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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ancient coin hunter, post: 3548111, member: 87200&quot;]Nice coin and of the well-known (relatively speaking) emperor Alexius Comnenus. He wrote a letter to pope Urban asking for military help against the Saracens. The first Crusader group led by Peter the Hermit was an unarmed mob that was cut down by the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia. The second group led by Godfrey of Buillion was more successful as it was largely mounted knights and foot soldiers. Their big problem was a lack of supplies. </p><p><br /></p><p>Alexius shrewdly cut a deal with the Crusader leadership to make them swear oaths of fealty to the Byzantine emperor in exchange for food and supplies that would get them to the Holy Land. Whatever territories and cities they conquered would be under the suzerainty of Constantinople. The Crusade was a success in that the Crusaders put Jerusalem to the siege and eventually the city fell. They killed too many people - particularly Jews and Muslims and ransacked the City. </p><p><br /></p><p>These events are recorded in the <i>Alexiad</i> by Anna Comnena and also by western clergymen. The bad feeling and mutual mistrust between the Byzantines and Crusaders came to head during the next few Crusades during the time of Manuel Comnenus. Hence we get the word &quot;Byzantine&quot; in the West meaning &quot;complicated&quot; and involving a great amount of administrative detail with a strong negative connotation.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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