Balian Garnier

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Balian Garnier (also Grenier , * around 1195, † 1240 ) was Count of Sidon as Balian of Sidon from 1202 to 1240 .

Life

He was the son of Rainald Garnier and Helvis von Ibelin. When his father died, Balian was still a minor, so his mother's second husband, Guido von Montfort , took over the reign of the County of Sidon for him . In 1210 Balian came of age and took over the rule himself.

During the Fifth Crusade , he advised King Andrew II of Hungary not to venture into the desert regions of his county of Sidon, as these were largely under Saracen control. The Hungarians ignored Balian's advice and many of them fell victim to a Saracen ambush.

In 1225 he accompanied the young Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem , who had been married to Emperor Frederick II , to her coronation as Empress in southern Italy. During the crusade of Emperor Frederick II , he supported the emperor in his claim to rule over the Kingdom of Jerusalem . He negotiated with Richard Filangieri , Marshal of Sicily , whom Frederick had sent ahead to Acre in 1228 to represent him until his personal arrival. Balian was the emperor's leading ally among the local barons. He supported the emperor and his power development, but tried, as in the last crusade, to avoid bloodbaths. In 1229 Friedrich Balian left the administration of the rule of Tire and in 1231 he appointed him co-regent of the kingdom, together with Werner von Egisheim (called Garnier l'Aleman ).

During the crusade Theobald IV of Champagne ( crusade of the barons ) he joined the crusader army . Amalrich VII of Montfort and Henry II of Bar advanced against the Egyptians against the advice of Bali and were defeated in the battle of Gaza (1239) . In the further course of the crusade, Balian received Beaufort Castle back in 1240 , which his father had lost to Saladin in 1190 after stubborn resistance . The castle was left to the crusaders by the Ayyubid Sultan of Damascus al-Salih Ismail , who hoped for the support of the crusaders against his nephew al-Salih Ayyub , the Ayyubid sultan of Cairo . Contrary to the orders of their own sultan, the Muslim occupation of the castle initially refused to hand it over to the Christians, whereupon as-Salih Ismail besieged the castle himself with his army and forced the handover to Balian. Other troops of as-Salih Ismail also refused to fight alongside the crusaders against Muslims, so that the crusaders instead finally accepted an offer from the Sultan of Egypt in the winter of 1240/41 to conclude a neutrality agreement with him against further territorial cessions. At this point the castle had already been handed over to Balian and remained in his possession.

Balian died in 1240, possibly not until 1241. His son Julian Garnier followed him in the county of Sidon, most of which Balian had regained.

Marriage and offspring

In 1218 he married Margarethe (Ida) von Reynel († June 5, 1254), the daughter of Arnold von Reynel and his wife Ida von Brienne. She was a niece of Johann von Brienne on her mother's side . He had five children with Margarethe:

  • Gilles († before 1240);
  • Julian († 1275), Count of Sidon;
  • Philip "von Beaufort" († after March 1261);
  • Isabella;
  • Agnes ⚭ Wilhelm , Lord of Batrun.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Steven Runciman : History of the Crusades. CH Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 3406399606 , p. 952.
  2. ↑ See Robert Lee Wolff, Harry W. Hazard (Ed.): A History of the Crusades. Volume 2: The later Crusades, 1189-1311. 2nd edition. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison WI 1969, p. 475 ff.
  3. ↑ L'Estoire de Eracles empereur. In: Recueil des historiens des croisades . Historiens Occidentaux. Volume 2. Imprimerie Impériale, Paris 1859, p. 332 , Liv. XXXII, cap. III.

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predecessor Office successor
Rainald Garnier Count of Sidon
1202-1240 		Julian Garnier
personal data
SURNAME Balian Garnier
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Balian of Sidon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Count of Sidon
DATE OF BIRTH around 1195
DATE OF DEATH 1240