The Crusade of 1101 was arguably the less successful crusade and it had. To summarise it the nobles that turned back from the First Crusade and others that did not participate joined in what probably was the third biggest crusade, after the first and the third; almost all of them died in Anatolia because the Lombards preferred to go rescue Bohemond (who had been captured by the Turks in the battle of Melitene), taking a risky route, instead of the one prepared by Raymond of Toulouse. It's a shame, because it was really massive, their numbers are often estimated over the 50,000 which is massive.
So, imagine Bohemond is not captured, he doesn't fight the battle of Melitene (he didn't have to) or he escapes. They all take the safe route, leaded by Raymond, Kilij Arslan is defeated, Iconium falls and the Crusaders reach Antioch.
My question is what would they do in this situation? After leading them to victory in Anatolia Raymond would certainly gain many men for his cause, OTL he only had 3,000 men for the siege of Tripoli, now he would certainly have way more that that. Bohemond is worshipped by half of this men, so he would probably gain most of them for his cause, at this time he was at war with Ridwan of Aleppo and a proxy war with the Danishmendids, would he try to siege Aleppo with such a huge force? Baldwin I situation was dire, he was at war with the Fatimids and Damascus, Acre, Sidon, Beirut Tyre and most other cities have not yet fallen and the Fatimids constantly raid from Ascalon, would he use this force to consolidate his position or for something bigger?
Another interesting effect is we could have a lot of major houses depending on how things go, Ivrea, Burgundy, Blois, Babenberg, Nevers, Capet, Welf; this could possibly be massive. And there was Ida of Austria, a woman leading a Crusader force, if she's successful may the idea of woman leading armies be normalises in Europe?
Would Alexios be able to keep Iconium this time? What would happen with Kilij Arslan after being defeated for the second time?
So, imagine Bohemond is not captured, he doesn't fight the battle of Melitene (he didn't have to) or he escapes. They all take the safe route, leaded by Raymond, Kilij Arslan is defeated, Iconium falls and the Crusaders reach Antioch.
My question is what would they do in this situation? After leading them to victory in Anatolia Raymond would certainly gain many men for his cause, OTL he only had 3,000 men for the siege of Tripoli, now he would certainly have way more that that. Bohemond is worshipped by half of this men, so he would probably gain most of them for his cause, at this time he was at war with Ridwan of Aleppo and a proxy war with the Danishmendids, would he try to siege Aleppo with such a huge force? Baldwin I situation was dire, he was at war with the Fatimids and Damascus, Acre, Sidon, Beirut Tyre and most other cities have not yet fallen and the Fatimids constantly raid from Ascalon, would he use this force to consolidate his position or for something bigger?
Another interesting effect is we could have a lot of major houses depending on how things go, Ivrea, Burgundy, Blois, Babenberg, Nevers, Capet, Welf; this could possibly be massive. And there was Ida of Austria, a woman leading a Crusader force, if she's successful may the idea of woman leading armies be normalises in Europe?
Would Alexios be able to keep Iconium this time? What would happen with Kilij Arslan after being defeated for the second time?