the Zengid state extended from Tripo ...
governor Nūr al-Dīn took the city. The population was massacred and the walls razed. This victory was pivotal in the rise of Nūr al-Dīn and the decline of the Christian city of
Edessa
Edessa (; grc, Ἔδεσσα, Édessa) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, founded during the Hellenistic period by King Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroe ...
.
Sources
The second battle for Edessa is covered in many sources. From a Frankish perspective, there is William II of Tyre; from the Syriac perspective,
Michael the Syrian
Michael the Syrian ( ar, ميخائيل السرياني, Mīkhaʾēl el Sūryani:),( syc, ܡܺܝܟ݂ܳܐܝܶܠ ܣܽܘܪܝܳܝܳܐ, Mīkhoʾēl Sūryoyo), died 1199 AD, also known as Michael the Great ( syr, ܡܺܝܟ݂ܳܐܝܶܠ ܪܰܒ݁ܳܐ, ...
Ibn al-Athīr
Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī, better known as ʿAlī ʿIzz ad-Dīn Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī ( ar, علي عز الدین بن الاثیر الجزري) lived 1160–1233) was an Arab or Kurdish historian ...
,
Abū Shāma Abū Shāma Shihāb al-Dīn al-Maḳdisī (10 January 1203 – 13 June 1267) was an Arab historian.
Abū Shāma was born in Damascus, where he passed his whole life save for one year in Egypt, a fortnight in Jerusalem and two pilgrimages to the � ...
and the anonymous ''
Būstān al-jāmiʿ
''Būstān al-jāmiʿ li-jamīʿ tawārīkh al-zamān'' ( ar, بستان الجامع لجميع تواريخ الزمان, , General Garden of All the Histories of the Ages). is an anonymous Arabic chronicle from Ayyubid Syria.Claude Cahen, "Une c ...
''; and for the Armenians,
Gregory the Priest
Gregory may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Gregory (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Gregory (surname), a surname
Places Australia
*Gregory, Queensland, a town in the Shire of ...
's continuation of
Matthew of Edessa
Matthew of Edessa (, Matevos Uṛhayetsi; late 11th century – 1144) was an Armenian historian in the 12th century from the city of Edessa (, ''Uṛha''). Matthew was the superior abbot of Karmir Vank' (Red Convent), near the town of Kaysun ...
's ''Chronicle''.
The Syriac
Basil the Doctor
Basil the Doctor ( hy, Barsegh, italics=yes or ''Barsel'') was an Armenian priest and poet. As the chaplain and confessor of Baldwin, Frankish lord of Marash, he wrote a funeral oration on the latter's death at the battle for Edessa in 1146.
Ba ...
wrote an elegy on the death of Baldwin of Marash.
Joscelyn captures the city
On the death of Edessa's first conqueror, ʿImād al-Dīn Zangī, in September 1146, the Armenian community in the city began plotting with Count Joscelyn II how he might retake the city. An earlier Armenian plot to retake the city had been suppressed in May by the Turks, who then settled 300 Jewish families in the city. He and his vassal Baldwin of Marash set out from
Dülük
Dülük ( hy, Տլուք, translit=Tlukʿ) is a village in Şehitkamil district, a district of Gaziantep, Turkey. At , it is about from Gaziantep city center. The population of Dülük was 2,256 as of 2012. Its ancient name was Doliche ( el, Δο� ...
with an army of cavalry and infantry in late October. They arrived before the city on 27 October. They entered the city by night with the help of the citizenry, who let down ropes and ladders from the walls, and the incompetence of the Turkish garrison.
Joscelyn quickly took control of the city, but the garrison retreated to the citadel. Lacking siege machinery and the materials with which to construct it, the citadel could not be properly invested. Joscelyn sent out appeals for aid to the other
Crusader states
The Crusader States, also known as Outremer, were four Catholic realms in the Middle East that lasted from 1098 to 1291. These feudal polities were created by the Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade through conquest and political i ...
. According to the ''Chronicle of 1234'', Prince
Raymond I of Antioch
Raymond of Poitiers (c. 1105–29 June 1149) was Prince of Antioch from 1136 to 1149. He was the younger son of William IX, Duke of Aquitaine, and his wife Philippa, Countess of Toulouse, born in the very year that his father the Duke began hi ...
refused to help Joscelyn and Baldwin because "he was enraged with both of them for not acknowledging him as their overlord." Historian
Steven Runciman
Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman ( – ), known as Steven Runciman, was an English historian best known for his three-volume '' A History of the Crusades'' (1951–54).
He was a strong admirer of the Byzantine Empire. His history's negativ ...
gives a more sympathetic reason for Raymond's refusal: "the expedition was ill-planned". During their brief second period of control of the city, which lasted a mere six days, the Franks engaged in looting of shops and houses, both of Muslims and Christians. The Muslim population either fled to
Ḥarrān
Harran (), historically known as Carrhae ( el, Kάρραι, Kárrhai), is a rural town and district of the Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey, approximately 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of Urfa and 20 kilometers from the border ...
or took refuge in the citadel with the Turkish garrison.
Nūr al-Dīn's siege
Nūr al-Dīn, who had inherited
Aleppo
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on Zangī's death, ceased his war with Raymond of Antioch ordered a ''
levée en masse
''Levée en masse'' ( or, in English, "mass levy") is a French term used for a policy of mass national conscription, often in the face of invasion.
The concept originated during the French Revolutionary Wars, particularly for the period follo ...
'' throughout his domains as soon as he learned of the fall of Edessa. He also appealed to the neighbouring Seljuk governors for aid. He marched from Aleppo to Edessa with an army of 10,000. He arrived on 2 November and set about besieging the city with
trebuchet
A trebuchet (french: trébuchet) is a type of catapult that uses a long arm to throw a projectile. It was a common powerful siege engine until the advent of gunpowder. The design of a trebuchet allows it to launch projectiles of greater weight ...
s. Through a spy, Joscelyn had advanced knowledge of his arrival. When Joscelyn realized that he was trapped between the besiegers and the garrison in the citadel, he chose to abandon the city. The Syriac sources claim that this decision was made without consulting the citizenry, but that after it was made the military leaders forced the citizens to leave during the night. This account has been questioned. Since the citizens are otherwise portrayed as collaborators, it would hardly have made sense for them to stay. It is possible, however, that the Syriac citizens had stood aloof while the Armenians collaborated.
The retreat was a disaster. The Christians were caught in the gate and massacred. Joscelyn and a band of twenty knights escaped to the Water Tower, but were unable to defend it and fled in secret. The Christian survivors made their way to the
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...
river, a distant of fourteen miles. Baldwin was in the van and Joscelyn in the rear. The following day (3 November), although the rearguard was holding its own, Joscelyn ordered a counterattack on the pursuing forces. He led the attack from the west while Baldwin counterattacked from the east. Both were routed. Baldwin was killed. Joscelyn was wounded in the side by an arrow, but escaped to
Samosata
Samsat ( ku, Samîsad), formerly Samosata ( grc, Σαμόσατα) is a small town in the Adıyaman Province of Turkey, situated on the upper Euphrates river. It is the seat of Samsat District.Basil bar Shumna. By December, Nūr al-Dīn was in control of the city. He had the walls razed.
The men of Edessa were massacred, the women and children enslaved. Michael the Syrian estimates the total number of dead from both sieges of Edessa at 30,000 with a further 16,000 enslaves. He estimates that only about 1,000 Edessene men escaped to freedom and no women or children. At the end of 1146, the city was empty save for the corpses.: "At Edessa itself the whole Christian population was driven into exile. The great city, which claimed to be the oldest Christian commonwealth in the world, was left empty and desolate, and has never recovered to this day." The Armenian bishop John was captured and taken to Aleppo. It was "far worse than the first iegeand the city never recovered its former prominence". It was also the "fatal blow to the county" of Edessa.