Part 34

When this army gathered near Harran, Jekermish and his ally were still marching towards Edessa.177 The Crusaders almost captured Harran shortly after laying siege to it, but the conflict that arose between Baldwin of Bourcq and Bohemond, in which each insisted that his banner should be raised over the city after it was captured, helped Harran to withstand the siege and gave the Muslims the opportunity to move to fight the Crusaders before this territory fell into their hands. The two sides met at al-Balikh River on the ninth of Sha'ban; the Muslims pretended to flee, and the Crusaders pursued them for almost two leagues. Then the Muslims turned and attacked them, destroying most of their forces,178 and seized a great deal of booty, both money and possessions.179 Bohemond, the ruler of Antioch, and his nephew Tancred hid behind a hill, aiming to attack the Muslims from behind when the fighting intensified. When they emerged they witnessed the defeat of their companions and the plunder of their camp, so they stayed where they were until nightfall, then they slipped away and fled. They were pursued by the Muslims, who killed and captured many of their companions, but they themselves managed to flee to Edessa. Baldwin and Joscelin were taken prisoner; Baldwin, along with a group of his commanders, tried to flee by fording the Balikh, but the mud prevented them from moving quickly. A Turkmen commander who was one of Suqman's troops caught up with them and managed to capture them, and he took Baldwin to his master Suqman.180 Jekermish and Suqman fall out When the followers of Jekermish saw that Suqman's troops had seized the lion's share of Crusader booty, they said to their master, "What status will we have before the people when the Turkmens have taken the booty instead of us?" They urged him to take Baldwin, the Crusader prince, as a hostage, so Jekermish sent some of his troops who managed to kidnap Baldwin from Suqman's camp. When Suqman realized what had happened during his absence from his camp, he was very upset and his companions prepared to fight, but he soon called them back and told them: I do not want to assuage my anger by giving the enemy satisfaction at the Muslims' expense.181 Suqman led his troops and took the weapons and banners left by the Crusaders as they had fled; he dressed his troops in the Crusaders' clothing and put them on their horses, and marched to the fortresses in the region of Shabakhtan in Diyarbakir. The Crusaders came out to greet them thinking that their companions had been victorious. Suqman attacked them and finished them off, and seized the fortress. In this manner he was able to seize a number of fortresses in the region before he returned to his seat of power in Diyarbakir.182 Jekermish7 s defeat Jekermish decided to go ahead and fight after his ally returned. He attacked the Crusader citadels in the Shabakhtan region which lies to the east of Edessa, so as to protect his army's back, then he marched to Edessa itself. Whilst the slowdown in the Crusaders' progress meant that Harran stayed in Muslim hands, Edessa remained in Christian hands because of slow movement on the part of the Muslims. This gave Tancred enough time to renew his defences; hence he was able to repel the first attack undertaken by Jekermish. This was due in large part to the loyalty and courage displayed by the Armenians and local people. Nevertheless, the pressure that Tancred felt led him to seek help from Bohemond. Faced as he was with many problems, he decided to give priority to protecting Edessa. He took action to help his nephew but was slowed down by the bad state of the roads. Tancred felt desperate so he ordered his troops to take up attack positions before dawn, under cover of darkness; his men attacked the Turks, who were fast asleep feeling no sense of danger. The Crusader victory was completed when Bohemond arrived. Jekermish fled in panic, leaving behind his camp which was filled with rich plunder. Thus the Franks got their revenge for the defeat at Harran, and also managed to keep Edessa.183 Among the prisoners who fell into Tancred's hands was a Seljuk princess, one of the ladies of the household of Jekermish. Jekermish was so enamoured of this lady that he was willing to pay a huge ransom of fifteen thousand bezants for her, or even to exchange Count Baldwin himself for her. News of this offer reached Jerusalem, and King Baldwin (Count Baldwin's cousin) wrote to Bohemond telling him not to let this opportunity escape to have Baldwin set free.