By Christmas of 1097, the Crusaders continued to lay siege to Antioch but it has gone on so long they are running out of supplies. One out of every seven men was dying of hunger. Even a greater percentage of horses were also dying. Because Jesus loved them. Both sides continued to hope for the arrival of reinforcements to turn the tables.

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Cameron Reilly: Welcome back to the Renaissance Times Podcast my name is Cameron Riley. With me in the Cold Chair in Virginia, is block of ice ray Harris.

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Ray Harris: Iced tea. That’s that’s right. That’s right.

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Ray Harris: I like that. It’s a pleasure to be here. Thank you.

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Ray Harris: So.

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Cameron Reilly: Talking about the siege of Antioch. This is Part 2 of the siege of Antioch during the 1st Crusade, late 1,097 beginning of 1,098.

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Cameron Reilly: In our last episode we were talking about how the Crusaders had blockaded Antioch.

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Cameron Reilly: Towards the end of 1,097.

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Cameron Reilly: But they’re running out of supplies. They’re running out of food. It’s starting to get cold.

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Cameron Reilly: They don’t have enough men. They don’t have the siege engines. They need to really take this amazing fortress of Antioch with 400 towers and huge wall.

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Cameron Reilly: Meanwhile Yogi Bear, the governor of.

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Ray Harris: And y’all.

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Cameron Reilly: Doesn’t have enough men to defend. It

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Cameron Reilly: also has to worry about his supply lines. So neither side are really attacking the other side. They’re both waiting for relief forces to arrive

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Cameron Reilly: and just trying to do the best they can to wait the other side out. Whoever gets the relief forces to arrive 1st are going to have an advantage.

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Ray Harris: The exact.

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Cameron Reilly: So that is where we are at.

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Ray Harris: Well again. I think it’s important to realize that the Crusaders they’ve been on a roll. They have just been kicking ass and taking names. They come up to Antioch, and they knew they knew it was going to be difficult. But now they are truly stymied. And you’re right. It’s all about supplies. They’re running low on food. They’re running low on faith, let’s be honest. Some of them are like, you know, it’s gone on our side. I don’t know if he is.

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Ray Harris: he’s a shit teammate. So the point is that they are really starting to struggle, and it’s getting cold, and I don’t know about you, but wearing armor in the cold. That kind of sucks, too. But the point is, it’s become a waiting game, and that you can. You can’t speed up outside events.

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Ray Harris: and their faith starts to weaken.

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Cameron Reilly: When they had 1st arrived outside of Antioch. There were plenty of sheep and cattle in the nearby plains. The granaries of the villages around the area still contained most of the supplies from the year’s harvest.

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Cameron Reilly: Despite the fact that Yogi bear in Antioch had been trying to get as much of that inside the walls as he could, but they had managed to feed well. The Crusaders.

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Ray Harris: To what?

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Cameron Reilly: They had neglected to put away supplies for the winter months.

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Ray Harris: Right.

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Cameron Reilly: Possibly an oversight, possibly thinking it’ll all be done in a week. They’re like George Bush when he was like, you know.

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Cameron Reilly: one and done in and out. 2 weeks mission accomplished, but it drags on. It starts.

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Ray Harris: I’ll jump.

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Cameron Reilly: Drag on.

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Cameron Reilly: Now they had to go foraging over an ever increasing area, which meant they were more likely to get off by the small Turkish sorties that were being sent out of Antioch to cut them down as they were, returned

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Cameron Reilly: humor stragglers coming back from fraudulent parties, you know. They’re hiding. The Turks are hiding in the bushes, jumping

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Cameron Reilly: Yup.

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Ray Harris: yeah, taking what they yeah. So around Christmas time, 1097, the food’s almost gone. The countryside’s bare.

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Ray Harris: And we’re going to say this a couple of times. The princes of the Crusaders. They hold a council, and here’s what they’re going to do. Step one. You get together, and someone gets out the whiteboard. They decide that Bohemian and Robert of Flanders are going to take some troops, and they’re going to go up the Orontes valley towards Hama, another smaller city. They’re going to raid the villages in that direction. Meanwhile Raymond and the Bishop of La Poi, I’m not sure how to say that

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Ray Harris: we’ll conduct the siege because Jeffrey at this point is very ill, so at least they’ve got a plan. We’re going to go try to raid, you know, as God intended us to do. You guys start harassing the walls. And maybe between these 2 things we can actually move the needle a little bit, not the best plan in the world, but it’s something. So Robert and Bohem had sent out set out on December 28.th

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Cameron Reilly: With about 20,000 men.

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Cameron Reilly: And of course Yogi Bear knew immediately about their departure from.

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Ray Harris: Have the fact.

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Cameron Reilly: Word, getting back into his camp. So he waited until they were out of sight, and then, on the 29th attacked across the bridge

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Cameron Reilly: and fell onto the Crusaders, who were camped north of the river.

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Ray Harris: Yes.

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Cameron Reilly: The attack was not expected, but Raymond’s quick thinking saved the situation. He quickly rounded up a group of knights, charged out towards the Turks.

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Ray Harris: Damn right.

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Cameron Reilly: Turned and fled back across the bridge.

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Ray Harris: Yes.

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Cameron Reilly: Hooray! Success.

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Ray Harris: But it gets better except

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Ray Harris: well, except and yet it almost gets better. Remember when they 1st got there, Raymond is like, Okay, who wants to attack. Now who’s with me? And sadly, no one else was raising their arms when they chased this Turkish party back to the gates. They almost get there before the gates were closed. This could be it. This could be the thing that turns the entire battle. Maybe Raymond was right the entire time.

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Ray Harris: however, and I’m not blaming God, I’m not saying God had anything to do with this but one of the one of the nights Horace throws his rider. It’s dark.

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Ray Harris: There’s a lot of confusion. There’s a lot of panic. They don’t know what’s going on. Did the horse throw him? Was he knocked off by an attack, they start to panic, and they retreat, and now they are being chased back by the Turks to their camp. But the good news is, when the Crusaders get back to their camp. They turn, they start to fight. The