People's Crusade The People's Crusade (also called the Peasants' Crusade) army of
Peter the Hermit and
Walter the Penniless arrived at Nicaea in 1096. They had been able to capture a fort that was a four-day march away from Nicaea, called
Xerigordos often referred to as Xerigordon in modern historic literature. A contingent of the crusade overran the castle at Xerigordon and held it until Kilij sent a force to starve them out. Those that renounced
Christianity were spared and sent into captivity to the east, the rest were put to death. Kilij Arslan also cunningly sent spies to trick the
Crusaders into thinking Xerigordon was ripe for the taking, and the ill-disciplined Crusaders rushed to Xerigordon despite orders against this. They were consequently ambushed, forcing Peter the Hermit eventually to give up the crusade. The remainder of Peter's crusade composed almost entirely of unarmed civilians was surprised near the village of Civetot by Kilij Arslan's army. They were easily overwhelmed and around 17,000 out of the 20,000 remaining Christians died. He then invaded the
Danishmend Emirate of
Malik Ghazi in eastern
Anatolia. The First Crusade would start a few months later.
First Crusade Because of this easy first victory he did not consider the main
crusader army, led by various nobles of western Europe, to be a serious threat. He resumed his war with the Danishmends, and was away from Nicaea when these new Crusaders
besieged Nicaea in May 1097. He hurried back to his capital to find it surrounded by the Crusaders, and was defeated in battle with them on 21 May. The city then surrendered to the
Byzantines and his wife and children were captured. When the
crusaders sent the Sultan's wife to
Constantinople, to their dismay she was later returned without ransom in 1097 because of the relationship between Kilij Arslan and
Alexios I Komnenos. As result of the stronger invasion, Rum and the Danishmends allied in their attempt to turn back the crusaders. The Crusaders continued to split their forces as they marched across Anatolia. The combined Danishmend and Rum forces planned to ambush the Crusaders near
Dorylaeum on 29 June. However, Kilij Arslan's
horse archers could not penetrate the line of defense set up by the Crusader knights, and the main body under
Bohemond arrived to capture the Turkish camp on 1 July. In this battle, Kilij Arslan and his troops won the respect of their enemy, as the
Gesta Francorum states: "had the Turks been Christian, they would be the finest of all races." Kilij Arslan was defeated and settled for harassing the Crusader army with guerilla warfare and hit-and-run tactics. He also destroyed crops and water sources along their route in order to hinder the Crusader Army from collecting supplies, ultimately with little success.
Crusade of 1101 Gazi Gümüshtigin captured
Bohemond resulting in a new force of
Lombards attempting to rescue him. In their march they took Ankara from Arslan upon the Danishmends. In alliance with
Radwan the
Atabeg of
Aleppo he ambushed this force at the
Battle of Mersivan. In 1101 he defeated another Crusader army at
Heraclea Cybistra, which had come to assist the fledgling
Crusader states in
Syria. This was an important victory for the Turks, as it proved that an army of Crusader knights was not invincible. After this victory he moved his capital to
Konya and defeated a
force led by William II of Nevers who attempted to march upon it as well as the subsequent force a week later. In 1104 he resumed his war with the Danishmends who were now weakened after the death of Malik Ghazi, demanding half the ransom gained for Bohemond. As a result, Bohemond allied with the Danishmends against Rum and the Byzantines. ==War and drowning in river==