History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 33, the Second Crusade Roman numeral 5.

Hello again.

Last week we saw the armies of King Louis of France and King Conrad of Germany prepare to set out on the Second Crusade.

This week we see them leave. The German king set out in May 1147, leaving from Nuremberg, then heading south to Regensburg, where he was joined by the Bavarian contingent.

The combined German forces then proceeded to march eastwards through

the German Empire towards the Hungarian border.

Now we should try and determine the size of the German forces.

As we found when trying to estimate the size of the First Crusade,

it's very difficult to try and put an exact number on the individuals involved.

Although Odo of Daye made a valiant attempt.

In his chronicles of the Second Crusade, he stated that the combined German forces,

both soldiers and non-combatants, were made up of 900,566 individuals.

He said that he had obtained this figure from some Greeks who had counted the Germans as they crossed the Bosphorus.

Although Odo's figure is admirably precise, historians all agree that it is way off the mark.

By examining the nobility and churchmen who participated in the venture,

then assessing the size of their retinues,

and adding in a substantial number of pilgrims,

modern historians have estimated the actual size of the German force

to total between 20,000 and 35,000 individuals.

The French army, which followed one month later, was slightly smaller.

This means that the size of the second crusade was on a par with or slightly smaller than that of the first crusade.

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