It was the spring of 1097 when the massive Crusader army, nearly sixty thousand soldiers, cavalry, and camp followers, were ferried across the Bosporus to the Anatolian peninsula and established their camp near the city of Nicomedia. The largest army ever assembled since the fall of the Roman Empire now sat camped on the border of Turkish-held lands. The mood among the soldiers was one of excitement and anticipation, but an ever-growing frustration over the army’s leadership began to emerge after one week had passed and still no word was given as to how they would proceed.
Rather than a unified force under a central command, the massive Crusader army was made up of a loosely allied confederation of smaller armies, each with its own leader who was accustomed to autonomy and not used to sha
