From Lisbon to Jerusalem. Poliorcetic methods during the first four crusades (1097-1204)

Abstract

This paper, originally presented (in abbreviated form) as a first lecture delivered at the University of Coimbra in November 2005, with Professor Gérard Dédéyan (from University Paul Valéry, Montpellier III) as the exa miner, focuses on the sieges laid by the crusades from the 11th to the 13th centuries. It lists 10 events occurring in the Iberian Peninsula, Bosphorus and Western Mediterranean regions: Niceia - 1097, Antioquia - 1097-1098, Marra - 1098, Arca - 1099, Jerusalem - 1099, Lisbon - 1147, Silves - 1189, Zara - 1202 and Constantinople - 1203 and 1204. It analyses essentially the techniques which the crusades used at the time to besiege and seize a fortress, from the beginning of the siege up until the surrender agreements. The long chronology, including the geographical diversity of its scope, enables us to draw some conclusions regarding technique evolutions and the most relevant differences in procedures adopted in the East and West.