Baldwin V of Jerusalem
Encyclopedia
Sibylla of Jerusalem
Sibylla of Jerusalem was the Countess of Jaffa and Ascalon from 1176 and Queen of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1190. She was the eldest daughter of Amalric I of Jerusalem and Agnes of Courtenay, sister of Baldwin IV and half-sister of Isabella I of Jerusalem, and mother of Baldwin V of Jerusalem...
and her first husband, William of Montferrat
William of Montferrat, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon
William of Montferrat , also called William Longsword , was the Count of Jaffa and Ascalon, the eldest son of William V, Marquess of Montferrat and Judith of Babenberg...
. He was crowned co-King of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
with his uncle, Baldwin IV
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem , called the Leper or the Leprous, the son of Amalric I of Jerusalem and his first wife, Agnes of Courtenay, was king of Jerusalem from 1174 to 1185. His full sister was Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem and his nephew through this sister was the child-king Baldwin V...
in 1183, and once his uncle died, became the nominal king from 1185 to 1186, under the regency of Count Raymond III of Tripoli
Raymond III of Tripoli
Raymond III of Tripoli was Count of Tripoli from 1152 to 1187 and Prince of Galilee and Tiberias in right of his wife Eschiva.-Early life:...
.
Baldwin V and the political factions
Baldwin, born a few months after his father's death, was little more than a pawn in the politics of the Kingdom. By the time he was born, the political situation had developed into two factions. Baldwin IV was dying slowly of leprosyLeprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
, and the succession was likely to be contested between his older sister Sibylla and their younger half-sister Isabella
Isabella of Jerusalem
Isabella I was Queen regnant of Jerusalem from 1190/1192 until her death. By her four marriages, she was successively Lady of Toron, Marchioness of Montferrat, Countess of Champagne and Queen of Cyprus....
. Their extended family and leading nobles were divided in support for the two heiresses.
Raymond III of Tripoli, first cousin of their father Amalric I of Jerusalem
Amalric I of Jerusalem
Amalric I of Jerusalem was King of Jerusalem 1163–1174, and Count of Jaffa and Ascalon before his accession. Amalric was the second son of Melisende of Jerusalem and Fulk of Jerusalem...
, had been bailli
Bailli
A bailli was the king’s administrative representative during the ancien régime in northern France, where the bailli was responsible for the application of justice and control of the administration and local finances in his baillage...
or regent for Baldwin IV while the latter was a child, but once the king came of age in 1176 his power began to recede. He had a claim to the throne in his own right, but his childlessness hindered him advancing it. Instead, he acted as a power-broker, and aided the interests of the Ibelin
Ibelin
Ibelin was a castle in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century , which gave its name to an important family of nobles.-The castle:...
family. Amalric's widow (Isabella's mother) Maria Comnena had married Balian of Ibelin
Balian of Ibelin
Balian of Ibelin was an important noble in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century.-Early life:Balian was the youngest son of Barisan of Ibelin, and brother of Hugh and Baldwin. His father, a knight in the County of Jaffa, had been rewarded with the lordship of Ibelin after the...
, and Raymond attempted to regain influence with a project to marry Sibylla to Balian's older brother Baldwin of Ibelin
Baldwin of Ibelin
Baldwin of Ibelin, also known as Baldwin III of Ramla , was an important noble of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. He was the second son of Barisan of Ibelin, and was the younger brother of Hugh of Ibelin and older brother of Balian of Ibelin...
. However, the king countered this by marrying her to Guy of Lusignan
Guy of Lusignan
Guy of Lusignan was a Poitevin knight, son of Hugh VIII of the prominent Lusignan dynasty. He was king of the crusader state of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1192 by right of marriage to Sibylla of Jerusalem, and of Cyprus from 1192 to 1194...
instead in 1180. Guy, as a vassal of the Angevins, from Poitou
Poitou
Poitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
, had the potential to attract aid from Baldwin IV's cousin Henry II of England
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
to the kingdom.
The other faction, more supportive of Sibylla, centred around her maternal uncle Joscelin III of Edessa
Joscelin III of Edessa
Joscelin III of Edessa was the titular Count of Edessa 1159 – after 1190. He was the son of Joscelin II of Edessa and his wife Beatrice...
and mother Agnes of Courtenay
Agnes of Courtenay
Agnes of Courtenay was the daughter of Joscelin II of Courtenay by his wife Beatrice , and the mother of king Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and queen Sibylla of Jerusalem.-Dynasty:...
, now the wife of Reginald of Sidon
Reginald of Sidon
Reginald Grenier was Lord of Sidon and an important noble in the late-12th century Kingdom of Jerusalem.-Rise to fame:...
. Allied to them was Raynald of Châtillon
Raynald of Chatillon
Raynald of Châtillon was a knight who served in the Second Crusade and remained in the Holy Land after its defeat...
, who had been in the country since the Second Crusade
Second Crusade
The Second Crusade was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade by Baldwin of Boulogne in 1098...
and was the widower of Amalric I
Amalric I of Jerusalem
Amalric I of Jerusalem was King of Jerusalem 1163–1174, and Count of Jaffa and Ascalon before his accession. Amalric was the second son of Melisende of Jerusalem and Fulk of Jerusalem...
's cousin Constance of Antioch
Constance of Antioch
Constance of Antioch was the only daughter of Bohemund II of Antioch by his wife Alice, princess of Jerusalem. She was also Princess regnant of the Principality of Antioch from 1130 to her death.-Early life:...
. Amalric of Lusignan
Amalric II of Jerusalem
Amalric II of Jerusalem or Amalric I of Cyprus, born Amalric of Lusignan , King of Jerusalem 1197–1205, was an older brother of Guy of Lusignan....
, although a son-in-law of Baldwin of Ibelin, had been won over by the patronage of Agnes and the king, and had brought his younger brother Guy to prominence. Eraclius, appointed Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is the title possessed by the Latin Rite Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem. The Archdiocese of Jerusalem has jurisdiction for all Latin Rite Catholics in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Cyprus...
in 1180, has sometimes been associated with this group, but also attempted to make peace between the shifting factions.
Baldwin as co-king of Jerusalem
As Baldwin IV became increasingly incapacitated by his leprosy, Guy was appointed bailli of the kingdom. Along with Raynald of Châtillon, he provoked SaladinSaladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
, sultan of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, with raids on Muslim caravan
Caravan (travellers)
A caravan is a group of people traveling together, often on a trade expedition. Caravans were used mainly in desert areas and throughout the Silk Road, where traveling in groups aided in defence against bandits as well as helped to improve economies of scale in trade.In historical times, caravans...
s. However, in 1183, when Saladin invaded the kingdom, Guy hesitated to respond and was considered a weak commander.
Baldwin IV deposed Guy and took back power to himself, although he was by now blind and bed-ridden. For the next few months he attempted unsuccessfully to have Sibylla's marriage to Guy annulled. Raymond III was invited back, and the Haute Cour
Haute Cour of Jerusalem
The Haute Cour was the feudal council of the kingdom of Jerusalem. It was sometimes also called the curia generalis, the curia regis, or, rarely, the parlement.-Composition of the court:...
was summoned to decide on Baldwin IV's successor. His legal heir was his sister, Sibylla, but it was decided that her son Baldwin of Montferrat would inherit the kingdom, preceding Sibylla's claim. Baldwin V, aged 5, was crowned co-king.
The succession crisis also prompted a mission to the west to seek assistance: in 1184, Patriarch Eraclius, along with Roger de Moulins
Roger de Moulins
Roger de Moulins was Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller from 1177 to his death in 1187, succeeding Jobert of Syria.The Hospitallers were rivals of the Knights Templar, but Pope Alexander III persuaded Roger to make a truce with them in 1179...
, Grand Master
Grand Master (order)
Grand Master is the typical title of the supreme head of various orders of knighthood, including various military orders, religious orders and civil orders such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Orange Order...
of the Knights Hospitaller
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
, and Arnaud de Toroge
Arnaud de Toroge
Arnold of Torroja was a Catalan knight and the ninth Grand Master of the Knights Templar from 1181 until his death in 1184.- Personal life :...
, Grand Master of the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, travelled throughout the courts of Europe. Eraclius offered the kingship to both Philip II of France
Philip II of France
Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...
and Henry II of England
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
: the former was the son of Louis VII
Louis VII of France
Louis VII was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI . He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was a member of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles , and saw the beginning of the long rivalry between France and England...
, a first cousin of Baldwin V's father; the latter was a first cousin of Baldwin IV and Sibylla, and had promised to go on crusade after the murder of Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...
. However, no help was forthcoming from them. Some family support did arrive in the form of Baldwin V's paternal grandfather, William V ("the Elder"), Marquess of Montferrat, who established himself in the castle of St Elias. At around the same time, in the latter part of 1184, Baldwin's maternal grandmother, Agnes of Courtenay, died at Acre
Akka
Akka is traditionally a female spirit in Sámi and Finnish mythology.In Sámi mythology, the first akka was Maderakka and her daughters were Sarakka, Uksakka and Juksakka. Some Sámi thought they lived under their kota tents....
.
Baldwin as sole monarch
Baldwin IV finally succumbed to his leprosy in spring 1185. Shortly before his death, he ordered an official public crown-wearing for his nephew at the Church of the Holy SepulchreChurch of the Holy Sepulchre
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also called the Church of the Resurrection by Eastern Christians, is a church within the walled Old City of Jerusalem. It is a few steps away from the Muristan....
(since the little boy had already been crowned). Baldwin V was carried on the shoulders of Balian of Ibelin
Balian of Ibelin
Balian of Ibelin was an important noble in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century.-Early life:Balian was the youngest son of Barisan of Ibelin, and brother of Hugh and Baldwin. His father, a knight in the County of Jaffa, had been rewarded with the lordship of Ibelin after the...
, not only because Balian was particularly tall, but also to demonstrate that his aunt Isabella's family supported his accession. Baldwin V was now sole king, but being still a minor, Raymond III was his bailli, and his great-uncle Joscelin III of Edessa his personal guardian.
Baldwin's reign lasted just over a year, and he died in the autumn of 1186, at Acre. His grandfather William and great-uncle Joscelin accompanied his coffin to Jerusalem. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in an elaborately carved tomb-chest, which was mostly destroyed in the early nineteenth century. However, fragments of it have been identified by Zehava Jacoby in the possession of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem
Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem
The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem is the head bishop of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, ranking fourth of nine Patriarchs in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Since 2005, the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem has been Theophilos III...
.
It had been agreed that, should Baldwin V die as a child, the kingdom could be claimed either by his mother Sibylla or his aunt Isabella
Isabella of Jerusalem
Isabella I was Queen regnant of Jerusalem from 1190/1192 until her death. By her four marriages, she was successively Lady of Toron, Marchioness of Montferrat, Countess of Champagne and Queen of Cyprus....
, the only surviving children of his grandfather Amalric I
Amalric I of Jerusalem
Amalric I of Jerusalem was King of Jerusalem 1163–1174, and Count of Jaffa and Ascalon before his accession. Amalric was the second son of Melisende of Jerusalem and Fulk of Jerusalem...
. The succession would be determined by a council consisting of Baldwin's kinsmen, the Kings of England and France, the Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...
, and the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
: in the meantime, his "most rightful heir" would act as bailli. This agreement was completely ignored once Baldwin was dead, although it was later invoked by his paternal uncle Conrad
Conrad of Montferrat
Conrad of Montferrat was a northern Italian nobleman, one of the major participants in the Third Crusade. He was the de facto King of Jerusalem, by marriage, from 24 November 1190, but officially elected only in 1192, days before his death...
(his nearest male relative) in his challenge to Guy's kingship after the Battle of Hattin
Battle of Hattin
The Battle of Hattin took place on Saturday, July 4, 1187, between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the forces of the Ayyubid dynasty....
.
Consequences of Baldwin's death
Instead of attending the funeral, the bailli Raymond of Tripoli called an assembly of his supporters at NablusNablus
Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...
, the headquarters of the Ibelin family. This suggests that he was already aiming to advance the claim of Isabella (Balian of Ibelin's stepdaughter) and challenge Sibylla.
Sibylla's succession was made conditional on the annulment of her marriage to Guy. (A similar condition had been imposed on her father, who had been forced to divorce her mother.) She was to be given a free choice of a new husband. However, no annulment took place. At her coronation, when Patriarch Eraclius asked her to summon her new consort, she brought Guy forward to be crowned.
Raymond III and the nobles then attempted to stage a coup in order to place Isabella on the throne with her husband Humphrey IV of Toron
Humphrey IV of Toron
Humphrey IV of Toron was the lord of Toron, Kerak, and Oultrejordain in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.-Biography:...
. Humphrey, however, backed down (he was stepson of Guy's ally Raynald of Châtillon
Raynald of Chatillon
Raynald of Châtillon was a knight who served in the Second Crusade and remained in the Holy Land after its defeat...
), and swore fealty to Sibylla and Guy. Raymond III, disgusted, returned home to Tripoli, and Baldwin of Ibelin went into self-imposed exile from the kingdom.
Sibylla and Guy's rule proved to be disastrous, and the kingdom was nearly wiped out by Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
after the Battle of Hattin
Battle of Hattin
The Battle of Hattin took place on Saturday, July 4, 1187, between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the forces of the Ayyubid dynasty....
in 1187. Baldwin V's paternal uncle, Conrad of Montferrat, saved Tyre and carried forward the Montferrat claim to the throne, reinforced by his marriage to Isabella.
Baldwin V in fiction
Baldwin appears as a minor character in several novels, notably Zofia Kossak-SzczuckaZofia Kossak-Szczucka
Zofia Kossak-Szczucka was a Polish writer and World War II resistance fighter. She co-founded the wartime Polish organization Żegota, set up to assist Poland's Jews in escaping the Holocaust...
's Król trędowaty (The Leper King), Graham Shelby
Graham Shelby
Graham Shelby is a British historical novelist. He worked as a copywriter and book-reviewer before embarking on a series of historical novels, mainly set in the twelfth century.-List of works:...
's The Knights of Dark Renown, and Cecelia Holland
Cecelia Holland
-Biography:She was born December 31, 1943 in Henderson, Nevada, and began writing at the age of twelve, recording the stories she made up for her own entertainment. From the beginning, her focus was on history because "being twelve, I had precious few stories of my own...
's Jerusalem, as a sickly small child. Depending on the authors' depictions of Sibylla, he is variously shown as spoiled or neglected. He features in the director's cut of the 2005 film
2005 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
Kingdom of Heaven
Kingdom of Heaven (film)
Kingdom of Heaven is a 2005 epic action film directed by Ridley Scott and written by William Monahan. It stars Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Marton Csokas, Brendan Gleeson, Kevin McKidd, Alexander Siddig, Ghassan Massoud, Edward Norton, Jon Finch, Michael Sheen and Liam...
, but was edited out of the theatrical release. In the Director's Cut the young Baldwin is depicted as having leprosy, like his uncle Baldwin IV. His death in the film is attributed to poisoning at the hands of his mother, shown as a merciful way to spare him his uncle's sufferings
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
. There is no evidence for his having leprosy (which is neither hereditary nor easy to catch), nor for his mother killing him.
Sources
- De Expugnatione Terrae Sanctae per Saladinum, translated by James A. Brundage, in The Crusades: A Documentary Survey (Marquette University Press, 1962).
- M. R. Morgan (ed.), La Continuation de Guillaume de Tyr (1184–1197), (Paris, 1982), trans. by Peter W. Edbury as The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade: Sources in Translation (Ashgate, 1998).
- Helen J. Nicholson (trans.), Chronicle of the Third Crusade, a Translation of "Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi" (Ashgate, 1997).
- William of TyreWilliam of TyreWilliam of Tyre was a medieval prelate and chronicler. As archbishop of Tyre, he is sometimes known as William II to distinguish him from a predecessor, William of Malines...
, A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea. E. A. Babcock and A. C. Krey, trans. (Columbia University PressColumbia University PressColumbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by James D. Jordan and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology,...
, 1943).
- Bernard Hamilton, "Women in the Crusader States: The Queens of Jerusalem", in Medieval Women, edited by Derek Baker. Ecclesiastical History Society, 1978
- Bernard Hamilton, The Leper King and his Heirs: Baldwin IV and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, 2000). - Zehava Jacoby, "The Tomb of Baldwin V, King of Jerusalem (1185-1186) and the Workshop of the Temple Area", in Gesta, 18 (1979), pp. 3–14.
- Steven RuncimanSteven RuncimanThe Hon. Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman CH — known as Steven Runciman — was a British historian known for his work on the Middle Ages...
, A History of the Crusades, vol. II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem (Cambridge University Press, 1952). - Leopoldo Usseglio, I Marchesi di Monferrato in Italia ed in Oriente durante i secoli XII e XIII (Casale Monferrato, 1926)