Battle of Civetot

Timeline

1. c. 1096Civetot camp · Marmara RegionAfter crossing the Bosphorus, the People's Crusade camped at Civetot. While Peter the Hermit went to Constantinople seeking aid, Turkish spies spread rumors that Nicaea had fallen; eager to share the plunder, the crusaders decided under Geoffrey Burel to march on Nicaea.
2. 1096Dracon Valley · AnatoliaThe crusaders marched noisily into a narrow wooded valley and were met by a volley of arrows from Turkish horse archers under Kilij Arslan. The untrained crusaders instantly broke and fled back toward camp; Walter Sans Avoir was killed in the fighting.
3. 1096Civetot · Marmara RegionThe fleeing troops returned to camp and were pursued by the Turkish army; the old, weak, women, and children left behind were also massacred. About 3,000 held out in a ruined castle; the Byzantine commander Constantine Katakalon relieved the siege with a fleet, and the survivors were sent back to Constantinople. The People's Crusade was thus destroyed.