Battle of Harran

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Battle of Harran
Part of the Crusades
Date May 7, 1104 Location two days away of Harran, in the plain opposite to ar-Raqqah Result Seljuk victory
Combatants
Principality of Antioch County of Edessa	Seljuk Turks
Commanders
Baldwin II of Edessa Bohemund I of Antioch Tancred Joscelin of Courtenay	Jikirmish of Mosul Sukman ibn Artuq of Mardin
Strength
Unknown	Sukman: 7,000 Turcoman horsemen Jikirmish: 3,000 Turcoman horsemen
Casualties
Unknown	Unknown

The Battle of Harran took place on May 7, 1104 between the Crusader states of the Principality of Antioch and the County of Edessa, and the Seljuk Turks. It was the first major battle against the newfound Crusader states in the aftermath of the First Crusade.

[edit] The battle

In 1104 Baldwin II of Edessa had attacked and besieged the city of Harran. According to Matthew of Edessa the starving population was willing to hand over the keys of the city to him. For his further support Baldwin sought help from Bohemund I of Antioch and Tancred, Prince of Galilee. Bohemund and Tancred marched north from Antioch to Edessa to join with Baldwin and Joscelin of Courtenay. Bernard of Valence, Patriarch of Antioch, Daimbert of Pisa, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Benedict, archbishop of Edessa, accompanied them. They marched towards Harran, about twenty kilometres away.

The Seljuks, under Jikirmish, governor of Mosul, and Sukman, the Artuqid lord of Mardin, gathered in the area of the Khabur, perhaps at Ra's al-'ain (Hellenistic Rhesaina). In May 1104 they attacked Edessa, in order to distract the crusaders from Harran. According to Ibn al-Qalanisi, Tancred and Bohemund arrived before Edessa during the siege, but according to a chronicle of 1234 they arrived first at the gates of Harran. There is also contradictory information about the location of the battle; possibly there were several skrimishes and one main battle. The crusaders defeated the Seljuks in the preliminary skirmishes and then pursued them. According to Ibn al-Athir the main battle was fought twelve kilometres from Harran, although the contemporary chronicler Matthew of Edessa reports a pursuit of two days.

The dispute between Bohemond and Baldwin was already distracting the Crusaders, resulted in a split of the crusader forces. The main battle took place according to Albert of Aachen and Fulcher of Chartres in the plain (planitie) opposite to the city of ar-Raqqah. Ar-Raqqa is about a two days away from Harran. The crusaders managed to bring their troops into a battle formation; Baldwin and Joscelin commanded the Edessan left wing while Bohemond and Tancred commanded the Antiochene right.

During the battle itself, Baldwin's troops rushed ahead and engaged the enemy first. They were completely defeated, and Baldwin and Joscelin were captured by Sukman. The Antiochene troops suffered only a few casualties and were able to escape to Edessa. However, Jikirmish had only taken a small amount of booty, so he captured Baldwin from Sukman's camp. Although a ransom was paid, Baldwin and Joscelin were not released. Bohemund named Tancred as regent in Edessa. Joscelin was freed before 1108, and Baldwin in 1108.

[edit] Significance

The battle was one of the first Crusader defeats, and helped convince the Muslims that they were not invincible, as they seemed to have been during the First Crusade. The Byzantine Empire took advantage of the defeat to impose their claims on Antioch, and recaptured Latakia and parts of Cilicia. Many of the towns ruled by Antioch revolted and were re-occupied by Muslim forces from Aleppo. Armenian territories also revolted in favour of the Byzantines or Armenia. These events caused Bohemund to return to Italy to recruit more troops, leaving Tancred as regent of Antioch as well.

William of Tyre wrote that there was no battle more disastrous than this. Although Antioch recovered by the next year, the Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus imposed the Treaty of Devol on Bohemond, which would have made Antioch a vassal of the empire had Tancred agreed to it. Antioch was again crushed at the Battle of Ager Sanguinis in 1119; Edessa never really recovered and survived until 1144 only because of divisions among the Muslims.

[edit] References

• Fulcher of Chartres, A History of the Expedition to Jerusalem, 1095-1127, trans. Frances Rita Ryan. University of Tennessee Press, 1969.
• Beaumont, André Alden. "Albert von Aachen and the County of Edessa", in Louis J. Paetow, ed. The Crusades and Other Historical Essays. Presented to Dana C. Munro by His Former Students. New York, 1928, pp. 101-138, esp. 124-127.
• Heidemann, Stefan. Die Renaissance der Städte in Nordsyrien und Nordmesopotamien: Städtische Entwicklung und wirtschaftliche Bedingungen in ar-Raqqa und Harran von der beduinischen Vorherrschaft bis zu den Seldschuken. Islamic History and Civilization: Studies and Texts 40, Leiden, 2002, p. 192-197.
• Armenia and the Crusades, Tenth to Twelfth Centuries: The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa. Trans. Ara Edmond Dostourian. National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, 1993.
• Nicholson, Robert Lawrence. Tancred: A Study of His Career and Work in Their Relation to the First Crusade and the Establishment of the Latin States in Syria and Palestine. Chicago, 1940, pp. 138-147.
• William of Tyre, A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea, trans. E.A. Babcock and A.C. Krey. Columbia University Press, 1943.