Battle of Iconium

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Battle of Iconium
Part of: Third Crusade
date May 18, 1190
place Iconium
output Victory of the Crusaders
Parties to the conflict

Cross of the Knights Templar.svg Crusaders

Rum Seljuks

Commander

Emperor Friedrich I. Barbarossa Duke Friedrich VI. from Swabia

Kılıç Arslan II.

Troop strength
<100,000 approx. 65,000
losses

approx. 20,000

approx. 45,000

The Battle of Iconium was on May 18, 1190 during the Third Crusade (1189-1192) between the German army under Frederick Barbarossa and rum - Seljuks under Sultan Kılıç Arslan II. Fought.

prehistory

Iconium (Turkish: Konya) is a city in Asia Minor , 470 km east of Smyrna . At that time it was the capital of the independent sultanate of Iconium .

On the Third Crusade, Barbarossa's army of crusaders had crossed the Hellespont to Asia Minor in Byzantine ships in March 1190 . Since the end of April, the crusade army made its way through the territory of the Sultan of Iconium. The chroniclers of the crusade put the strength of the crusader army at about 100,000 men, of which a maximum of 20,000 knights and knights, although it can be assumed that this number is exaggerated. On their arduous journey through the central Anatolian mountains, the crusaders suffered greatly from the heat and the soon onset of food and water shortages. Constant attacks and ambushes by Seljuk riders and archers resulted in further heavy human and animal losses. In the mountainous landscape the crusade army drew apart and was particularly vulnerable to rapid attacks. Kılıç Arslan II, the Sultan of the Rum Seljuks, had actually assured the crusade army free passage and is said to have provided them with two leaders. These assured Barbarossa again and again that these attacks would be carried out by uncontrollable cavalry gangs and robbers. But when the head of Barbarossa's army met a strong Muslim army on the Philomelion plain , the crusaders then knew at the latest that they had been betrayed. In the following battle the crusaders prevailed against the Seljuks for the first time and inflicted heavy losses on them. Barbarossa's army moved on to Iconium, under great hardship and privation, and constantly under pressure from the Seljuks, where it set up camp on May 17, 1190 in the Sultan's gardens, at the gates of the city. At that time, the exhausted crusaders hardly had any riding horses and pack animals - these had either been killed on the way during raids by the Seljuks or slaughtered out of hunger.

The battle

On the morning of May 18, 1190, Barbarossa divided the army into two groups. The one under Duke Friedrich VI. von Schwaben , the son of Barbarossa, was to attack the city while the emperor and the other remained outside the city. On the way to the city, Duke Friedrich met a German envoy, Gottfried von Wiesenbach , who had previously negotiated with the sultan and who reported that the old sultan and his army had fled to the city's citadel in the face of the crusader army, as well as almost all the inhabitants of the city with their treasures and ample food supplies. Duke Friedrich and his troops then stormed a city gate at the first attempt, fought down the Seljuk resistance and penetrated as far as the walls of the citadel. The Muslim residents who were still found in the city were killed.

Meanwhile, Barbarossa, unaware of his son's victory, was surrounded by Seljuk troops outside the city. The situation seemed hopeless at first, soldiers and clergy crowded close to their emperor and expected its apparently imminent end. Barbarossa, however, did not want to accept this fate, he called to his men to trust in the will of Jesus Christ and, at the risk of his life, stormed forward to attack them. Spurred on by the courage of their emperor, the crusaders were actually able to beat their enemies decisively and then unite with the troops under Duke Friedrich in the city.

According to some sources, the Seljuks lost 40,000 men that day; another 5,000 later died from their injuries. The losses of the crusaders are said to have amounted to around 20,000 men.

consequences

Sultan Kılıç Arslan II probably surrendered the next day. He now had to provide hostages and ensure the crusaders were provided with horses, pack animals and food as part of extensive market rights. In Iconium, the Crusaders had captured large quantities of grain, gold and silver, and purple fabrics of considerable value.

Kılıç Arslan himself was not responsible for this betrayal. His eldest son Qutd-ad-Din (also Rutbeddin ) had agreed an alliance against the Crusaders with a son of Saladin. Saladin had thereupon broken off the siege of the crusaders at Acre and sent the troops against Barbarossa to defeat the crusader army as long as the troops had not united.

On May 23, a market was held at the gates of Iconium, where the crusaders bought 6,000 horses and mules, as well as a large supply of bread, meat, butter and cheese. On May 26th the crusaders were marching on and only the threat of killing the hostages secured them safe passage as they continued through the Iconium Sultanate. On May 30th they reached Laranda and continued the march on the neighboring territory of the Armenian prince Leo , who was allied with Barbarossa .

After the army had crossed the Taurus Mountains , Friedrich Barbarossa drowned on June 10 not far from the city of Seleucia in the Saleph River and a large part of the army returned home demoralized by sea. Only about 2,000 men under Duke Friedrich von Schwaben continued on their way to Palestine.

literature

  • Robert L. Wolff / Harry W. Hazard (Eds.): A History of the Crusades. The later Crusades, 1189-1311. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison 1969. pp. 112 f.
  • Georg von Alten: Handbook for Army and Fleet , Volume IX, Berlin 1912.
  • Wilhelm von Giesebrecht: General German Biography (ADB) . Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1878. Volume VII, p. 433 f.
  • Friedrich Wilken : History of the crusades according to oriental and occidental reports . SL Crusius, Leipzig 1826. Volume 4, p. 125 ff.
  • Arnold Bühler: The crusade of Friedrich Barbarossas, 1187-1190. Eyewitness report. Thorbecke, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-7995-0612-8 .