Guglielmo Embriaco

Who is Guglielmo Embriaco?

Guglielmo Embriaco, was a Genoese merchant and military leader who came to the assistance of the Crusader States in the aftermath of the First Crusade.

Embriaco was probably born in the late 1030s, but did not gain fame until he and his brother Primo di Castello landed at Jaffa in June 1099 with a squadron of galleys: two, according to the Annales of Caffaro di Rustico, and six or nine according to Raymond of Aguilers. The expedition was a private undertaking. He and Primo initially marched south towards Ascalon, but an Egyptian army forced them to march inland towards the Siege of Jerusalem, then in progress. The lumber from their dismantled ships was converted into siege towers which were instrumental in the successful taking of the city on 15 July. It was there that Embriaco earned his sobriquet Caputmallei or Testadimaglio, meaning "mallet head".

Embriaco assisted in the capture of Jaffa and then, with 200 to 300 men, at the Battle of Ascalon on 12 August, where he commanded a naval contingent offshore. Embriaco and his brother returned to Genoa with letters from Godfrey of Bouillon and Daimbert of Pisa, the Defender of the Holy Sepulchre and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem respectively, describing the success of the Crusaders and the urgent need of reinforcements. They arrived in Genoa on 24 December. Embriaco was granted the title of consul exercitus Ianuensium — "consul of the Genoese army" — by the Compagna and sent back with a fleet of twenty six or seven galleys, four to six cargo ships, and three to four thousand men. He embarked, carrying the new papal legate, the cardinal-bishop of Ostia, on 1 August 1100.