Baldwin II of Jerusalem
Baldwin II, also known as Baldwin of Bourcq or Bourg (French: Baudouin; c. 1075 – 21 August 1131), was Count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118, and King of Jerusalem from 1118 until his death. He accompanied his cousins Godfrey of Bouillon and Baldwin of Boulogne to the Holy Land during the First Crusade. He succeeded Baldwin of Boulogne as the second count of Edessa when he left the county for Jerusalem following his brother's death. He was captured at the Battle of Harran in 1104. He was held first by Sökmen of Mardin, then by Jikirmish of Mosul, and finally by Jawali Saqawa. During his captivity, Tancred, the Crusader ruler of the Principality of Antioch, and Tancred's cousin, Richard of Salerno, governed Edessa as Baldwin's regents.
Baldwin II
2 April 1118 – 21 August 1131
25 December 1119
1100–1118
Baldwin I
c. 1075
Rethel, Kingdom of France
21 August 1131 (aged c. 56)
Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem
Melisende of Montlhéry
Baldwin was ransomed by his cousin, Joscelin of Courtenay, lord of Turbessel, in the summer of 1108. Tancred attempted to retain Edessa, but Bernard of Valence, the Latin patriarch of Antioch, persuaded him to restore the county to Baldwin. Baldwin allied with Jawali, but Tancred and his ally, Radwan of Aleppo, defeated them at Turbessel. Baldwin and Tancred were reconciled at an assembly of the crusader leaders near Tripoli in April 1109. Mawdud, the Atabeg of Mosul, and his successor, Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi, launched a series of campaigns against Edessa in the early 1110s, devastating the eastern regions of the country. Baldwin accused Joscelin of treason for seizing the prosperous town of Turbessel from him in 1113 and captured the neighboring Armenian lordships in 1116 and 1117.
Baldwin of Boulogne, the first king of Jerusalem, died on 2 April 1118. He bequeathed Jerusalem to his brother Count Eustace III of Boulogne, stipulating that the throne was to be offered to Baldwin if Eustace failed to come to the Holy Land. Arnulf of Chocques, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, and Joscelin of Courtenay, who held the largest fief in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, convinced their peers to elect Baldwin king. Baldwin took possession of most towns in the kingdom and gave Edessa to Joscelin. After the army of the Principality of Antioch was almost annihilated on 28 June 1119, Baldwin was elected regent for the absent Prince Bohemond II of Antioch. The frequent Seljuq invasions of Antioch forced him to spend most of his time in the principality, which caused discontent in Jerusalem. After Belek captured him in April 1123, a group of noblemen offered the throne to Count Charles I of Flanders, but Charles refused. During his absence, the Jerusalemite troops captured Tyre with the assistance of a Venetian fleet. After he was released in August 1124, he tried to capture Aleppo, but al-Bursuqi forced him to abandon the siege in early 1125.
Bohemond II came to Syria in October 1126. Baldwin gave his second daughter, Alice, in marriage to him and also renounced the regency. Baldwin planned to conquer Damascus, but he needed external support to achieve his goal. He married off his eldest daughter, Melisende, to the wealthy Count Fulk V of Anjou in 1129. The new troops who accompanied Fulk to Jerusalem enabled Baldwin to invade Damascene territory, but he could seize only Banias with the support of the Nizari (or Assassins) in late 1129. After Bohemond II was killed in a battle in early 1130, Baldwin forced Alice to leave Antioch and assumed the regency for her daughter, Constance. He fell seriously ill in Antioch and took monastic vows before he died in the Holy Sepulchre. Baldwin had been respected for his military talent, but he was notorious for his "love for money".
Early life[edit]
His birth year is unknown. It is only known that his father, Count Hugh I of Rethel, was born in the 1040s and Baldwin was already an adult by the 1090s. He was the lord of Bourcq when he joined the army of his kinsman Godfrey of Bouillon at the beginning of the First Crusade.[1] The army departed for the Holy Land on 15 August 1096, and reached Constantinople on 23 December.[2] The Byzantine emperor, Alexios I Komnenos, urged the crusader leaders to take an oath of fealty to him.[3] Godfrey of Bouillon appointed Baldwin, Conon of Montaigu and Geoffrey of Esch to represent him at a meeting with Alexios in January 1097.[4] After Godfrey and his principal commanders swore fealty to the Emperor, the crusader army was shipped to Asia Minor in February.[5]
Baldwin's cousin Baldwin of Boulogne and Tancred of Hauteville broke away from the main army to invade Cilicia around 15 September 1097.[6] Baldwin accompanied them in Boulogne's contingent.[7][8] He also participated in Boulogne's military campaigns against the Seljuq rulers of the fortresses on the plains near the River Euphrates.[9] After seizing Ravendel, Turbessel and Edessa, Boulogne established the first crusader state, the County of Edessa, in early 1098.[10][11]
Baldwin rejoined the main crusader army, which was marching towards Jerusalem, near Tyre in late May 1099.[12] He and Tancred seized Bethlehem; there was no resistance as the town was inhabited by local Christians.[13] The crusaders laid siege to Jerusalem, and shortly afterwards Baldwin and Tancred captured an elderly Muslim nobleman.[14] After he refused to convert to Christianity, Baldwin's soldiers beheaded him at the Tower of David to frighten the defenders of Jerusalem.[15] Jerusalem fell to the crusaders on 15 July.[16] Baldwin left Jerusalem in the retinue of Count Robert II of Flanders in late August.[17] Robert returned to Europe, but Baldwin remained in Syria.[18] Geoffrey of Bouillon died on 18 July 1100.[16] Baldwin of Boulogne decided to return to Jerusalem to take possession of Geoffrey's inheritance.[19]
King of Jerusalem[edit]
Ascension to the throne[edit]
The childless Baldwin I of Jerusalem died on 2 April 1118, during a campaign against Egypt.[101][102] According to the contemporaneous Albert of Aachen he had willed the kingdom to his eldest brother, Eustace III of Boulogne, "if by chance he would come", but also stipulated that Baldwin of Bourcq should be elected king if Eustace were unable to come "because of his age".[102][103] Baldwin arrived in Jerusalem around the day when the late king's body was carried into the town.[102] Albert of Aachen stated that Baldwin had come to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem without having any knowledge of the King's death.[102] Decades later, William of Tyre recorded that Baldwin had been informed of his kinsman's death during his journey to Jerusalem.[104]
Family[edit]
Most Armenians adhered to the Armenian Apostolic Church, but Baldwin's wife, Morphia, was born to an Orthodox noble family.[209][29] Her father, Gabriel, gave her in marriage to Baldwin, because he needed the crusaders' support against his enemies.[210] Morphia gave birth to four daughters.[178] She died on 1 October 1126 or 1127.[108]
The eldest daughter of Baldwin and Morphia, Melisende, succeeded Baldwin along with her husband, Fulk.[195] They were crowned in the Holy Sepulchre on 14 September 1131.[195][211] Baldwin's second daughter, Alice, made several attempts to administer Antioch after Baldwin's death.[211] Hodierna was Baldwin and Morphia's third daughter.[178] She was given in marriage to Raymond II, Count of Tripoli before 1138.[178][212] Ioveta was her parents' youngest daughter, and their only child "born into the purple" (that is after her father's coronation).[178] She entered the Convent of Saint Anne in Jerusalem around 1134.[185] About 10 years later, she became the second abbess of the convent that Melisende had established at the Tomb of Lazarus in Bethany.[213]
Legacy[edit]
Baldwin's contemporaries often criticized him.[214] Matthew of Edessa, who recorded the Armenians' grievances during Baldwin's reign in Edessa, described him as a greedy ruler who had "an intolerable love for money".[214] Bernard of Blois, an ascetic monk who settled in the Amanus Mountains, blamed him for "certain enormities in his way of life".[214] Fulcher of Chartres hinted that Baldwin's captivity was a punishment for sin, because he had never seen other kings who were imprisoned.[214]
William of Tyre described Baldwin as "a devout and God-fearing man, notable for his loyalty and for his great experience in military matters," and said that he was nicknamed "the Thorny" (cognominatus est Aculeus). Ibn al-Qalanisi, who calls him "Baldwin the Little" (Baghdawin al-ru'aiuis) to distinguish him from Baldwin I, remarked that "after him there was none left amongst them possessed of sound judgment and capacity to govern".
