Princes' Crusade departs Europe

August 15, 1096

The main Crusader columns under Godfrey of Bouillon, Raymond of Toulouse, Hugh of Vermandois, and Bohemond of Taranto set out for Constantinople by different routes. Between them they probably commanded fifty to a hundred thousand fighters and camp followers, one of the largest Western expeditions since Roman times. Emperor Alexios I watched their arrival with equal measures of hope and alarm, extracting oaths of fealty before allowing them passage.