Battle of Azaz (1125)
The Battle of Azaz took place between the Crusader States and the Seljuk Turks on June 11, 1125.
Prehistory
Joscelin I of Edessa had in 1118 the Atabeg of Aleppo city Azaz removed ( Hazart ) in northern Syria. 1119 an army of crusaders from Antioch under Roger of Salerno in the Battle of Ager Sanguinis were defeated. 1123 became Baldwin II of Jerusalem on a patrol in the county of Edessa in Muslim captivity. Released in 1124, Baldwin began a siege of Aleppo in 1125, which caught the attention of il - Bursuqi, the Seljuk Atabeg of Mosul. Il- Bursuqi marched south, raised the siege of Aleppo on, forced the Crusaders to retreat and then besieged Zerdana in the County of Edessa.
On June 11, 1125 hostile armies clashed. The Christian army consisted of contingents of Baldwin II of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of the Principality of Antioch, where Baldwin was Regent, which Joscelin I of the County of Edessa and those of Pons of Tripoli from the County of Tripoli. In total, there were about 1,100 knights and 2,000 foot soldiers. The army of Atabegs il - Bursuqi, which had meanwhile been reinforced by his allies Tugtakin from Damascus, had gathered outside of Azaz and was probably much greater than that of the Christians.
Battle Record
After a brief foray, Baldwin gave the right to withdraw, which he succeeded the Seljuks of Azaz away to lure in open terrain where he surrounded them together with the other contingents. After a long and bloody battle, the Seljuks were put to flight and captured their camp by Baldwin. Baldwin made it enough booty to ( including the future Joscelin II of Edessa ) trigger the prisoners, who had made the Seljuks in the course of the battle.
Follow
This victory allowed the Crusaders to recover much of their influence they had lost after their defeat on the Ager Sanguinis 1119. Baldwin now planned an attack on Aleppo, but Antioch, where Bohemond II came to the throne in 1126, preferred to fight against Edessa, so that the project failed. Aleppo and Mosul were in 1128 united under the much stronger ruler Zengi, in whose reign the Christian domination began to wane in northern Syria.