The Byzantine Empire and the First Crusade. The Attitude of Alexius I Komnenus Towards the “People’s Expedition”

Forcing out the “infidels” – Seljuks and all other countries alike in Anatolia – is undoubtedly among the most important tasks which make up the foreign politics of the Byzantine Empire. Though, they lack the resources needed to complete it, which is why they need external powers that can only be brought to them by the Western Christian world. This much-needed military aid from the Latin countries to the West is given to them not in the way they thought it would be in Constantinople. Instead of the expected squads consisting of eastern mercenaries, well-organized armies led by their feudal are sent, marking the beginning of the Crusades. In this situation, it is important to note the role and extent of engagement that the Byzantine emperor had towards the forming of the idea for a Crusade to the East, as well as his behavior towards the so-called “Peasants’ Crusade” with Peter the Hermit and Gautier Sans-Avoir as its leaders, which is a catastrophic failure from the very beginning.