Baldwin II of Jerusalem (1118–1131)

King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, or Baldwin II of Edessa, or Baldwin of Bourcq was the son of Hugh, count of Rethel, and his wife Melisende, daughter of Guy I of Montlhéry. He had two younger brothers, Gervase and Manasses, and two sisters Matilda and Hodierna. He left his own family behind to follow his cousins on the First Crusade in 1096.

Baldwin, Count of Edessa:

Baldwin of Boulogne became the first count of Edessa, while Baldwin of Bourcq entered the service of Prince of Antioch, acting as an ambassador between Antioch and Edessa. Baldwin of Boulogne was elected king of Jerusalem upon the death of Godfrey, and Baldwin of Bourcq was appointed count of Edessa. In 1101 Baldwin married Morphia of Melitene, the daughter of the Armenian prince Gabriel of Melitene.

In 1102 Baldwin and Tancred (his nephew) assisted King Baldwin against the Egyptians at Ascalon. 1104 the Seljuk Turks invaded Edessa and with help from Antioch, Count Baldwin met them at the Battle of Harran. The battle was a failure and Count Baldwin was captured; Tancred became regent of Edessa while he was away. Tancred and Bohemund preferred to ransom their own Seljuk prisoners for money rather than an exchange them for Baldwin, so the count remained in captivity in Mosul until 1108 when he was ransomed for 60,000 dinars by Joscelin of Courtenay. Tancred refused to restore Edessa to him, but with the support of the Kurds, Arabs, Byzantines, and even the Seljuks, Tancred was forced to back down.

Baldwin II King of Jerusalem:

After the death of Baldwin I in 1118, the crown was offered to the king's elder brother Eustace III, but Joscelin of Courtenay insisted that the crown be passed to Baldwin of Bourcq, despite Count Baldwin having exiled Joscelin from Edessa in 1113. Baldwin of Edessa accepted and was crowned king of Jerusalem as Baldwin II on Easter Sunday, 14 April 1118. Almost immediately, the kingdom was simultaneously invaded by the Seljuks from Syria and the Fatimids from Egypt. By showing himself ready and willing to defend his territory, Baldwin forced the Muslim army to back down without a battle. 1119, the crusader Principality of Antioch (crusader state) was invaded, and Baldwin hurried north with the army of Jerusalem. Roger of Salerno, prince of Antioch, would not wait for Baldwin's reinforcements, and the Antiochene army was destroyed in a battle the crusaders called Ager Sanguinis (the Field of Blood).

Although it was a crushing blow, Baldwin helped Antioch recover and drove out the Seljuks later that year. Baldwin called the Council of Nablus in 1120, where he probably established the first written laws for the kingdom, and extended rights and privileges to the growing bourgeois communities. In 1122 Joscelin, who had been appointed count of Edessa when Baldwin became king, was captured in battle. Baldwin returned to the north to take over the regency of the county, but he too was taken captive by the Ortoqids while patrolling the borders of Edessa in 1123, and was held captive with Joscelin. Eustace Grenier acted as regent in Jerusalem, and at the Battle of Yibneh defeated an Egyptian invasion hoping to take advantage of the king's absence. Baldwin and Joscelin escaped from captivity with help from the Armenians in 1124. In 1125 Baldwin assembled the knights from all the crusader territories and met the Seljuks at the Battle of Azaz. Although the Seljuk army was much larger, the crusaders were victorious, d they restored much of the influence they had lost after the Ager Sanguinis. Baldwin attempted to take Damascus in 1126 with the help of the Templars, but the attempt was pushed back by Emir Toghtekin.

Succession of Baldwin II:

Baldwin had no sons with Morphia, but four daughters: Melisende, Alice, Hodierna, and Ioveta. In 1129 Baldwin named Melisende his heir, and arranged for her to marry Fulk V of Anjou. Fulk assisted Baldwin with the attack on Damascus. His daughters Alice and Hodierna also married important princes, Bohemund II of Antioch and Raymond II of Tripoli.In 1131 Baldwin fell sick and died on 21 August, and was buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Melisende, by law the heir to the kingdom, succeeded her father with Fulk as her co‐ruler. The new queen and king were crowned on 14 September.

References:

Röhricht (R.), Regesta Regni Hierosolymitani (MXCVII–MCCXCI), Innsbruck, 1893.

Mayer (H. E.), 'The Succession to Baldwin II of Jerusalem: English Impact on the East', Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 1982, PP. 531-541.

Hugh of Vermandois (1057-1101)

Hugh of Vermandois. He was the brother of Philip I, king of France (1052-1108). Hugh partook to the first crusade (1096-1099).

Those of the Langue d'Oil had gone before, and under the guidance of Hugh, Count of Vermandois, had been the first of all the Crusaders to take the field. " Hugh," writes a contemporary, " was first to cross the sea to Durazzo, where the citizens took him prisoner, and sent him to the Emperor at Constantinople." How he was released from his captivity we have already seen.

Hugh of Vermandois and the Expeditions of 1101:

Hugh the Great, who had been sent to Constantinople after the fall of Antioch, shared in the disastrous expedition of 1101 and died at Tarsus. The recreant Count Stephen of Blois, driven back to the East by his wife's reproaches, took part in the same expedition, and was slain in the great battle of Ramleh (1102). This expedition, which ended so disastrously for the two French counts, must detain us for a little.

The conquest of Jerusalem kindled a warlike enthusiasm in many hearts which had been cold to the impassioned pleading of Urban and Peter. Amongst those who now took up arms was the powerful Duke William of Aquitaine. Religious feeling had not restrained him from the endeavour to turn Count Raymond's absence on the Crusade to his own profit He is perhaps the first of all the Crusading chiefs who undertook the expedition in the frivolous spirit of the mere adventurer eager for some new thing. The details of this crusade, or series of crusades, are difficult to follow ; but first of all a large and unruly horde of Lombards reached Constantinople, and after some riotous conduct, in the course of which they broke into the palace and killed one of the Emperor's pet lions, crossed the Bosphorus. At Nicomedia they were joined by Conrad the Constable of the Emperor Henry, and the two Stephens of Blois and Burgundy.

¬It was now Whitsuntide, 1101, and the Crusaders, eager to depart, begged Alexius for a guide. He offered them Raymond of St. Gilles, who was present at Constantinople But when the time for departure arrived a feud broke out between the two divisions. Stephen of Blois was for following the old Crusading track through Iconium to Antioch. The Lombards, however, were seized with a wild desire to push across the highlands of Asia Minor to the realm of Chorazan, by which they probably understood Persia or the region of the Lower Tigris. There they hoped to rescue Bohemond from captivity or, happier still, to seize Bagdad itself. Others, among whom was Ekkehard, our chief authority for this expedition, took alarm at a reported speech of the Emperor Alexius, to the effect that he would let the Franks and the Turks devour one another like dogs ; these went by sea from one or other of the Greek ports, and, as Ekkehard says, " Through the Divine mercy, after six weeks we reached the haven of Jaffa."

References:

Archer (T. A.),  The Crusades; the story of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, London, 1894.

Riley-Smith (J.), The First Crusade and Idea of Crusading, New York, 1993.

Murray (A. V.), The Crusades: an encyclopedia, CA : ABC-CLIO, 2006.