Page "Eleanor of Aquitaine" Paragraph 26

From the moment the Crusaders entered Asia Minor, the Crusade went badly.

The King and Queen were still optimistic – the Byzantine Emperor had told them that the German King Conrad had won a great victory against a Turkish army ( when in fact the German army had been massacred ), and the great troop was still eating well.

However, whilst camping near Nicea, the remnants of the German army, including a dazed and sick King Conrad, straggled past the French camp, bringing news of their disaster.

The French, with what remained of the Germans, then began to march in increasingly disorganized fashion, towards Antioch.

Their spirits were buoyed on Christmas Eve – when they chose to camp in the lush Dercervian valley near Ephesus, they were ambushed by a Turkish detachment ; the French proceeded to slaughter this detachment and appropriate their camp.