The Crusaders levied their followers in their own way, and went at different times and in different directions to Constantinople, which Bishop Adhemar had indicated as their meeting-place. As swarm after swarm of mail-clad warriors marched through his dominions to his capital, Alexius Comnenus became very anxious as to their attitude to the Greek Empire. His hope had been to get an auxiliary Western force of knights, but the vast throng of Frankish chivalry, that had obeyed Pope Urban, alarmed him excessively, especially when he found his old enemy Bohemund among them. There was real danger lest the Crusaders should turn their arms against Constantinople instead of Nicæa and Antioch, and realise by force Hildebrand’s ideal of a union of the churches, before the attack was made on the infidel. Greed and religious zeal combined to inspire them to turn against the opulent and schismatic capital. But the craft and ingenuity of Alexius served him in good stead, and in the end he persuaded all the leaders to take oaths of fealty to him, hoping thus to retain the overlordship of any districts they might conquer from the Turks. He then gave them facilities for crossing into Asia. The Crusaders now entered into infidel ground. Nicæa, the capital of Kilidj Arslan, was taken in June 1097, and next month the army of the Sultan was defeated at Dorylæum. These successes secured Asia Minor. After a long and painful march the Taurus was crossed, and in June 1098 Antioch was forced to surrender. [Sidenote: The march through Asia, and the conquest of Jerusalem, 1097–1099.] Even after that the Christians were in a sorry plight from famine, and were almost blockaded in their new conquest by the army of Corbogha, Ameer of Mosul. The Bishop of Le Puy died, and after his moderating influence was removed, disputes broke out, especially between the Normans and the south French. Many of the Crusaders, chief among whom was Stephen of Blois, went home in despair. But the fancied discovery of the Holy Lance, with which the Roman soldier had pierced the side of Christ, revived the fainting energies of the Crusaders, though at first the Normans declared that the ‘invention’ was a fraud of a chaplain of Raymond of Toulouse. Corbogha was defeated in a great battle, and at last the Christians entered the Holy Land. The divisions of Islam facilitated their progress. A month after the capture of Antioch, the Fatimites of Egypt had conquered Jerusalem, which nevertheless resisted vigorously. Finally, on 15th July 1099, Jerusalem was stormed and, amidst hideous scenes of carnage, the remnant of the crusading army attained its goal. A new victory at Ascalon in August secured southern Palestine from Egyptian assault. [Sidenote: Results of the Crusade.]