Battle Of Nicaea - Crusades - Epic Medieval Song (Latin, Old French, Turkic, Arabic)

The Siege of Nicaea, 1097: a 10-minute medieval epic song in Old French, Latin, Turkic, Arabic. The First Crusade, in music. This is an original song set during the Siege of Nicaea (14 May – 19 June 1097), the first great test of the First Crusade. It is sung in reconstructed Old French, Old Occitan and Medieval Latin, and it closes with a lament from inside the city, in Turkic and Arabic. THE STORY In May 1097 the crusader army reached Nicaea (modern İznik), the capital of the Seljuk Sultan Kilij Arslan I. Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemond of Taranto, Raymond of Toulouse, Robert of Normandy and Adhemar of Le Puy, the pope's representative, all appear in this song, though not all at once. Raymond and Adhemar arrived just before the Sultan's army attacked, and Robert came weeks into the siege. It did not end with a Frankish assault. On 19 June the garrison surrendered to the Byzantine Empire, after Emperor Alexios's boats appeared on the lake. THE SOUND The song is built in three acts that change tempo, mood and voices: slow dread at the gates, a tense march, then a fast battle that collapses into silence. The palette stays medieval: frame drums, nakers, hurdy-gurdy, vielle, rebec, shawm. LANGUAGES IN THIS SONG Old French: the everyday language of the Frankish and Norman knights. Old Occitan: the language of Raymond of Toulouse and Adhemar of Le Puy, from the south of France. Medieval Latin: the language of the Church, used for the refrain "the walls are high, but faith is higher." Turkic and Arabic: the voices from the walls, in the closing section. THE ENDING The Franks sing "the sky sees us" in Old French. At the end, the city sings the same sentence in Turkic. Two armies, one sky. Full lyrics with translations and phonetic guides are in the pinned comment below. I can only make this work with the help of AI software: the music, the vocals and the drafting of the lyrics. The people and events are real. The words sung are a creative reconstruction, since no recordings of these languages from 1097 exist. If you speak or study Old French, Occitan, Latin, Turkic or Arabic, corrections are very welcome in the comments. IN OTHER LANGUAGES Türkçe İznik Kuşatması (1097): Birinci Haçlı Seferi'nin ilk büyük sınavı. Eski Fransızca, Latince ve Eski Oksitanca söylenen, surların iki tarafından anlatılan 10 dakikalık bir ortaçağ destanı. العربية حصار نيقية (إزنيق) ١٠٩٧: أول اختبار كبير للحملة الصليبية الأولى. ملحمة غنائية من القرون الوسطى مدتها عشر دقائق، تُروى من جانبي الأسوار بالفرنسية القديمة واللاتينية والأوكسيتانية القديمة. Français Le siège de Nicée (1097) : la première grande épreuve de la Première croisade. Une chanson épique médiévale de dix minutes, racontée des deux côtés des remparts, en ancien français, en latin et en ancien occitan. Latina Obsidio Nicaeae (MXCVII), prima magna tentatio Primae Expeditionis Cruciatae: carmen epicum medii aevi, decem minutarum, ex utraque parte murorum narratum. #deus #crusader #crusades #templars #medievalmusic #epicmusic #byzantine #history #deusvult #christianmusic #frenchmusic #firstcrusade #christianhistory