It's no secret that the Middle East today is one of the most turbulent regions of our planet, and the threats of European civilization come from there. There is an opinion that the roots of these phenomena should be sought in the depths of centuries, for they are an echo of the Crusades. That is why, in order to understand the reasons for the confrontation between East and West, as well as to find ways for their peaceful coexistence, some researchers recommend a careful study of history. For example, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the county of Edessa and neighboring states are of interest, where Christians who came from Europe and their descendants eventually learned to live peacefully with the local Muslim population.
Background
The Kingdom of Jerusalem appeared on the world map in 1099 as a result of the capture by the crusaders of the city where the Savior was crucified. They arrived in the region at the call of Pope Urban II, whom the Byzantine Emperor Alexei the First addressed with a request to protect Christians from the Turks. This was preceded by the battle of Manzikert. The defeat of Byzantium led to the loss of Armenia and the eastern part of Asia Minor, which, according to historians, was the beginning of the end of this great empire. In addition, rumors appeared about the atrocities of both Sunnis and Shiites against Christians in Palestine.
The protection of fellow believers was not the only reason forcing the pope to bless the soldiers on the Crusade. The fact is that by this time relative stability had been established in most of Europe, and thousands of well-trained knights were left idle, which led to armed clashes on the most trifling occasions. Their dispatch to the Middle East provided peace, and also gave hope for an economic recovery in the future (due to trophies).
Initially, the liberation of Jerusalem was not included in the plans of the crusaders. However, later they changed, and on July 15, 1099 the city was captured and ... plundered.
Base
The undisputed leader of the crusaders was Gottfried of Bouillon, who in medieval chronicles is credited with all the virtues of a real knight, faithful to the Christian commandments. Having established the Kingdom of Jerusalem, barons and counts turned to him with a request to become the first ruler of a new state. Remaining true to his principles, Gottfried refused the crown, explaining that he could not wear it where the Savior himself wore the crown of thorns. The only thing he agreed to was to accept the title of "Protector of the Holy Sepulcher."
The reign of the first king of the kingdom of Jerusalem
Gottfried of Bouillon died in 1100, leaving no male offspring. His brother Baldwin was immediately crowned and began to rule Jerusalem, although he did not take any part in his siege and liberation, as he was busy capturing the Armenian Christian principalities of Tarsus, Tel Bashir, Ravendan and Edessa. Moreover, in the last city-state, he was adopted by the ruler Toros and married his daughter. She went down in history as the first Queen of Jerusalem, Arda of Armenia. However, having subsequently killed his father-in-law and founding his own county of Edessa, Baldwin divorced, thereby incurring the wrath of the pope.
Nevertheless, as a skilled politician, Baldwin the First expanded the kingdom of Jerusalem, capturing several port cities, and became the ruler of Antioch and the county of Tripoli. Also under him there increased the number of inhabitants of the Catholic religion.
Baldwin died in 1118, did not leave any heirs.
Kings of the Kingdom of Jerusalem before the Second Crusade
The successor to the childless Baldwin the First, bypassing his brother located in France, was his relative - Count of Edessa de Burke. He also expanded the borders of the state. In particular, de Burke managed to make the ruler of the Principality of Antioch, the young Bohemund the Second, the grandson of the king of France, his vassals , and in 1124 Tire was taken by him.
Long before ascending the throne, in order to strengthen his position in the region, Baldwin de Burke married the daughter of the Armenian prince Gabriel - Morphine (see Jean Richard, “Latin-Jerusalem Kingdom, first part). She gave the spouse three daughters. The eldest of them - Melisenda - became the third and one of the most famous queens of Jerusalem. Before her death, her father took all measures so that his widow-in-law - Fulk of Anjou - could not divorce her and transfer the throne to his children from his first marriage. For this, during his lifetime, Baldwin the Second declared his first grandson, bearing his name, and daughter co-rulers.
After the murder of Fulka on a hunt, Melisenda began to single-handedly lead the kingdom and became known as the patroness of the church and the arts.
Having become an adult, her eldest son Baldwin the Third decided that it was time to do everything possible so that the kingdom of Jerusalem of the Crusaders passed under his authority. He entered into confrontation with his mother, who fled with his younger brother Amory. As a result of the intervention of the clergy, the son gave the city of Nablus to Melisenda, but she continued to engage in diplomatic activities for the benefit of the kingdom.
Second Crusade
After the fall of Edessa in 1144, Melisenda sent a message to the pope asking for help in freeing the county. It was not disregarded, and the pontiff announced the beginning of the Second Crusade. In 1148, troops from Europe, led by the French king Louis the Seventh, his wife Alienora of Aquitaine and the German emperor Conrad, arrived in the Latin-Jerusalem kingdom. Being 18 years old, the young Baldwin the Third showed sufficient reasonableness, supporting the position of his mother and his stable, who believed that Aleppo should be attacked in order to quickly hoist the flag of the Kingdom of Jerusalem over Edessa again. However, the arrived monarchs had completely different plans. They intended to capture Damascus, despite the fact that the Kingdom of Jerusalem of the Crusaders had good diplomatic relations with this city-state. As a result, the “guests” from Europe won, which subsequently had disastrous consequences for the Christians of the Middle East.
Conrad and Baldwin, who went to Damascus, achieved nothing and were forced to lift the siege. The retreat of the Christians inspired their enemies, and the losses caused great damage to the fighting efficiency of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. So after Louis and Conrad with their armies left the Middle East, the situation there became much more tense than before.
Amory First
Baldwin the Third hardly managed to conclude a truce with Damascus, and the victory won by him in 1158 on Lake Tiberias restored the country's former authority. This allowed the king to marry the niece of the emperor of Byzantium - Theodore Comnenus. After 4 years, the monarch died, possibly from poisoning, leaving no heirs.
After the death of Baldwin the Third, the kingdom of Jerusalem was headed by his brother, who ascended the throne under the name Amory the First. In 1157, he married Agnes de Courtenay, daughter of Count Edessa Joslen and great-granddaughter of the Armenian king Kostandin the First. The church did not want to bless this marriage, as the young people had a common great-grandfather, but they insisted. The couple had three children: Sybil, Balduin and Alix. Nevertheless, Agnes did not become a queen, although for most of the next century the kings of the Kingdom of Jerusalem were her direct descendants.
Amory the First directed his efforts at seizing territories in Egypt and strengthening his influence in this country, which he partially succeeded. At the same time, he combined his second marriage with the niece of the Emperor of Byzantium, Maria, strengthening ties with this state. She bore him a daughter, Isabella.
The situation in the Middle East changed dramatically after the Caliph al-Adid appointed the then-little-known Salah al-Din as Vizier in January 1169. In 1170, the latter with an army invaded the lands of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and captured Eilat. All appeals of Amory the First to the European monarchs were left without a response. In 1974, he besieged Banias, who was often called the key to the gates of Jerusalem, without outside support. Not succeeding and contracting typhoid fever, he returned to his capital, where he died. Before his death, he presented the city of Nablus to the wife of Maria and their common daughter Isabella, and also appointed the son of Baldwin, who at that time was only 13 years old, as heir.
Rulers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem: Descendants of Amory the First
Having ascended the throne, the young Baldwin the Fourth was completely influenced by his mother Agnes de Courtenay. Soon he fell ill with leprosy, and this ailment caused his early death (at the age of 24). However, from the moment he reached adulthood and until his death, the young king, despite his illness, managed to prove himself a wise ruler.
Since it was obvious that the young man could not leave offspring, his sister Sybil was married to Guillaume de Montferrath. Thus, she became a relative of the king of France and the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. The marriage did not last long, as the husband died a few months after the wedding, not seeing the birth of his son Baldwin.
Meanwhile, the leper king defeated the army of Salah al-Din at the Battle of Montisar. Since that time, his skirmishes with Muslim troops did not stop until the conclusion of peace in 1180. Then the widowed Sybil was married to Guy de Lusignan. However, the new son-in-law soon lost the favor of the monarch, who decided to make his sister’s underage son Baldwin de Montferrat his heir.
In the spring of 1185, after the death of his uncle, the boy became king, but reigned for only a year. Then the country was actually ruled by the second spouse of his mother - Guy de Lusignan, to whom Sybil publicly gave the crown, removing it from her head. Thus, apart from the reign of Baldwin de Montferrat, the Ardennes-Anjou dynasty owned the crusader state in the Holy Land from 1090 to 1185 (Richard, Latin-Jerusalem Kingdom, first part).
City surrender
During the reign of Guy de Lusignan, terrible misfortunes occurred that led the country to collapse. It all started with the battle of Hattin in 1187, when the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was defeated by the forces of Salah al-Din. Guy de Lusignan himself was captured, and in 1187 Sibylla and the well-known crusader knight Balian de Ibelin were forced to organize the defense of Jerusalem. The forces were unequal, and it became apparent that besieged Christians were threatened with extermination. Balian de Ibelin proved himself the most skilled diplomat, having achieved the surrender of the city on honorable terms. After the abandonment of Jerusalem, Sibylla wrote a letter to Salah ad-Din asking her to release her husband and was able to reunite with him in 1188.
Jerusalem state of the crusaders in the 13th century
In the summer of 1190, Sibylla and her daughters died during the plague. Although her husband Guy de Lusignan continued to consider himself a king, Isabella, the daughter of Amory the First from her second marriage, ruled the country. She was divorced with her first husband and married to Conrad of Monferrata. The latter received confirmation of his title, but did not have time to be crowned, as he was killed by two assassins. Just 8 days later, Isabella, pregnant with his daughter Maria, married Heinrich Champagne, following the advice of Richard the Lionheart. The marriage ended with the death of the spouse from an accident. Then Isabella again married her brother Guy de Lusignan, who became known as Amory the Second.
The king and queen died almost simultaneously in 1205, allegedly from poisoning by stale fish.
They were succeeded by the eldest daughter of the Queen Maria de Montferrat. She married Jean de Brienne and died after giving birth. Her daughter Iolanthe was crowned, but her father ruled the country. At the age of 13, she was married to the Holy Roman Emperor. In a dowry, Frederick II received the title of King of Jerusalem and undertook to join the crusade. In Palermo, the Queen gave birth to a daughter and son Conrad. In 1228, after her death, Frederick sailed to the Holy Land, where he was crowned. There he did not find anything better than to start a war with the Templars, trying to capture Acre, where the patriarch was. However, the emperor soon changed his mind and decided to take the weapons with him, leaving the Christian population of the kingdom of Jerusalem almost defenseless.
Before his shameful secret escape to Europe, he entrusted the administration of the state to Ballan Sidonsky.
Title change
The point in the history of the reign of the crusaders in the Holy Land was set by the capture of the kingdom by the Khorezmians in 1244. Nevertheless, over the next several centuries, some European aristocratic dynasties inherited the title of monarch of Jerusalem. In 1268, it was canceled. In his place was established the title of King of Jerusalem and Cyprus. Its first carrier was Hugo the Third - the son of Isabella de Lusignan. He changed the coat of arms of Cyprus, adding to it the symbols of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. His descendants held this title until 1393. After he was changed, since Jacques the First also became the king of Armenia.
The life of ordinary people in Christian states in the Holy Land
The new generation, born in Palestine, considered it their homeland and had a negative attitude towards the crusaders who had recently arrived from Europe. Many knew local languages and married Christians, women of other faiths, in order to acquire relatives who could provide support in difficult situations. At the same time, if aristocrats lived in cities, then the local population - mainly Muslims - was engaged in agriculture. Only Franks were drafted into the army, and Eastern Christians were obliged to supply it with food.
In art, literature and multimedia products
The most popular work on the Kingdom of Jerusalem was Ridley Scott's film “The Kingdom of Heaven,” which talks about the confrontation with Salah ad-Din and the surrender of Jerusalem. Some events from the history of the state of the crusaders were reflected in computer games. For example, in Assassin's Creed. By the way, the new Stainless steel 6.1 mod is also available today. The Kingdom of Jerusalem (voice acting, engine, land and climate types updated) is presented there quite realistically, and each region has its own resources.
Now you know who ruled such crusader states as the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the county of Edessa and Antioch, and what events took place in the Middle East after the completion of the First Crusade and before the actual loss of Christian control over the region.