Certainty: 3 Crushing victory of the crusaders outside Askalon Certainty: 3
1102
Certainty: 3 Baldwin I after a reckless attack was lucky to survive the second Battle of Ramla Certainty: 3
Certainty: 3 Baldwin I, almost alone, escaped to the coast, to Arsuf then Jaffa
Baldwin made a desperate escape from Ramla on Gazela with his squire and Hugh of Brulis, but failed to get through the enemy to Jerusalem. All but three of those left in Ramla were killed or captured. For a time Baldwin was lost, struggling in the mountains, lightly wounded, but then he found his way to the coast, to Arsuf, where he slipped past the guards and was welcomed by Rorgus, lord of Haifa. He then sent messages for help to Edessa and Antioch. His Armenian wife was in Jaffa waiting for news and terrified by the spectacle of the severed head and legs of Gerbod of Scheldewindeke (who resembled Baldwin). For ten days Baldwin stayed quietly at Arsuf, but then embarked on an English pirate ship for Jaffa. [Anna Komnene seems to confuse this defeat with the great victory outside Askalon in 1099, making them happen one day after the other: a mass deportation of Westerners to Egypt gave Alexios I the chance to save them, sending Bardales. All were ransomed but Godfrey [sic], already ransomed by Baldwin - who was then sent to Edessa. A similar story is inserted by Anna to show Alexios (with Panoukomites as ambassador) using the saved western counts to counter Bohemond's propaganda in 1106-1107]