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Birth:          ABT 1085 
Death:          21 Aug 1131 

Notes
Crusader
went with Geoffrey de Bouillon on First Crusade, 1098
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_II_of_Jerusalem
Baldwin II (French: Baudouin, also called Baldwin of Bourcq or Bourg; died 21 August 
1131) was the second count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118, and the third ruler of 
Jerusalem from 1118 until his death.
Ancestry[edit]

Baldwin was the son of Hugh I, Count of Rethel, and his wife Melisende, daughter of 
Guy I of Montlhéry.[1] He had two older brothers, Gervaise and Manasses, and two 
sisters Matilda and Hodierna. Baldwin was called a cousin of the brothers Eustace III 
of Boulogne, Godfrey of Bouillon, and Baldwin of Boulogne, but the exact manner in 
which they are related has never been discovered. Some books (in particular Steven 
Runciman's History of the Crusades) have claimed a fictitious Ida of Boulogne as 
grandmother to Baldwin II in order to force the relationship. While Ida of Boulogne did 
exist, neither of Baldwin's parents were her descendants. He left his own family behind 
to follow his cousins on the First Crusade in 1096 as part of the army of Godfrey of 
Bouillon.

Count of Edessa[edit]

In the aftermath of the crusade, Baldwin of Boulogne became the first count of 
Edessa, while Baldwin of Bourcq entered the service of Bohemund of Taranto, Prince 
of Antioch, acting as an ambassador between Antioch and Edessa. Baldwin of Bourcq 
also became regent of the Principality, when Bohemund was taken prisoner by the 
Danishmends in 1100. That year, Baldwin of Boulogne was elected king of Jerusalem 
upon the death of Godfrey, and Baldwin of Bourcq was appointed count of Edessa in 
his stead. As count, in 1101 Baldwin married Morphia of Melitene, the daughter of the 
Armenian prince Gabriel of Melitene. He also helped ransom Bohemund from the 
Danishmends, preferring Bohemund to his nephew Tancred, who was now regent.

In 1102 Baldwin and Tancred assisted King Baldwin against the Egyptians at Ascalon. 
In 1104 the Seljuk Turks invaded Edessa. With help from Antioch, Count Baldwin met 
them at the Battle of Harran. The battle was disastrous and Count Baldwin was 
captured; Tancred became regent of Edessa in his absence. Tancred and Bohemund 
preferred to ransom their own Seljuk prisoners for money rather than in exchange for 
Baldwin, and the count remained in captivity in Mosul until 1108, when he was 
ransomed for 60,000 dinars by Joscelin of Courtenay. Tancred refused to restore 
Edessa to him, but with the support of the Kurds, Arabs, Byzantines, and even the 
Seljuks, Tancred was forced to back down. In 1109, after reconciling with Tancred, 
the two participated in the capture of Tripoli.

King of Jerusalem[edit]

Upon the death of Baldwin I in 1118, the crown was offered to the king's elder brother 
Eustace III, but Joscelin of Courtenay insisted that the crown pass to Baldwin of 
Bourcq, despite Count Baldwin having exiled Joscelin from Edessa in 1113. Baldwin of 
Edessa accepted and was crowned king of Jerusalem as Baldwin II on Easter Sunday, 
14 April 1118. Almost immediately, the kingdom was simultaneously invaded by the 
Seljuks from Syria and the Fatimids from Egypt, although by showing himself ready and 
willing to defend his territory, Baldwin forced the Muslim army to back down without a 
battle. In 1119, the crusader Principality of Antioch was invaded, and Baldwin hurried 
north with the army of Jerusalem. Roger of Salerno, prince of Antioch, would not wait 
for Baldwin's reinforcements, and the Antiochene army was destroyed in a battle the 
crusaders came to call Ager Sanguinis (the Field of Blood). Although it was a crushing 
blow, Baldwin helped Antioch recover and drove out the Seljuks later that year.

Around this time, the second of three military orders were created. In 1118, Hugues de 
Payens founded the Knights Templar in Jerusalem, while the Knights Hospitaller, 
which had been founded in 1113, evolved into a military order from the charitable 
order that they had originally been. Baldwin also called the Council of Nablus in 1120, 
where he probably established the first written laws for the kingdom, and extended 
rights and privileges to the growing bourgeois communities. King Baldwin allowed 
Hugues de Payens to set up quarters in a wing of the royal palace, the captured Al 
Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Because of where it was built, on the ruins of the 
older Temple, the Crusaders referred to this structure as the Temple of Solomon, and it 
was from this structure that they took their name of "Knights of the Temple", or 
Templars.

In 1122 Joscelin, who had been appointed count of Edessa when Baldwin became 
king, was captured in battle against Belek Ghazi.[2] Baldwin returned to the north to 
take over the regency of the county, but he too was taken captive by Belek in a 
battle near the castle Gargar in 1123, and was held captive with Joscelin.[3] Eustace 
Grenier acted as regent in Jerusalem, and at the Battle of Yibneh defeated an 
Egyptian invasion hoping to take advantage of the king's absence. In 1124, Joscelin 
escaped from captivity with help from the Georgians. but Baldwin was recaptured and 
later ransomed for Joscelin's son, the future Joscelin II and Baldwin's daughter, 
Yvette.[4] Meanwhile, the crusaders besieged and captured Tyre, with help from a 
Venetian fleet. This would lead to the establishment of Venetian and other Italian 
trading colonies in the coastal cities of the kingdom, which were autonomous and free 
from taxes and military duties, under the terms of the Pactum Warmundi.

In 1125 Baldwin assembled the knights from all the crusader territories and met the 
Seljuks at the Battle of Azaz. Although the Seljuk army was much larger, the crusaders 
were victorious, and they restored much of the influence they had lost after the Ager 
Sanguinis. Had Antioch and Edessa not been fighting amongst themselves after the 
battle, Baldwin may have been able to attack Aleppo; however, Aleppo and Mosul 
were soon united under Zengi in 1128. Baldwin attempted to take Damascus in 1126 
with the help of the Templars, but the attempt was pushed back by emir Toghtekin.

Succession[edit]

Also assisting Baldwin during the attack on Damascus was his new son-in-law, Fulk V 
of Anjou. Baldwin had no sons with Morphia, but four daughters:
Melisende, married Fulk, King of Jerusalem[1]
Alice, married Bohemond II of Antioch[1]
Hodierna, married Raymond II, Count of Tripoli[1]
Ioveta

In 1129 Baldwin named Melisende his heir, and arranged for her to marry Fulk. His 
daughters Alice and Hodierna also married important princes, Bohemund II of Antioch 
and Raymond II of Tripoli respectively (his fourth daughter Ioveta became abbess of 
the convent in Bethany). In 1131 Baldwin fell sick and died on 21 August, and was 
buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

William of Tyre described Baldwin as "a devout and God-fearing man, notable for his 
loyalty and for his great experience in military matters," and said that he was 
nicknamed "the Thorny" (cognominatus est Aculeus). Ibn al-Qalanisi, who calls him 
"Baldwin the Little" (Baghdawin al-ru'aiuis) to distinguish him from Baldwin I, remarked 
that "after him there was none left amongst them possessed of sound judgment and 
capacity to govern." Galbert of Bruges was not so favourable; he called Baldwin 
"grasping and penurious", and believed he had been captured because he "had not 
governed the people of God well." Galbert even claims the kingdom was offered to 
Charles I, Count of Flanders during Baldwin's captivity; it is possible that Eustace 
Grenier, a native of Flanders, made such an offer.[5]

Melisende, by law the heir to the kingdom, succeeded her father with Fulk as her co-
ruler. The new queen and king were crowned on 14 September.

Parents
____ Hugh I (ABT 1040 - ABT 1118)
DE MONTLHERY Melisende (ABT 1045 - 1097)

Siblings
____ Mathilde (Matilda) (ABT 1074 - 1151)
____ Baldwin II (ABT 1085 - 21 Aug 1131)
DE RETHEL Gervase (ABT 1090 - 1124)

Marriage To OF MELITENE Morphia (Malfia) (ABT 1080 - ABT 1127)
    m. 1101 

Notes

Parents
____ Gabriel "the Armenian" (ABT 1040 - ABT 1102)
----- ----- ()

Children by OF MELITENE Morphia (Malfia) ABT 1080 - ABT 1127
OF ANTIOCH Alice (ABT 1110 - AFT 1136)

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