| Battle of Mount Cadmus | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theSecond Crusade | |||||||
 From a copy of thePassages d'outremer (c. 1490) | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
.svg) Kingdom of France | Sultanate of Rum | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Louis VII William de Warren † Everard of Breteuil [de] † Gautier of Montjay † Reynauld of Tours † Itiers of Meingnac † Manassas of Bulles †[1] | Mesud I | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Heavy casualties | Unknown | ||||||
TheBattle of Mount Cadmus took place nearLaodicea, atChonae, on 6 January 1148, during theSecond Crusade.[2] The French crusader army, led byLouis VII of France, was defeated by theSeljuks ofRum.
The ill-disciplined Crusaders, especially those of the German contingent, had caused a number of incidents during their passage through the Balkans. The Byzantine emperor,Manuel I Comnenus, feared that the Crusaders would strengthen thePrincipality of Antioch, which he wanted to restore to his sovereignty, and also would weaken the Byzantine-German alliance againstRoger II of Sicily. WhileConrad III and Louis VII refused to pay homage to the Byzantine emperor in the autumn of 1147, they retained the Byzantine troops. Consequently, Roger II seizedCorfu andCephalonia, and plunderedCorinth andThebes.
The French and Germans decided to take separate routes. Conrad's army was defeated at theBattle of Dorylaeum 25 October 1147.
The remnants of the army of Conrad were able to join the army of the king of France. The armies followed the path left by the first Crusaders advance toPhiladelphia inLydia. In this city, the Germans were still exposed to attack and decided to return to Constantinople. Conrad III, reconciled with Manuel, capturedAcre with Byzantine ships. The troops of Louis VII followed the coast and then took the road to the east. The Seljuks waited on the banks of the riverMeander, but the Franks forced the passage and marched toLaodicea, which they reached on 6 January, the day of theEpiphany. They then marched to the mountains that separatePhrygia fromPisidia.
The vanguard, led byGeoffrey de Rancon, was recklessly placed too 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, and baggage were forced into the abyss. King Louis VII was able to escape the fray, leaned against a tree and stood alone against multiple attackers.[3] At night, the king took advantage of the darkness to join the vanguard of his army, which had been believed dead.[4] After the battle, the army of the king of France, which had suffered heavy losses, barely reachedAttaleia on 20 January.