Ralph from Merle

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Ralph von Merle (also Ranulf de Merlay , lat. Radulphus de Merlo ; French. Raoul du Merle ; * before 1114, † 1152 in Tripoli ) was a Norman baron and crusader .

He came from a Norman noble family from the barony of Merle-Raoul, which was located between Argentan and L'Aigle . He was the son of the local gentleman Wilhelm I von Merle. He is first mentioned in a document when he and his father bequeathed some land to St. Cuthbert's monastery in Durham . He confirmed the donation after the death of his father on the feast of Saint Cuthbert (March 20) in 1129.

In January 1138 he founded Newminster Monastery near Morpeth, which belongs to his property .

Later, at the latest with the Second Crusade , he came to the Holy Land . In the Kingdom of Jerusalem he was enfeoffed with a castle, which was named after him "le Merle" .

He was one of the candidates, Princess Constance of Antioch after the death of her first husband Raimund von Poitiers in 1149 from King Baldwin III. proposed for marriage by Jerusalem but rejected. The chronicler Wilhelm von Tire praises Ralph in this context as a man of high nobility, very experienced in the war and of rare wisdom.

In 1152 he accompanied Count Raimund II of Tripoli on a horseback ride. On their return, Raymond II was attacked and stabbed by a group of assassins at the south gate of the city of Tripoli . Ralph von Merle and another knight were also killed in the ensuing battle. The murderers escaped, the background to the crime was never clarified.

He left a son, Fulko I. von Merle († around 1180), who probably stayed behind in Europe. In any case, Merle Castle in the Holy Land passed to the Knights Templar in 1187 at the latest .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Paul Roger: La noblesse de France aux croisades. Derache et al., Paris et al. 1845, p. 200 .
  2. ↑ See François-Alexandre Aubert de La Chenaye-Desbois : Dictionnaire de la noblesse. Volume 13: Malestroit - Montagnac. 3rd edition, Schlesinger frères, Paris 1868, p. 688.
  3. ↑ a b c Cf. François-Alexandre Aubert de la Chenaye-Desbois: Dictionnaire de la noblesse. Volume 13: Malestroit - Montagnac. 3rd edition, Schlesinger frères, Paris 1868, p. 689.
  4. ↑ See André de Moura: 40,000 ancêtres du comte de Paris (1908–1999). Volume 2. 2007, 33-566, ( pdf, 2.681KB ( Memento of the original from June 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / stella.phpnet.org
  5. ↑ See Roger Dodsworth, William Dugdale : Monasticon Anglicanum. Volume 1. Hodgkinsonne, London 1655, p. 48 f.
  6. ↑ See Roger Dodsworth, William Dugdale: Monasticon Anglicanum. Volume 1. Hodgkinsonne, London 1655, p. 49 .
  7. ↑ See Roger Dodsworth, William Dugdale: Monasticon Anglicanum. Volume 1. Hodgkinsonne, London 1655, p. 800 f.
  8. ↑ See Steven Runciman : History of the Crusades. Special edition in one volume without references to sources and literature, 28. – 32. Thousands of the total print run. CH Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-39960-6 , p. 636.
  9. ↑ See Wilhelm von Tire: Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum. Book 17, chapter 19.
  10. ↑ See Steven Runciman: History of the Crusades. Special edition in one volume without references to sources and literature, 28. – 32. Thousands of the total print run. CH Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-39960-6 , p. 637 f.
  11. ↑ See André de Moura: 40,000 ancêtres du comte de Paris (1908–1999). Volume 2. 2007, 31-680
personal data
SURNAME Ralph from Merle
BRIEF DESCRIPTION norman baron, crusader
DATE OF BIRTH before 1114
DATE OF DEATH 1152
Place of death Tripoli