User:Kansas Bear/Battle of Mount Cadmus

The Battle of Mount Cadmus took place near Laodicea on January 6, 1148, during the Second Crusade. The French crusader army, led by Louis VII of France, was defeated by Seljuks of Rum.

Background
The ill-discipline of the crusades, especially in the German Crusade, caused incidents with the passage of the crusading army through the Balkans. The Byzantine emperor, Manual, feared that the troops of the crusaders would strengthen the Principality of Antioch, which he wanted to restore to his sovereignty, and also would weaken the Byzantine-German alliance against Roger II of Sicily. Indeed, while Conrad II and Louis VII refused to pay homage to the emperor in the fall of 1147, and thus retain the Byzantine troops, Roger II seized Corfu and Cephalonia, and plundered Corinth and Thebes.

The French and Germans decide to take separate routes. Conrad's army was defeated at the Battle of Dorylaeum October 25, 1147.

The remnants of the army of Conrad were able to join the army of the king of France. Both armies followed the path left by the first Crusaders advance to Philadelphia in Lydia. In this city, the Germans were still exposed to new disasters and decided to return to Constantinople. Conrad III, reconciled with Manuel, wins Acre with Byzantine ships. The troops of Louis VII follow the coast and then take the road to the East. The Seljuks waited on the banks of the Meander, but the Franks forced the passage and marched to Laodicea, which they reached on January 6, the day of the Epiphany. They then marched to the mountains that separate the Phrygia of the Pisidia.

The Battle
The vanguard, led by Geoffrey de Rancon, was recklessly placed to far ahead of the army. King Louis, with the main column, ignored that fact, and proceeded onward. The French soldiers walked with confidence, convinced that their comrades occupied the heights in front of them. However, the Seljuks had the advantage when the French ranks broke and rushed upon them swords in hand. The French retreated to a narrow gorge, bordered on one side with precipices and crags on the other. Horses, men, baggage, everything is forced into the abyss. King Louis VII was able to escape the fray, leans against a tree and stands alone multiple attackers. At night, the king took advantage of the darkness to join the vanguard of his army, which previously was believed dead. After the battle, the army of the king of France, which has suffered heavy losses, barely reachs Attaleia on January 20.