Balduin III. (Jerusalem)

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Coronation of Baldwin III. (Illustration from the 13th century)

Balduin III. (* 1131 ; † February 10, 1162 ) from the House of Château-Landon was King of Jerusalem from 1143.

He was the older son of King Fulko and Queen Melisende . Since he was only 13 years old when his father died, he took office under his mother's reign, which lasted until 1152.

At the beginning of his rule, the Byzantine Empire tried to increase its influence in the Principality of Antioch , Zengi of Mosul and Aleppo invaded the County of Edessa : Baldwin's government marks the beginning of the decline of the kingdom.

In 1144 Edessa was lost to Zengi. The fall of the city led to the Second Crusade , the participants of which arrived in the Middle East in 1147 . Baldwin and the leader of this crusade, the German King Konrad III. and the French King Louis VII , arranged an attack on Damascus in 1148 , although Damascus was an ally of the Christians against Zengi (whom it did not seem opportune to attack). The siege of the city failed and the crusade was canceled. In retrospect, the company even turned out to be counterproductive, because Damascus then gave up its hostility to Zengi's successor in Aleppo, Nur ad-Din , and later, in 1154, even came under his rule.

In June 1149, Raimund , the husband of Princess Constance of Antioch, fell in a battle against Nur ad-Din, whereupon Baldwin III. when the regent went to Antioch. He tried to renew the armistice with Damascus, but at the same time lost the last remains of the county of Edessa, the Turbessel fortress , which was sold to the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos in 1149 and was conquered by Nur ad-Din in 1151.

In 1152 Baldwin III sought. afterwards to replace his mother as co-regent and to gain full control over Jerusalem. Melisende was not willing to give up power, so Baldwin began to be crowned again as sole king. Although this plan proved impractical, Baldwin wore his crown publicly in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as a symbol of his sole rule. In the following political conflict, Baldwin agreed to a division of the empire, Jerusalem and Nablus for his mother, Acre and Tire for him, although this solution did not satisfy him. He drew the Jerusalem nobles to his side and won the city back after some fighting.

Shortly afterwards he was called again to Antioch because he was needed there as regent. In the same year he also took over the reign of the County of Tripoli after Count Raimund II had been murdered there. After his return to Jerusalem he defeated the Seljuks in a battle and in the spring of 1153 besieged Ascalon , the last fortress of the Egyptian Fatimids in the country. In contrast to the year 1099, when the crusaders failed in the city, after seven months of siege he succeeded in conquering and thus securing the border from its western neighbor.

In 1156 Baldwin had to agree to a contract with Nur ad-Din. Nevertheless, in the winter of 1157 to 1158 he captured Harim , which had previously belonged to Antioch, and a few months later defeated Nur ad-Din himself. In the same year he married Theodora , a niece of Emperor Manuel I, and met with him in 1159 in Antioch. He became regent of Antioch again later that year after Rainald von Chatillon , Constance's second husband, was captured during a battle.

Baldwin fell seriously ill during a stay in Tripoli . He went to Beirut, where he died on February 10, 1162. According to William of Tire , it was believed that Barac, Raymond III's personal physician . von Tripoli , who initially treated him, poisoned him. Since he had no children, his brother Amalrich I succeeded him.

Balduin III. was the first king of Jerusalem to be born in the country; his three predecessors had been immigrants from Europe. Unlike them, he was not involved in church disputes and was therefore able to concentrate solely on the kingdom.

William of Tire wrote that Baldwin had spent his little free time reading historical writings and was also well versed in the jus consuetudinarium of the kingdom, which was later compiled by lawyers such as John of Ibelin and Philip of Novara as "the Assises of Jerusalem " . He was respected by his subjects and also by Nur ad-Din, who remarked on Baldwin's death: "The Franks have lost a prince as the world now has none". Johannes Kinnamos and Ibn al-Athir wrote about Baldwin from a Byzantine and Muslim perspective.

Web links

Commons : Baldwin III.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. See Steven Runciman: History of the Crusades. CH Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-39960-6 , p. 666
  2. ^ Wilhelm of Tire: Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum. Book 18, chapter 34
predecessor Office successor
Fulko and Melisende King of Jerusalem
1143–1162
Amalrich I.