OCR GCSE History B (Schools History Project) Component 81 June 2022 question paper

What can Source A tell us about the siege of Antioch in June 1098?

Use the source and your own knowledge to support your answer.

Source A

An extract from a letter about the siege of Antioch. It was sent by crusaders to European Church leaders in October 1098.

The city was captured in the following manner:

Four brothers, noble men of Antioch, promised to surrender the city to three crusader leaders: Bohemond, Robert Curthose, and Robert, Count of Flanders. This was on condition that they came to the gates alone with no troops.

However, our three leaders, with the agreement and help of all our princes, at nightfall commanded the whole army to move to the wall of the city. This was done without the knowledge of the Turks.

In the morning, the citizens of Antioch opened the gates to receive the three crusader leaders alone, according to the deal they had made. At that point all of our men suddenly rushed in together. There was the greatest uproar: Our men captured all the fortified places, except the very high citadel. They killed many Turks and hurled them to their death over the city wall.

How useful are Sources B and C and Interpretation D for a historian studying why the People’s Crusade failed? In your answer, refer to the two sources and the interpretation as well as your own knowledge.

Source B

An extract from a medieval text called ‘The Deeds of God Through the Franks’ describing the People’s Crusade in Hungary. It was written in the period 1104 to 1108 by the churchman Guibert of Nogent.

The Franks were the various people who lived in what is now modern France.

On their way through Hungary they came to a castle. With their usual disrespect they moved to besiege it, but when they had almost captured it, suddenly there was a great change of fortune and the People’s Crusaders were overwhelmed by the Hungarians they had been attacking. Some died by the sword, others were drowned in the river, others, without any money, in absolute poverty returned to France, deeply ashamed.

Source C

An extract from the chronicle ‘The Gesta Francorum’, written c.1101 by a knight who fought in the official crusades, which came after the People’s Crusade. The extract describes events in October 1096 when the People’s Crusade had left Constantinople and was in Asia Minor (modern Turkey).

The men of the People’s Crusade were so terribly thirsty that they bled their animals and drank their blood; others let their belts and clothes into a sewer and squeezed out the liquid into their mouths; others urinated into one another’s cupped hands and drank; others dug up the damp earth and lay down on their backs, piling the earth upon their chests because they were so dry with thirst.

Interpretation D

An illustration from ‘Cassell’s History of England’ published in 1901. This publication was aimed at children. This illustration shows the army of Peter the Hermit on crusade.

3* ‘Pope Urban II called for a crusade in 1095 because of the weakness of the Byzantine Empire.’

How far do you agree?

4* ‘Rivalry between crusader leaders was the main reason it took so long for the crusaders to reach Jerusalem after they defeated Kerbogha at Antioch.’

How far do you agree?