Bohemond's force is surrounded outside Dorylaeum by…

July 1097 CE

Bohemond's force is surrounded outside Dorylaeum by Kilij Arslan on July 1.

Godfrey and Raymond had separated from the vanguard at Leuce, and the Turkish army attacks at dawn, taking Bohemond's army (not expecting such a swift attack) entirely by surprise, shooting arrows into the camp.

Bohemond's knights had quickly mounted but their sporadic counterattacks are unable to deter the Turks.

The Turks are riding into camp, cutting down noncombatants and unarmored foot soldiers, who are unable to outrun the Turkish horses and are too disoriented and panic-stricken to form lines of battle.

To protect the unarmored foot and noncombatants, Bohemond orders his knights to dismount and form a defensive line, and with some trouble gathers the foot soldiers and the noncombatants into the center of the camp; the women act as water-carriers throughout the battle.

While this forms a battle line and shelters the more vulnerable men-at-arms and noncombatants, it also gives the Turks free rein to maneuver on the battlefield.

The Turkish mounted archers attack in their usual style—charging in, shooting their arrows, and quickly retreating before the crusaders can counterattack.

The archers do little damage to the heavily armored knights, but they inflict heavy casualties on the horses and unarmored foot soldiers.

Bohemond has sent messengers to the other Crusader army and now struggles to hold on until help arrived, and his army is being forced back to the bank of the Thymbris river.

The marshy riverbanks protect the Crusaders from mounted charge, as the ground is too soft for horses, and the armored knights form a circle protecting the foot soldiers and noncombatants from arrows, but the Turks keep their archers constantly supplied and the sheer number of arrows is taking its toll, reportedly more than two thousand falling to horse-archers.

Bohemond's knights are impetuous: although ordered to stand ground, small groups of knights periodically break ranks and charge, only to be slaughtered or forced back as the Turkish horses fall back beyond range of their swords and arrows, while still shooting at them with arrows, killing many of the knights' horses out from under them.

Although the knights' armor protects them well (the Turks call them 'men of iron') the sheer number of arrows means that some will find unprotected spots and eventually, after so many hits, a knight will collapse from his wounds.

Godfrey arrives just after midday with a force of fifty knights, fighting through the Turkish lines to reinforce Bohemond.

Throughout the day, small groups of reinforcements (also from Raymond, and Hugh, as well as Godfrey) arrive.

Some are killed by the Turks, others fight to reach Bohemond's camp.

As the Crusader losses mount, the Turks become more aggressive and the Crusader army finds itself forced from the marshy banks of the river into the shallows, but the Crusaders hold on, and after approximately seven hours of battle, Raymond's knights arrive (it is unclear if Raymond was with them, or if they arrived ahead of Raymond), launching a vicious surprise attack across the Turkish flank that turns them back in disarray and allows the Crusaders to rally.

The Crusaders form a line of battle with Bohemond, Tancred, Robert of Normandy, and Stephen on the left wing, Raymond, Robert of Flanders in the center and Godfrey, Robert of Flanders, and Hugh on the right, and they rally against the Turks, proclaiming "hodie omnes divites si Deo placet effecti eritis" ("today if it pleases God you will all become rich").

Although the ferocity of the Norman attack takes the Turks by surprise, they are unable to dislodge the Turks until a force led by Bishop Adhemar of Le Puy, the Papal legate, arrives in mid-afternoon, perhaps with Raymond in the van, moving around the battle through concealing hills and across the river, outflanking the archers on the left and surprising the Turks from the rear.

Adhemar's force falls on the Turkish camp, and attacks the Turks from the rear.

The Turks are terrified by the sight of their camp in flames, and by the ferocity and endurance of the knights, since the knights' armor protects them from arrows and even many sword cuts, and they promptly flee, abandoning their camp and forcing Kilij Arslan to withdraw from the battlefield.