The Siège d’Antioche features an impressive cast of characters, historical figures whom the poem brings to life as epic heroes and villains. On this page, you will find a list of personographies that the SAP team has created for our users to access while reading the text. These personographies will help the reader to understand: the character’s place in the poem, their place within other narrative accounts of the First Crusade, and their place in the history and historiography of crusades studies.
Index of People
Robert Guiscard
Robert Guiscard, duke of Apulia and Calabria (r. 1059-1085). Called Guiscard (“the Cunning” or “Clever”), he was the most successful Norman mercenary of his age. With his brother Roger, he conquered the various Lombard, Byzantine, and Muslim polities of southern Italy, laying the foundations of the later Kingdom of Sicily. He also fought two campaigns against the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos in Dalmatia accompanied by his son Bohemond, one of the most prominent leaders of the First Crusade and characters in the Siège d’Antioche.
God (Deus, Deu, Damedeu, Damedé)
The God invoked in the Siège d’Anticohe is the eternal supreme entity at the heart of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Latin Christian religious context of the Siège d’Antioche, the wider crusading encounter, and the conventions of epic literature, however, all contributed to polemical claims about religious authority. The Siège d’Antioche usually portrays this deity from a trinitarian perspective and often refers directly to one of the persons in this Trinity: Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.
Pope Urban (Urbains liapostoille)
Pope Urban II (r. 1088-1099) was born Odo of Châtillon, a member of a minor noble family from the county of Champagne. Before his election to the papacy, Urban had been a monk and prior of the abbey of Cluny in Burgundy before being made cardinal archbishop of Ostia by Gregory VII. This background made him a powerful advocate for the movements of eleventh-century religious reform that sought to elevate the power of the Roman church and to establish its independence from and supremacy over the corrupt affairs of the secular world. As early as 1089, Urban had begun to experiment with new forms of Christian holy war, combining popular ideas about penitence and the reclamation of sacred space with righteous violence. In March 1095, he received ambassadors from Constantinople at Piacenza and encouraged those present to swear an oath to help defend the Byzantine empire from the Seljuk Turks. He subsequently set out on a tour across western Francia in the middle of which, at the Council of Clermont on 27 November, he announced the First Crusade. In the following months, he worked to organize his crusade, appointing Adhémar of Montheil as legate and encouraging various princes to join the expedition.
Baldric of Bourgueil (Baudris, L’arcevesque de Dol)
Baldric, abbot of Bourgueil (1077 to 1106), archbishop of Dol (1108-1130). A highly educated Benedictine monk from the Loire valley in western France, Baldric was well known for his Latin poetry. As abbot of Bourgeuil, he composed a stylistically refined and widely read account of the First Crusade. His chronicle, grounded in the narrative tradition associated with the Gesta francorum, was mentioned approvingly by Geoffrey of Vigeois and served as the basis for the account of Orderic Vitalis. Baldric is known to have revised his own chronicle after becoming bishop of Dol in 1107, adding references to the crusading deeds of individuals from Birttany.
Adam (Adam)
The first human being created according to the Book of Genesis (first named in Gen. 2:19). In the twelfth century, the story of the temptation and fall of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden was the subject of a play written in a Norman or Anglo-Norman dialect that could have been known to the author(s) of the Siège d’Antioche.
Adhémar of Le Puy (l’ evesques del Pui)
Adhémar of Monteil or Adhémar of Le Puy, bishop of Puy, (c. 1045-1098). As one of the principal western clerics who participated in the First Crusade and Pope Urban II’s papal legate on the expedition, Adhemar wielded considerable influence and authority and in the Chanson d’Antioche is even described taking up arms himself. He served as one of the primary leaders of the crusade, uniting the crusaders in their cause and discouraging in-fighting. Shortly after the siege of Antioch, Adhemar died of an illness in 1098.
Raymond, Count of St. Gilles (Raimon, Raimont, Reimon de Saint Gile)
Raymond IV of St. Gilles (d. 1105), count of Toulouse, was the most prominent southern European prince to join the First Crusade. One of the first princes to take the cross after the Council of Clermont in November 1096, Raymond was already in his fifties by the time the crusade occurred, and in general took a different attitude to some central questions of the expedition than his contemporary leaders. Concerned about the oath the crusaders had sworn to the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos, he briefly contested control of the city of Antioch with Bohemond of Taranto following its conquest by the cruasders in June 1098. In July 1099, Raymond was offered rulership of the kingdom of Jerusalem, but he refused, possibly fearing the apocalyptic significance of such a title. Instead, he turned his attention to the conquest of the lands between Jerusalem and Antioch. He was badly injured while surveying the battlefield during the siege of Tripoli in 1105, and he succumbed to his wounds shortly therafter. His descendants would rule as counts of Tripoli. His chaplain Raymond of Aguilers wrote an important account of the crusade in Latin.
Mohammed
Mohammed (c.570-632CE) is the founder and prophet of the religion of Islam. An Abrahamic religion, Islam recognizes both Judaism and Christianity, but followers believe that Mohammed is the true and final prophet of God. Mohammed was born in Mecca c.570. He spent most of his life as a merchant before receiving his first revelation from the angel Gabriel in 610. In 613, he proclaimed himself a prophet and messenger of God and began teaching his revelations publicly. His revelations make up the verses of the Qu’ran, the central text of Islam. Mohammed fell ill and died in 632. In the Siège d’Antioche, the Christian writer often erroneously refers to Mohammed as the god of Islam.
Hugh of Vermandois (Huges li maines)
Hugh, count of Vermandois (r. 1085-1101). Also known as Hugh the Great, Hugh of Vermandois was the brother of King Philip I of France and the most prominent member of the Capetian dynasty to participate in the early crusade movements. Hugh took the cross and departed for the Holy Land in 1096 and participated in the battles of Nicaea, Dorylaeum, and Antioch. Following the siege of Antioch, Hugh traveled to Constantinople to request Emperor Alexios’ assistance, but returned to France shortly afterwards. Hugh took the cross again in 1101 to make up for his desertion and was killed en route to Jerusalem in 1101.
Robert of Normandy (Roberd, li coens de Normendie)
Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy (r. 1087-1106, d. 1135) was the eldest son of King William the Conqueror of England and heir on his father’s death of the duchy of Normandy. In 1096, he mortgaged the duchy to support a large contingent of Norman knights on the crusade expedition. After the conquest of Jerusalem, he was reportedly offered the crown of the new kingdom but refused and returned instead to contest the succession of England with his younger brother Henry. Robert was defeated at Tinchebray and imprisoned until his death. His rebellion and ignominous end introduced a complex political problem for future historians in the Anglo-Norman world who, like the writers of the Siège d’Antioche, might wish to narrate his crusading deeds.
Robert of Flanders (li bons coens de Flandres)
Robert II, count of Flanders (r. 1093-1111) was one of the most prominent princely commanders of the First Crusade. His father had undertaken a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and had befriended Alexios I Komnenos. He was connected to several of the other commanders by blood or marriage, was apparently a supporter of Pope Urban II, and was famed for his active military role in the expedition and for returning with a major relic of Saint George.
Stephen of Blois (Estiefne de Blois)
Stephen, count of Blois and Chartres (r. 1089-1102) was among the wealthiest and most powerful leaders of the First Crusade. Ruler of a rich and strategically important principality in northwestern France and husband to Adela, daughter of King William I of England, he brought with him a large contingent that included many knights and clerics from the region of Chartres. He is perhaps most well known for the two letters written in his name and addressed to his wife Adela and for abandoning the crusade during the siege of Antioch. Perhaps at the instigation of his wife, he returned to rejoin the crusade, dying at the second battle of Ramla in 1102.
Godfrey of Bouillon (duc Godefroi)
Godfrey of Bouillon, duke of Lower Lorraine (r. 1089-1096) and ruler of the kingdom of Jerusalem (1099-1100) was perhaps the most prominent crusading prince from the lands of the western empire. At the conclusion of the First Crusade, Godfrey was chosen to become the first ruler of the new crusading kingdom in Jerusalem, although he refused to accept a royal crown or honor. Godfrey’s role as the founder of the new royal dynasty undoubtedly drastically effected his portrayal in narrative accounts of the expedition, and led to the development of an entire epic cycle devoted to establishing a mythical ancestry and childhood that would better explain his succession as king.
Bohemond (Buiamont)
Bohemond, son of Duke Robert Guiscard, prince of Taranto (1089-1011), prince of Antioch (1098-1011) was one of the most important leaders of the First Crusade. His early rule was dominated by campaigns against the Byzantine Empire for territory. Bohemond joined the First Crusade in 1096 and played a central role in taking the city of Antioch, becoming the first Latin prince of Antioch after it fell. Following a period of imprisonment from 1100-1103, he returned to Europe to rally support for a disastrous crusade against the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Following this failure, Bohemond spent his last years in Italy. It has been argued that Bohemond was central to the dissemination and development of several narrative accounts of the First Crusade, including those that influenced the composition of the Siège d’Antioche. Some historians believe that he did this consciously and intentionally, and may have had a hand in shaping the narratives, while others point to communities that needed to rehabilitate his reputation in the wake of his failed attack on Alexios.
Tancred (Thancré)
Tancred (Latin Christian, circa 1076-1112) was nephew through his mother to Bohemond of Taranto, with whom he seemingly had a close yet complex relationship. Tancred accompanied Bohemond on the First Crusade, serving as his second-in-command until the the expedition reached the town of Tyana in Asia Minor, when he and Baldwin of Boulogne departed on independent campaigns into Cilicia. Tancred later returned to serve under Bohemond at the siege of Antioch in 1097, and twice took over for Bohemond as Prince of Antioch, first during the latter’s captivity from 1100-1103, and again after Bohemund’s return west in 1104, consolidating power and ruling there until his death.
Baldwin of Boulogne (Baudoïns, Baudoïn li Flamenc )
Baldwin of Boulogne (i.e., Baldwin I, king of Jerusalem, d. 1118) was crowned king of Jerusalem in 1100. The unlanded youngest son of Eustace II, count of Boulogne, he joined the crusading army of his brother Godfrey in 1096. As the army neared Antioch, Baldwin split from the main force and marched to Edessa. After the murder of the previous ruler of Edessa, Baldwin was chosen to rule over the city, and he established himself as the count of Edessa, securing the surrounding countryside. After the crusading army captured Jerusalem, Baldwin’s brother Godfrey was chosen to rule over the city. After Godfrey’s death, Baldwin marched to Jerusalem, and after a short power struggle, he was crowned the first king of Jerusalem on Christmas Day, 1100. The remainder of his reign was spend solidifying the crusaders’ foothold in the Holy Land and expanding the borders of the fledgeling Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Eustace of Boulogne (Eustace)
Eustace III, count of Boulogne (r. 1087-1125) was the brother of Godfrey of Bouillon and Baldwin of Boulogne. Following the conquest of Jerusalem in July 1099, Eustace return to resume lordship over the county of Boulogne. When his brother Baldwin, who ruled as king of Jerusalem, died in 1118, Eustace was intended to succeed him, but gave up his claims to his relative Baldwin le Bourcq rather than returning to the East.
Peter the Hermit (Pieres l’ermite)
A religious ascetic from the region of Amiens, north of Paris, the man called Peter the Hermit first appears in the months after Urban’s declaration of the crusade at the Council of Clermont in November 1095. Peter immediately set about preaching in the towns of northern France and Germany, possibly bearing what he claimed was a letter from heaven. Having raised a large army but without planning or logistical support, his hands marched through the Rhineland and participated in a wave of anti-Jewish violence and destruction. By the time it reached Constantinople in August 1096, Peter’s branch of the “People’s Crusade” had caused widespread destruction. Together with the forces of Walter Sansavoir, Peter’s army was defeated at the Battle of Civetot but he survived to join the armies of the princes. Before the battle of Antioch, Peter was chosen to act as an emissary to Kherboga of Mosul, and he ultimately survived the crusade to retire to the monastery of Neufmoustiers. From there he seems to have spread stories claiming a role in the origins of the expedition.
Alexios I Komnenos (Alexis, Li empereres, l’empereür)
Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118) was the eastern Roman or Byzantine emperor at the time of the First Crusade. A Byzantine general who usurped the imperial throne from Nikephoros III Botaneiates in 1081, much of his reign was consumed with defending the empire against the nomadic peoples such as the Pechenegs; Normans from southern Italy, including Robert Guiscard his son, the crusade leader Bohemond; and the Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor. To regain territory from the Seljuks, Alexios sought aid from pope Urban II, sparking the First Crusade. Accused by the crusaders of having abandoned the expedition, he suffered from a poor reputation among most western narratives of the expedition, but a chronicle of his reign (Alexiad) composed by his daughter, Anna, is one of the most important accounts of the crusade and the wider period.
Rainald (Reinalt)
A character named Rainald or Rainard appears in narrative tradition associated with the Gesta Francorum during the description of the defeat of the so-called “People’s Crusade” (the first wave of the expedition under Peter the Hermit and Walter Sansavoir). Rainald is said to have betrayed his fellow crusaders and caused the slaughter, capture, or conversion of large numbers of Christians. No further information is available about this individual outside these scenes in Gesta Francorum tradition.
Walter Sansavoir (Galtier Senzavoir)
A minor lord related to the Poissy family in the Île-de-France region near Paris. He was the leader of one of the early bands of crusaders (the so-called “People’s Crusade” who set off in Spring 1096 before the main contingents led by the regional princes which departed in late summer. Alongside the groups led by Peter the Hermit, Walter’s army arrived in Constantinople perhaps in July where he was later joined by Peter. Their “People’s Crusade” met with disaster at Civetot on 21 October, when Walter and thousands of others died.
Mennau (Mennau) son of Suart
Advisor to Alexios I Komnenos. Simon Parsons has postulated that Mennau and his father Suart may refer to Anglo-Scandinavians employed at the Byzantine court. “Suard” may refer to Siward Barn, who held lands in Gloucestershire, and whose presence in Byzantium is also attested in the Saga Játvarðar konungs hins helga and the Chronicon Laudunensis. Parsons suggests that “Mennau” may be a corruption (or Hellenization) of the common Scandinavian name “Magnus”.
Girart of Roussillon (Girard de Rossillon)
Three members of the princely family of Roussillon in Catalunya Gerard, Ermengald and Geoffrey of Roussillon are all known to have participated in the First Crusade. The singling out here of Gerard may related to the popularity of his namesake, the ninth-century Burgundian hero Girart of Roussillon, whose legend may have been familiar to audiences of epic in the early thirteenth century.
Galier the Gascon
An otherwise unknown individual, possibly to be identified with the likewise unknown Engelier the Gascon?
Baudri, a noble emir (Baudri)
Commander of the Turkish forces at the battle of CIvetot.
Ridwan
Ridwan (r.1084-1113) was the ruler of Aleppo and northern Syria when the Franks arrived in the East. He sought to reclaim the vast territory of northern Syria that his father had held, which brought him in direct conflict with many of the local Muslim rulers. Ridwan’s religious flexibility for political gain hindered his reputation in the Islamic world in both contemporary politics and portrayal in historical accounts. Due to his political grudges, Ridwan did not respond to Antioch’s appeals for aid during the initial Frankish siege of the city, and by the time he arrived the Franks had conquered the city.
Soliman (Soliman)
Kilij Arslan I (d. 1107) was the Seljuk sultan of Rüm, who ruled from his capitol at Nicea from 1092 until his death in 1107. In 1096, His forces effectively crushed the People’s Crusade, led by Peter the Hermit, as they attempted to pass through Rüm. However, merely a few months later, he was defeated by the crusader army led by Bohemond, Tancred, Robert of Normandy, and Godfrey at Dorylaeum. This proved a monumental victory for the crusaders, who were then able to pass through Seljuk lands to Antioch.
Boël of Chartres
Barthelemy Böel of Chartres, vidame (or bishop’s lord) of Chartres. Although he was a lord from northwestern France, seems to have joined the First Crusade with Bohemond of Taranto. He is mentioned in a range of narrative accounts of the expedition and is among the witnesses of Bohemond’s charter for the Genoese in Antioch of July, 1098.
Humphrey (Geoffrey) of Montescaglioso
Humphrey (also called “Geoffrey”) was lord of Montescaglioso in Apulia. He had participated in the wars of Robert Guiscard against the Byzantine empire in the Balkans in the 1080s before joining Bohemond on the First Crusade. He is mentioned in the tradition of crusade narratives associated with the Gesta Francorum.
Herluin
Little is known about Herluin, except that he was with the crusading army in Antioch and that he served as the interpreter for Peter the Hermit’s diplomatic mission to Kerbogah’s camp during the Siege of Antioch. In addition to being mentioned in the tradition associated with the Gesta francorum his presence was also noted by Caffaro of Genoa. He may have been a Norman noble—and therefore either part of Bohemond’s army or that of Duke Robert of Normandy. “Herluin” — name of the saintly founder of the abbey of Le Bec — is a name with strong Norman associations.
Robert of Sordasvals
Robert of Sourdeval, who may have been lord of Torosse, was a knight from Norman Sicily who accompanied Bohemond of Taranto on the First Crusade. He was among the witnesses of Bohemond’s charter for the Genoese in Antioch of July. 1098. After the First Crusade he seems to have settled in the principality of Antioch, where he held a lordship called Laitor (possibly Ṭūrus).
Ralph (of Beaugency)
Ralph, lord of Beaucency in the Loire Valley in northwestern France. The third known lord of Beaugency. Ralph (c. 1065-1130) took part in the First Crusade as a retainer in the forces of Count Stephen of Blois and Chartres. Following the capture of Nicea in 1097, Ralph marched south with the crusader army and engaged with Muslim forces at Dorylaeum before reaching Antioch in October 1097. Ralph remained with the crusader army after Count Stephen and other retainers abandoned the crusade, and assisted in the city’s capture and subsequent defense in June 1098. After the capture of Antioch, Ralph disappears from the crusade narrative sources, but records indicate he returned to Beaugency and continued to faithfully support the counts of Blois and Chartres.
Robert the Fleming, Count of Flanders
Robert II, count of Flanders (r. 1093-1111) was one of the most prominent princely commanders of the First Crusade. His father had undertaken a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and had befriended Alexios Komnenos. He was connected to several of the other commanders by blood or marriage, was apparently a supporter of Pope Urban II, and was famed for his active military role in the expedition and for returning with a major relic of Saint George.
Robert the Frisian
Robert I, count of Flanders (r. 1071-1093) was a powerful northern European prince who played a central role in the background to the First Crusade. Like many princes of his generation, he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. While traveling across Anatolia on his return journey in 1089, he passed through Beroë where he happened upon the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Having heard from the emperor of the perilous state of the Byzantine frontier, he agreed to send 500 knights to fight in the service of Alexios. This enthusiastic support may have influenced Alexios to make wider appeals for help in Latin Christian courts that paved the way for the First Crusade.
Jesus (Jhesus)
Jesus of Nazareth (c. 6 BCE–30CE). According to Christian tradition, Jesus is the Messiah and the son of God whose death by crucifixion and subsequent resurrection paved the way for the forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation. According to the Bible, Jesus was a Galilean Jew, born by immaculate conception from the Virgin Mary. Medieval Latin Christians believed that he lived his life as a divine human and, following his resurrection from the dead, he ascended into heaven where he remains until he will return at the end of time to judge the world.
John the Baptist (Johan Baptiste)
A popular preacher from Judea mentioned in all four Gospels who heralds the coming of Jesus Christ and baptizes him in the Jordan River. John is later killed by Herod. Importantly, John the Baptist was the patron saint of the pilgrim hospital in Jerusalem around which the crusading military order of the Knights of Saint John (the Hospitallers) were founded.
Alexander and Reignier (Alixsandre et Reignier)
Lombard ambassadors and translators sent by the crusaders to deliver messages to Alexios I Komnenos.