The Battle of Ephesus in 1147 took place in between the crusader army assembled by the Kingdom of France leaded by Louis VII of France and Sultanate of Rum or better to be known as Western Seljukian Sultanate.
The Crusader armies of Louis VII were marching on the west coast of Asia Minor. Their ambition was to take the coast to the major city of Antalya which is located on the south coast of Anatolia.
A lightning attack organized by Turks of the Seljukian Sultanate took place on the 24th of December 1147 while crusader armies were resting nearby Ephesus. The Attack were fended by the French soldiers and crusaders went on marching to Antalya. The strangest fact about this battle is Turkish soldiers were supported by the local Greek population since local Greeks who were Orthodox Christians had vendetta with the Catholic French army.
The Second Crusade on the Road to Ephesus
Two kings led the Second Crusade, Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, and their armies met again in Asia Minor in the autumn of 1147. Conrad had tried the inland road toward Konya first and had to turn back, so the Germans who were left joined the French at Lopadion, nearby today’s Uluabat Lake.
From there the kings chose the longer road along the coast, passed Pergamon and Smyrna and came down to Ephesus in December 1147. I like to remind my guests that in 1147 Ephesus was not the marble city we walk in today. The old harbor city had grown quiet, and the heart of the town had moved up to Ayasuluk Hill, around the Basilica of Saint John.
Christmas 1147 at Ephesus
The French army spent Christmas of 1147 at Ephesus. Conrad fell ill in here and went back to Constantinople, where Emperor Manuel Komnenos looked after him himself. Manuel also sent messengers to Louis with a warning: the country ahead was full of Turkish riders, and he offered the French winter quarters in the imperial fortresses of the coast.
Louis thanked him and marched anyway. The attack of December 24 that you read above came in a valley just outside the city. After it the French went up the Meander valley, forced the river crossing against a second attack, fought hard in the mountains at Mount Cadmus in January 1148 and reached Antalya later that month. From Antalya the king and his knights went on to Antioch by ship.
The Seljuk and Byzantine Frontier Around Ayasuluk
Why were Turkish riders so close to the crusaders at Ephesus in 1147? Because the frontier ran not far from here. After 1071 the Seljuk Turks settled the Anatolian plateau and made Konya their capital, while the Byzantines held the coast with its walled towns, Ephesus, Smyrna and Philadelphia among them. The Meander valley in between was open country for the Turkmen horsemen.
Ephesus itself had been Turkish for a short time around 1090, and the Byzantines took it back in 1097, in the days of the First Crusade. So in 1147 the garrison on Ayasuluk Hill watched a border that moved every few years. The hill stayed Byzantine till 1304, when the Turks took it for good and the town of Selçuk began its Turkish story.
What You Can See Today From the Time of the Crusaders
Three things, and all of them are on Ayasuluk Hill in Selçuk, a short drive from the Ephesus gates. First, the Ayasuluk Fortress on the top, which is open to visitors. Its inner castle goes back to Byzantine times, and the outer walls were repaired again and again, so the stones you touch are from many centuries. Second, the Byzantine walls around the Basilica of Saint John with the Gate of Persecution, the main gate of the pilgrim town in those years. Third, the basilica itself, built by Justinian in the 6th century and still a busy pilgrimage church in 1147.
I take my guests up to the fortress after the basilica when we have time, and from the walls you see whole plain down to the sea, the same view the Byzantine watchmen had in December 1147. By the way, nobody knows the exact place of the French camp, it was somewhere in that plain or in the valleys behind it. I hope you will walk those walls with me one day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the Battle of Ephesus in 1147?
The French army of Louis VII held its ground. Seljuk riders attacked the crusader camp near Ephesus on December 24, 1147, were driven off, and the French marched on toward the Meander valley and Antalya a few days later.
Where did the crusaders go after Ephesus?
Up the Meander valley to Laodicea, over the mountains to the south coast, and to the port of Antalya in January 1148. From Antalya Louis and his knights sailed to Antioch, and from there the army went on to Jerusalem.
