History of the Crusades.

the Crusades. 8th.

Episode 18, after the conquest, the year's 1,100. Episode 18, after the conquest, the years 1100 to 1101.

Hello again.

Last week we saw the First Crusade come to its conclusion after the Latin Christians took Jerusalem.

So what happened to the crusading army?

Did they head for home or did they remain in the Middle East?

We're about to find out.

Once the city of Jerusalem was taken,

the first thing the Council of Princes needed to decide was who would rule the city.

The clergy put forward a strong case that the holy city should not have a secular leader but a religious

one. Had Bishop Adama been alive, it's likely that he would have assumed leadership of the city.

But in his absence, the next likely contender was the exiled patriarch of Jerusalem,

Simeon, who was currently in Cyprus.

Unfortunately, he also died a couple of days before the victory at Jerusalem.

Perhaps they could write to Pope Urban the second and seek his advice as to who should be leader.

Trouble was, the man who instigated the first crusade, Pope Urban also died in Rome, some two weeks after the victory at Jerusalem

and before news of the victory reached him. Eventually the clergy threw up their hands in despair.

There was just no person of appropriate religious authority who they could put forward as leader of Jerusalem.

They conceded that the ruler would need to be a secular one.

And with Robert of Normandy and Robert of Flanders keen to return to Europe,

with Boermond still in Antioch, and with Tankard being too young,

...