Baldwin of Bouillon was a participant in the First Crusade (1096–1099) and
subsequently count of Edessa (1097–1100) and
first king of Jerusalem
(1100–1118). Baldwin was the third son of Eustace II, count of Boulogne, and Ida of Bouillon, born sometime
between 1061 and 1070. He was originally educated for a clerical career and held
benefices in the dioceses of Liège, Reims, and
Cambrai, but by 1090 he had become a knight and married Godehilde, daughter of
the Norman nobleman Ralph of Tosny. When his elder brother Godfrey of Bouillon
decided to take part in the First Crusade, Baldwin and his wife accompanied him.
Baldwin played an important role as one of the leaders of Godfrey’s
contingent, but when the main crusading armies reached Cilicia
in late 1097, he left them, with a military force recruited primarily from his
brothers’ followers, evidently intending to conquer lands for himself. He
contested the possession of the coastal town of Tarsos with Tancred, but in early 1098 he
moved further east
to conquer the area
around Turbessel (mod. Tellbaflar Kalesi, Turkey) and Edessa (mod.
fianliurfa, Turkey) in
northern Syria,
whose Armenian population had risen in revolt against the Turks.
He initially shared the government of the city of Edessa with the Armenian
nobleman T‘oros, but soon supplanted him, and by 1100 had extended Frankish
rule for over 100 kilometers (c. 60 mi.) on
either bank of
the Euphrates. The county
of Edessa-the first Frankish state to
be established by the First
Crusade-constituted an important
buffer against the Turks of the Salj‰q Empire, and was in a position to
provide logistical help for the main crusade armies during their campaigns in
the environs of Antioch
during 1098. As Godehilde had died at Marash in 1097, Baldwin
married the daughter of the Armenian prince Taphnuz.
The succession to the kingdom was not allowed to pass
undisputed on Godfrey's death. Dagobert of Pisa, who had supplanted Arnulf in
the patriarchate, and whose ecclesiastical pretensions were of the loftiest
nature, dreamt that in Bohemond he might find a second Guiscard to defend a
second Gregory. But the Crusaders at Jerusalem
refused to recognise any lord except one of Godfrey's race. They held the Tower of David against the patriarch, and summoned
Baldwin of Edessa to come and take possession of his rights. Baldwin accepted
the offer, and leaving Edessa to his cousin and
namesake, Baldwin du Bourg, started for Antioch
on the 26th of September ; thence, despite the opposition of Dukak of Damascus, with whom he had to fight a severe battle in the
tortuous passes of Lebanon
above Beyrout, he made his way to Jerusalem.
The magnificence of his reception in his new capital was only marred by the
hostility of Dagobert ; there was, however, no further opposition to his
recognition as king. But king though Baldwin
was in name, he had yet to conquer his kingdom. From the first he had to contend
with two great obstacles, lack of money and lack of men. The internal history
of his reign is to a large extent the story of how he overcame these difficulties.
On leaving Edessa Baldwin had only been accompanied by two
hundred knights and seven hundred foot, whilst three months later at Jerusalem he could only
muster another hundred knights. The Mohammedans themselves do not seem to have
ever collected large armies, though they greatly outnumbered the Christians. Thus
at Jaffa in noi they were eleven thousand horse and twenty-one thousand foot to
two hundred and forty knights and nine hundred foot, and at Ramleh twenty
thousand against two hundred. " To all," says Fulcher, " it
appears to be a palpable and truly wondrous miracle that we could live among so
many millions, making them our subjects and tributaries." Had Baldwin been
dependent solely on the French and German soldiers who stayed with him in Palestine, he could not long
have held his own. But aggressive operations on a large scale were almost
uniformly carried out with the aid of Crusading fleets from Italy, England,
or Norway.
Thus two hundred ships under Harding the Englishman, 1 Bernhard of Galatia, and
Hadewerck the Westphalian, saved Baldwin from the
consequences of his rash daring at Jaffa
in 1 102.
An English and North German fleet helped him at the siege of
Sidon in 1 107,
and the fall of that city three years later was due to the asaistance of Sigurd
the Norwegian. More important still were the services rendered by the Italians.
The Genoese helped in the capture of Caesarea (1101), Tortosa (1102), Acre (1104),
Tripoli (1109),
and other places. The Pisans fought for Bohemond at Laodicea,
and for Raymond's successors at Tripoli.
The Venetians, who under their doge had met the dying Godfrey at Jaffa, were present at the siege of Sidon,
and were the moving force at the conquest of Tyre in the next reign. All these allies
reaped large rewards ; Baldwin granted the Genoese streets in Jerusalem
and Jaffa, together with their part of Caesarea, Arstif, and other towns ; the same king
promised his Italian confederates one street in the towns they helped to conquer,
and a third share of the booty; in 11 24 the Venetians bargained for still
higher privileges, and were promised a street, oven, and bath in every city
whether belonging to king or noble. In his early years Baldwin
must have relied very largely on the members of his own and Godfrey's household.
The need of supplying these and other mercenaries with money forced the king, on
many occasions, to injustice and robbery. The easiest way of procuring funds
was by taking tribute of the unconquered towns. Thus Godfrey had received tribute
from Ascalon, Caesarea, ancl Arstif ; Baldwin himself raised the siege of Sidon for money in 1 107.
Through his want of money Baldwin
was frequently driven to have recourse to promiscuous plunder. In 1108 he made
a night attack on the great Egyptian caravan beyond the Jordan, and carried off thirty-two camels laden
with sugar, honey, and oil to Jerusalem.
On another occasion William, bastard son of Robert of Normandy, brought a like benefit to the
royal treasury. Worse still, after promising protection to the men of Tyre as they were carrying their treasures to Damascus for safety, the
king adopted the base maxim that "truth need not be kept with unbelievers,"
and robbed them on the way. In 1113 Baldwin sought to improve his shattered
finances in another manner, by marrying Adela, widow of Count Roger of Sicily. Albert of Aix
draws a glowing picture of the state in which she reached Acre
Her vessels were laden with gold and gems, while her own ship had its mast
covered with pure gold. She brought a thousand skilled warriors to aid
in the royal wars, and not content with helping her husband,
she gave a thousand marks and five hundred besants to Roger of Antioch. But
after three years, finding herself unable to live with the king, she returned home.
Baldwin's reign was one of
continued activity; every year saw him engaged in fresh enterprises, and exploring
fresh fields for conquest. His chief dangers lay on the south west and north
east of his kingdom. In the former region he had to keep up a perpetual struggle
with Ascalon, whence the Egyptian garrison sallied out by land or sea on every
opportunity. Even before his coronation Baldwin
had been compelled to lead an expedition against the town. In 1101 he had
renewed the warfare with the cities of the coast. Chiefly through the valour of
the Genoese seamen Cassarea was captured with but short delay. Thence a
reported invasion called Baldwin south; it was not, however, for four months
that the Egyptians took the field near Jaffa
with eleven thousand horse and twenty one thousand foot. To meet this host the
king could only muster two hundred and forty knights and nine hundred foot
soldiers ; but, says Fulcher, " having God on our side, we did not fear
to attack them." Three times the Christians
were driven back, but when the king led out his fifth battalion in person, the
Egyptians lost heart and fled before him.
References:
Alan V. Murray, The Crusades: An Encyclopedia, Publisher, ABC-CLIO,
2006.