Nine hundred years
after the First Crusade, Time Severin and Sarah Dorman set out on horseback to
follow the 2500 mile route of Duke Godfrey of Boullion and other Crusaders,
from Belgium to Jerusalem travelling through the modern lands of Germany,
Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia (itself today consigned to history), Bulgaria,
Turkey and Syria. The horses chosen were
a riding school palfrey (Mystery) and a Heavy Ardennes (Carty), the latter a
descendent of the war horses of Crusader cavalry – what Severin calls ‘the Main
Battle Tank’ of its day. This Journey, after many years of marine expeditions
was a return to long distance land expeditioning by Severin (in 1961, whilst at
university he had travelled to China on a motorcycle following Marco Polo’s
route).
Track of the 1st Crusade and Severin's Journey
The book’s dust jacket claims, not unfairly, that it
is a ‘dazzling synthesis of adventure, practical history, and exploration’
which is also a claim made on the jacket of the author’s next book ‘In Search
of Genghis Khan’* which makes me wonder whether Crusader had sold as well as
expected. It did not matter to me as I read the
book on publication in 1990 and have just revisited it. Times have changed; when this journey was
made, the Iron Curtain was still drawn across Europe; border checks remained
even in Western Europe as this was prior to Schengen and the Customs Union; the
Lebanon was a no-go zone for Westerners which forced Severin and Dorman to
detour through Syria (and Jordan) to reach Jerusalem – today an impossibility.
The book tells the story of sourcing and training
suitable horses to recreate the journey as well as of the journey through a now
lost Europe - I am sure you can no longer find Bear trainers in Bulgaria -
though it was done just over a quarter of a century ago. In communist Hungary
they add a 2nd palfrey (Szarcza) to the team as the huge Carty is
extremely uncomfortable to ride, this emulates the Crusaders as their heavy
horses would have been used as pack animals until they would be mounted
battle. After an unpleasant journey
through Yugoslavia, the expedition is lauded and extremely well looked after in
Bulgaria- a result of Severin’s network of friends and again in Turkey.
Battle of Dorylaeum 1097
The story of reception of Duke Godfrey’s army, and
those of the other crusaders by Alexius in Constantinople is recorded as is the
decimation of the Peasant’s crusade by the Seljuk forces of Kilij Arslan at
Civetot in north-western Anatolia . The
main crusader army would gain some recompense by investing Nicea though by
subterfuge this city was obtained by Alexius and was not sacked despite a long,
and generally incompetent siege of the crusaders. It is just past Nicea (somewhere in the
likely locale of the Battle of Dorylaeum) that the expedition is halted for the
winter and the horses handed over to the safe keeping of a retired jockey for
the winter, a change from the original plan decided upon by the need to rest
horses and people (Severin had lost 20lbs in weight and Sarah had broken her
foot in a fall the day before the stop).
The expedition had travelled at the same speed as the crusaders and it
had taken just over 4 months to reach this point.
As it turns out, this is as far as Carty gets,
unable to settle in the winter quarters despite the attentions of former jockey
Remzi, he is retired to a horse farm in Vienna, he is replaced for the second
year’s travels by the diminutive and spirited Zippy. Sadly, Mystery, is destined not to make it to
Jerusalem either as she dies, probably as the result of a blocked intestine, by
a river on the approach to Syria after the winter break. The Hungarian horse Szarcza would also fail to
make it to Jerusalem, breaking own in the Syrian desert and being given over to
a horse owner in Jordan just before the journey is completed. The fact that neither of the original horses make
the whole journey is perhaps a pointer to the crusaders own problems on their
journey 900 years earlier as it’s likely that they too lost many horses through
wear as much as war.
Duke Godfrey attacking Jerusalem
This book describes an
extraordinary journey made in modern and medieval times. It is well worth a read as both a history and
a travelogue if one can still get a copy I would highly recommend. The book is a reminder that history never
stops as we see the story of the First Crusade told whilst we see for ourselves
the significant geopolitical changes since Severin and Dorman made the journey just
30 years ago.
* ‘A dazzling synthesis
of exploration, living history and adventure'
