The Siege of Zemun {1096/06/05}1
Peter’s army arrived at Zemun on 5 June. It was described as “a people
without a king, without a duke, gathered from various locations, living
without discipline, rapaciously attacking other people’s property” [BB 1.9].
With rumors of Hungarian perfidy passing through the Crusader camp,
the crusaders were shocked to find Crusader weapons and armor hanging
as trophies by the gates of Zemun. These had be captured from Crusaders
killed in the earlier skirmishing during the passage of Walter’s divisions.
To the Crusaders it was a provocation, and they responded with
immediate violence.
Without any attempted negotiation with the Hungarians, or military
preparations for an attack, the Crusaders assaulted the city, mustered by
sounding trumpets (cornicinum) and raising standards (signis) [AA 1.7d],
the normal ways to call to arms in medieval times.
The Crusaders “shouted out bravely and ran together to the ramparts
with standards held aloft, they attacked the walls with a hail of arrows
(sagittarum) which they shot at the eyes of those standing on the ramparts
with such incessant and extraordinary density that the Hungarians could
not withstand the strength of the attacking Gauls [French] at all, and they
turned away from the wall” [AA 1.7d].
Medieval cities were not normally under constant alert against attack or
siege. It would have been far too expensive. A few soldiers continuously
patrolled the walls or acted as lookouts on the towers. If a siege was
deemed imminent, the citizens would quickly clear the moat, repair the
walls, make barricades, pass out arms, move siege engines, and collect
supplies, while the soldiers mobilized and took up defensive positions on
1 Sources: AA 1.7.
the walls and gates. The speed and surprise of the Crusader assault did
not permit the citizens of Zemun to make any of these normal types of
preparations. Instead, the small patrol on the walls was suddenly
overwhelmed by Crusader archery. Hundreds of Crusader archers sent
their shafts against a few dozen Hungarians on one section of the walls.
The shafts flew so dense and fast that the Hungarians could not keep their
hands above the ramparts. Those on the walls either crouched behind the
battlements for protection, or fled to raise the alarm and gather
reinforcements.
While the archery cleared the Hungarians from a section of the walls,
Crusader assault teams quickly mustered.
Albert describes this assault in detail: “a certain Godfrey, … commander
(magister) and standard-bearer (signifer) of two hundred infantry (peditum)
and likewise a foot soldier himself, vigorous in strength, as he watched the
flight of the Hungarians [from the ramparts] at a distance from the walls,
rapidly climbed the ramparts (muros) with a ladder (scala), which he found
by chance there. Reinold of the castle of Broyes, a distinguished
cavalryman (eques insignis), who was wearing helmet (galea) and hauberk
(lorica) for protection, likewise climbed the walls after Godfrey until
everyone, cavalry (equites) as well as infantry (pedites), was striving to enter
[the city of Zemun over the walls].” [AA 1.7e].
There are a number of things to note from this passage. First, not all the
Crusaders of the People’s Crusade were merely a hapless disorganized
mob, as they are often described. Godfrey was as an officer (magister) and
standard-bearer, commanding two hundred infantry; this would be
roughly a captain of a company in modern terms. Godfrey was also an
infantryman, not a knight. When the knight Reinold joined the infantry
assault he was distinguished from the infantry by the fact that he was
wearing a helmet and hauberk. This implies either that most of the
infantry did not have mail coats, or that they were not wearing their armor
on the march, and did not have time to properly arm themselves before
their assault.
With the Crusaders charging over the wall, the Hungarians fled
precipitously, retreating to the citadel “on the top of a very high rock past
which flowed the Danube” [AA 1.7f]. The people of Zemun who could not
escape to the Citadel “fell by the edge of the sword (gladius).” Some tried
to escape into the Danube by boat or swimming; many were drowned. A
total of four thousand died in the massacre [AA 1.7g].
The Crusaders then plundered the town.
After achieving this victory Peter stayed five days with all his men in the
same fortress of Zemun because of the abundance of food which he found
there in grain and flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and a plentiful supply
of drink, and an infinite number of horses [AA 1.7h].
These Crusaders were said to have “raped virgins, dishonored many
marriage beds by carrying off many women” [RN 48-122].
