First Crusade

[Jona Lendering]

Does anybody know how many people died during the First Crusade?

[Memmia]

It's very difficult to quote an exact figure. Most of those who travelled to the Holy Land (between 60,000 to 100,000) were poor peasants whose deaths wouldn't have really been recorded. Plus, many may have turned back, many died from disease/ ambush/ injury on the way there etc.
Only notable people, and a rough count of military loss at common soldier level would have been recorded (and figures tweaked on both sides due to propaganda).
Many innocent people resident in countries en route apparantly also lost their lives, how many, whether their numbers were large or small we shall never really know.
It was said that out of the 60,000 to 100,000 peasants that left for the Holy Land, only a handful came back. There were probably an equal number of casualties amongst those resident in the Holy land too.
BIt difficult to give an exact figure, but if you work on around 100,000 casualties, you're probably not too far out.

Hope this is of some help

[Drungarios]

Does your question refer specifically to military or civilian casualties, or to both?

Check out Christopher Tyerman's excellent book, God's War, which not only provides a good overview of the First Crusade, including figures for battle casualties and approximate numbers for sickness deaths, but also details the notorious massacres that occurred all along the routes of the various Crusader armies to the Holy Land.

Unfortunately I cannot provide exact figures, for in a book of almost 1,000 pages, the index leaves much to be desired. Grab a copy, it's a good, well-documented read.

[Robert Vermaat]

Does anybody know how many people died during the First Crusade?

You mean during the entire period or just 'en route'? :wink: (ja, erg flauw, ik weet het).

[Carlton Bach]

From everything I've read about the Crusades, most modern hstorians have given up exact figures because not only don't we know, absent time travel we can not. Figures on just about any question vary so wildly that even best estimates are all over the place. I've read numbers quoted for crusaders anywhere between 50,000 and 500,000, the population of Jerusalem at the time is unknown, that of Antioch at least uncertain. Pick any low six figures and you're bound to be in the right ballpark as regards overall casualties.

[Jona Lendering]

Sort of what I expected, all this. I now know that the figure of "more than 500.000" that I spotted in a book, is too confident.

[john m roberts]

I think it is safe to say that everybody alive during the First Crussade is dead now.

[Jona Lendering]

I think it is safe to say that everybody alive during the First Crussade is dead now.

:lol: