Norman mercenaries of the Imperial army and a Greek archer examine the severed heads of the dead crusaders
Norman mercenaries of the Imperial army and a Greek archer examine the severed heads of the dead crusaders (corps of Peter the Hermit with 20,000 men and Walter Sans Avoir with 25,000 infantry, 500 cavalry)of the "Peasants Crusade" ambushed by the 20,000 Seljuks of Sultan Kilij Arslan I ' coming from Nicaea of Bithynia, and 15,000 Turkomans of Emir El-Khan, rushed from Ephesus, on October 21, 1096: In the fierce battle that followed, around 07:00, near the fortress of the Kivotos, (in today's Cemlik in the Propontis area), the approximately 45,000 crusaders were cut to pieces in the dense Bithynian forests, and those who survived (about 3,000) under Godffrey de Burell took refuge in the abandoned fortress of Kivotos (Civetot) about five kilometers further east. For the approximately 10,000 women and children, elderly and other civilans who had remained in the Crusader camp, however, there was no mercy from the Turks: As the German chronicler Ekkehard of Aura reports...