In the mean time Godfrey, Eustace, and Robert, count of Flanders, had not yet set out from Antioch. They did not begin their march before the early days of spring. Bohemond accompanied them as far as Laodicea,[143] and then returned to his capital, after having promised his companions to rejoin them before Jerusalem. At Laodicea the Crusaders liberated the Flemish pirates who had taken the cross at Tarsus, and who, for more than a year, had been detained prisoners by the Greeks, the masters of that city. At the same place the Christian army received a reinforcement of new Crusaders from the ports of Holland and Flanders, and the British isles. Among these new defenders of the cross was Edgar Atheling, who, after the death of Harold, had disputed the crown of England with William the Conqueror. He came to endeavour to forget the misfortunes of his country under the banners of the holy war, and at the same time to seek a refuge from the tyranny of the conqueror. The English and the new Crusaders from other countries were received with great joy into the ranks of the Christian army, which, however, pursued its march towards Palestine very slowly. It grieved the greater part of the leaders to be obliged to traverse such rich provinces without establishing their domination in them. There was not a city in their route upon the walls of which one of them had not a strong secret inclination to plant his standard. These pretensions gave birth to rivalries which weakened the army, and prevented it from making useful conquests. Raymond still obstinately prosecuted the siege of Archas, which opposed to him the firmest resistance. Godfrey went to lay siege to Gibel or Gibelet,[144] a maritime city, situated some leagues from Laodicea. The leaders of the army never consented to unite their efforts against the Saracens, but sold to the emirs, by turns, their inaction and their neutrality.