There were between seven and twelve thousand pilgrims, coming primarily from western and southern Germany and including apart from clerics also nobles, knights and commoners.
Their troubles increased when they reached Latakia, the last outpost of the Byzantine Empire before entering Muslim territory; there they met other pilgrims who warned them of the dangers to the south, and when they reached Tripoli, Lebanon, they were attacked by the emir of the city, but were saved by a storm which they regarded as a miracle.
[4] According to the longer version of the Annals of Altaich William of Utrecht was killed in battle, (although he actually survived and lived until 1076).
After thirteen days they returned to Ramla, and it seems that they took ships from Jaffa to Latakia to avoid the dangerous land route.
[8] The Ezzolied, composed either on or just before the pilgrimage by the priest Ezzo, is one of the most important examples of poetical literature at that time.