Joscelin III.

Joscelin III. (* around 1135; † before 1200) from the noble family Courtenay was titular count of Edessa and baron in the Kingdom of Jerusalem .

Life

He was the son of Joscelin II , Count of Edessa , and his wife Beatrix. Since the city of Edessa had been conquered by the Muslims in 1144 and the rest of the county until 1149, Joscelin III inherited. at the death of his father in 1159 only titular claims to his county.

Joscelin lived in the Kingdom of Jerusalem , where he was Marshal from 1156 to 1159 . His sister Agnes had married King Amalrich I († 1174) in 1157 and became the mother of the heir to the throne and soon to be King Baldwin IV († 1185) in 1161 .

Around 1163 he acquired the castle and lordship of Harenc in the Principality of Antioch . This was attacked by Nur ad-Din in 1164 . In the ensuing Battle of Artah , Joscelin was captured and held in Aleppo . Harenc fell to the Muslims. Only when the Zengids sought an understanding with the Christians in 1175, after Nur ad-Din's death, besieged by Saladin , he was released in 1176 in exchange for a ransom that Agnes probably paid. She also obtained his appointment to the Seneschal of Jerusalem , so that he now belonged to the inner circle of the royal family in Jerusalem, which the lower nobles, who were by Raymond III. Count of Tripoli were led in opposition.

After his release he married Agnes von Milly , daughter of Heinrich von Milly , called Bubalus (the buffalo), lord of Petra in 1176 . He also succeeded in acquiring enough land from the crown domain as a fiefdom around Acre that his own rule could be established. The reign was later called "Seigneurie de Joscelin" (Reign of Joscelin). The rule did not form a closed territory, but consisted of 44 Casalien in relatively dense scattered position on fertile land in the northeast of Acre and also included the castles of Banias (from 1176), Castellum Regis (from 1182) and Toron (from 1186).

In 1180 Joscelin became royal ambassador to the Byzantine Empire , where he replaced William of Tire , whose influence at court had declined. In 1184 he got during the reign of Raymond III. the supervision of the minor King Baldwin V , which brought him closer to the simple nobility and removed from the royal family. Agnes had probably died by this time, and although Joscelin was Balduin's great-uncle, power lay with Raimund's noble party. When Baldwin V died in 1186, Joscelin changed sides again and prevented Raimund from attending the funeral. As a supporter of the new King Guido of Lusignan , he was enfeoffed with Toron , which he added to the "Seigneurie de Joscelin".

At the battle of Hattin he took part in the rear guard next to Balian of Ibelin , he managed to escape to Tire . All of his lands were conquered by Saladin. In the following Third Crusade to recapture the kingdom, in particular the siege of Acre , he took part. His rule was largely restored until 1191/92, only Toron remained under Muslim rule.

Joscelin's date of death is unclear. He last signed a charter in October 1190. When Queen Sybille died during the siege of Acre in July 1190 , under whose right her husband Guido von Lusignan wore the royal crown of Jerusalem, the marriage between Sybille's sister and heiress Isabella and her first husband Humfried IV was canceled for political reasons in November 1190 . canceled by Toron . By marrying Isabella with Konrad von Montferrat , he became king of Jerusalem. Humfried IV had brought Toron into the crown domain as part of his marriage and received his claims to the - still Muslim occupied - castle and rule back. In the corresponding documents there is no protest of Joscelin against the removal of Toron from his rule, which is why it is speculated whether he succumbed to an epidemic in the camp in November 1190 during the siege of Acre. In any case, there is documentary evidence that he was already dead in October 1200.

progeny

With his wife Agnes he had two daughters, Beatrix and Agnes.

Beatrix († after 1245) was first engaged in 1186 to Wilhelm von Lusignan († before 1208), Herr von Valence, a brother of Guidos von Lusignan , but eventually married the German crusader and minstrel Otto von Botenlauben (son of Count von Lusignan) between 1206 and 1208 Henneberg ). Hermann von Salza bought Joscelin's rule from him for the Teutonic Order in 1220 .

Agnes († after 1200) was first engaged to a nephew Guidos von Lusignan in 1186, but married around 1200, Wilhelm von Mandelée (Amigdala) († after 1220), a Norman from Calabria.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Hans Eberhard Mayer : The Seigneurie de Joscelin and the German Order. In: Josef Fleckenstein , Manfred Hellmann (Hrsg.): The spiritual knight orders of Europe (= lectures and research. Vol. 26). Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1980, ISBN 3-7995-6626-0 , pp. 171-216.
2. ↑ See Kenneth M. Setton (Ed.): A History of the Crusades. Volume 5: Norman P. Zacour, Harry W. Hazard (Eds.): The Impact of the Crusades on the Near East. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison WI et al. 1985, ISBN 0-299-09144-9 , p. 204.

Web links

• Joscelin (III) de Courtenay at fmg.ac (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Joscelin II	Titular Count of Edessa 1159–1200	––
Odo of St. Amand	Marshal of Jerusalem 1156-1159	Wilhelm
Rainald of Saint-Valery	Lord of Harenc 1163–1164	––
Raoul	Seneschal of Jerusalem 1176–1190	Obertus Nepos
Crown domain	Lord of the "Seigneurie de Joscelin" around 1176–1200	Otto von Botenlauben (de iure uxoris)