Antioch falls into the hands of the Crusaders 1098
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On June the 2nd 1098, after a siege that had begun on October 21st, 1097, an Armenian guard called Firouz lets sixty Crusader knights scale the walls of the city near the Gate of St George. The Crusaders open the gate allowing the rest of the Crusader forces to enter the city. As the alarm is raised the Greek and Armenian inhabitants kill all as many of the Turkish garrison as they can find.1 The Turkish commander Yaghi Siyan fledthe city. Meanwhile his son with a number of surviving men, managed to make his way to the citadel and lock himself in. As Yaghi Siyan escaped towards the hills he fell from his horse and is abandoned by his bodyguard. He is killed by the Armenian peasants that find him, and his severed head is presented to the Crusader leader Bohemond of Taranto the following morning.2
On June the 7th a Muslim Army under the command of Kerbogha, besieges the Crusaders.
- 1. The Crusades. (Simon & Schuster, 2012). pp72-73.
- 2. The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. (Saqi, 1983). p32.
