Baldwin IV of Jerusalem

"Baldwin IV" redirects here. The term may also refer to Counts Baldwin IV of Flanders and Baldwin IV of Hainaut or Wade Baldwin IV.

Baldwin IV
13th-century depiction of Baldwin at his coronation
King of Jerusalem
Reign	11 July 1174 – March 1185
Coronation	15 July 1174
Predecessor	Amalric
Successor	Baldwin V (as sole king)
Co-king	Baldwin V (1183–1185)
Born	Mid-1161 Kingdom of Jerusalem
Died	Between March and May 1185 (aged 23-24) Kingdom of Jerusalem
Burial	Church of the Holy Sepulchre
House	Anjou
Father	Amalric of Jerusalem
Mother	Agnes of Courtenay
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Baldwin IV (1161–1185), known as the Leper King, was the king of Jerusalem from 1174 until his death in 1185. He was admired by historians and his contemporaries for his dedication to the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the face of his debilitating leprosy. Choosing competent advisers, Baldwin ruled a thriving crusader state and succeeded in protecting it from the Muslim ruler Saladin.

Baldwin's parents, King Amalric and Agnes of Courtenay, separated when Baldwin was two. At nine years old, he was sent to be educated by Archbishop William of Tyre. William noticed preliminary symptoms of leprosy, but Baldwin was only diagnosed after he succeeded his father as king. Thereafter, his hands and face became increasingly disfigured. He mastered horse riding despite gradually losing sensation in his extremities and fought in battles until his last years. Miles of Plancy ruled the kingdom in Baldwin's name until the former was murdered, and Count Raymond III of Tripoli took over until the king reached the age of majority in 1176. Baldwin's mother then returned to court, and he became closer to her and her brother, Joscelin.

As soon as he assumed government, Baldwin planned an invasion of Egypt, which fell through because of his vassals' uncooperativeness. Leprosy prevented Baldwin from marrying; he hoped to abdicate when his older sister, Sibylla, married William of Montferrat in 1176, but William declined and died the next year. Saladin attacked Baldwin's kingdom in 1177, but the king and the nobleman Raynald of Châtillon repelled him at Montgisard, earning Baldwin fame. In 1180, to forestall a coup by Count Raymond III of Tripoli and Prince Bohemond III of Antioch, Baldwin had Sibylla marry Guy of Lusignan. Guy was opposed by a large fraction of the nobility, and soon permanently impaired his relationship with Baldwin through his insubordination. Although he wished to abdicate, the internal discord that followed forced Baldwin to remain on the throne, as only he was capable of uniting the quarreling nobility.

Baldwin again repelled Saladin in 1182 at the Battle of Le Forbelet, but leprosy rendered him blind and unable to walk or use his hands in 1183. After Guy's failure as a commander and regent, Baldwin disinherited him and had Sibylla's son, Baldwin V, crowned co-king before having himself taken in a litter to lift Saladin's Siege of Kerak. Because of their refusal to attend court, Baldwin failed to have Sibylla's marriage to Guy annulled and Guy's fief of Ascalon confiscated. In 1184, he repelled Saladin from Kerak again. In early 1185, he arranged for Raymond to rule as regent for Sibylla's son, dying to a fever before 16 May 1185.

Childhood

Baldwin was born in mid-1161. His parents were Amalric, then the count of Jaffa and Ascalon, and Agnes of Courtenay. Baldwin's godfather was his paternal uncle, King Baldwin III, who joked that his christening present was the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The kingdom and other crusader principalities, though surrounded by Arab Muslim states, were ruled by Franks, French-speaking Catholics who had arrived in the Levant from Western Europe and remained Western in culture. The king was young and recently married, making a nephew's accession seem unlikely; yet Baldwin III died childless in 1163. Amalric was his heir, but the nobles of the kingdom were strongly opposed to Amalric's wife, Agnes; historian Bernard Hamilton suggests that they were likely threatened by the prospect of her increased influence. The High Court forced Amalric to agree to an annulment of his marriage on the grounds of consanguinity in order to be accepted as king. Amalric succeeded in having his and Agnes's children, Sibylla and Baldwin, declared legitimate despite the annulment.

As Agnes remarried soon after the annulment (firstly to Hugh of Ibelin and then to Reynald of Sidon), Baldwin grew up without a mother; Hamilton surmises that she only saw Baldwin on public occasions. He also seldom saw his sister, Sibylla, who was raised in the Convent of Saint Lazarus by their grandaunt Ioveta. At the age of six, Baldwin gained a stepmother, Maria Komnene, with whom he was not close; Queen Maria was an ambitious woman who, in Hamilton's opinion, likely saw Baldwin as an obstacle to her progeny.

Playmates pinch Baldwin and William of Tyre discovers first symptoms of Baldwin's leprosy, in Estoire d'Eracles, painted in France in the 1250s

To ensure that his son and heir apparent received a good education, King Amalric sent the 9-year-old Baldwin to live with William of Tyre, a sophisticated and well-traveled cleric famed for his learning. William noticed that, unlike other noble children in the playground, Baldwin did not cry when pinched by his peers. After multiple reports of this, William realized that Baldwin could not feel pain in his right arm and grew worried about the boy's health. The king hired the Arab physician Abu Sulayman Dawud to treat Baldwin and his relative, Abul'Khair, to teach the boy horse riding, an essential skill for a Frankish nobleman. Having sensation in one hand, Baldwin learned to control his horse using solely his knees, and mastered riding despite this handicap. It was suspected that Baldwin had leprosy, but without visible symptoms, the physicians hesitated to diagnose him because of the stigma and limitations the boy would face; had such a diagnosis been made when he was a child, Baldwin might have been required by law to enter the Order of St Lazarus, a military order composed of affected knights and serjeants.

As an adolescent, Baldwin was precocious, determined, and optimistic in the face of his illness. He inherited his father's good looks, body shape, and manner of walking and expressing himself. Baldwin was a quick learner, but stuttered. He enjoyed listening to stories and history lessons. His tutor, William, remarked on Baldwin's excellent memory, stating that he forgot neither kindness nor slights done to him by others.

In 1169, Amalric started seeking a mature husband for Sibylla so that the kingdom could be ruled by a capable regent in case Amalric died while Baldwin was still a child. Count Stephen I of Sancerre accepted the offer. After his symptoms developed, Baldwin's accession became uncertain and attention turned to Sibylla and Stephen, but their match fell through. In June 1174, Amalric came down with dysentery, and died on 11 July 1174, leaving an underage heir as he had feared might happen.

Accession

Patriarch Amalric crowns King Baldwin IV, as depicted in late 13th-century edition of the Histoire d'Outre Mer

Upon Amalric's death, the High Court convened to discuss the kingdom's succession. Though Baldwin was not diagnosed, Hamilton believed the High Court must have been aware of the royal physicians' suspicions that Baldwin had contracted leprosy. There was no viable alternative to succeed Amalric, however. Baldwin was the king's only son, and Amalric's second marriage had produced two daughters, of which only Isabella survived infancy. Female succession was expressly allowed, but Sibylla was an unmarried adolescent, and Isabella was only two years old. The male candidates, Amalric's cousins Prince Bohemond III of Antioch, Baldwin of Antioch, and Count Raymond III of Tripoli, were politically unsuitable: Bohemond was bound to distant Antioch, Baldwin was in the service of Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, and Raymond was virtually a stranger to the barons after nine years spent in Muslim captivity.

After three days of deliberation, Baldwin IV was unanimously chosen, with the expectation that a husband would be found for Sibylla to succeed him if he proved to be affected. The young king's coronation by the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Amalric of Nesle, took place immediately in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Although medieval rulers were typically crowned on Sundays, 15 July 1174 was chosen for Baldwin's coronation instead as it was the 75th anniversary of the First Crusade's seizure of Jerusalem.

Regency

Seal of Raymond III of Tripoli

Until he reached the age of majority (which was 15 in the Kingdom of Jerusalem), Baldwin needed a regent to rule in his name. The government was initially assumed by the seneschal, Miles of Plancy. Shortly thereafter, Count Raymond III of Tripoli arrived in Jerusalem and laid a claim to the regency as the king's closest kinsman. Miles was murdered in October 1174 while trying to extend his hold on the government. With the unanimous support of the bishops and most of the kingdom's noblemen, Raymond was named regent after a two-day debate presided over by the 13-year-old king. No new seneschal was appointed for two years, and so the young and sickly king presided over burdensome High Court meetings when Raymond was away on military duties or in Tripoli.

Baldwin's mother, Agnes, returned to court when Raymond became regent. She is frequently accused by historians of exploiting her son's condition for self-gain; Hamilton notes that contemporary sources, including Baldwin's tutor, William of Tyre, are strongly biased against her. Hamilton believes that Baldwin had no memories of his mother because he grew up without her since the age of two, but that she became devotedly kind to him and he developed a strong attachment to her.

During his regency, it was confirmed that the king was affected by leprosy. It is not clear from whom he caught it. Medical historian Piers Mitchell concludes that it must have been someone with whom Baldwin had spent a lot of time at a young age, such as a family member, a wet nurse, or another servant, and who did not exhibit easily visible symptoms. Puberty may have accelerated the development of the lepromatous form of the illness, and his condition worsened rapidly. Most severely affected were his extremities and face, which made his subjects feel uneasy when they approached him. Yet, contrary to the common practice, and to the surprise of Muslim observers, Baldwin was never segregated from the other noblemen. As a leper, Baldwin could not marry or expect to have children; it thus became a priority to arrange a marriage for Baldwin's sister and heir presumptive, Sibylla. Raymond's choice was William of Montferrat, son of Margrave William V of Montferrat in Piedmont, Italy, and cousin of both the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and King Louis VII of France.

Personal rule

Planned offensive

On the second anniversary of his coronation, 15 July 1176, Baldwin reached the age of majority; Raymond's regency lapsed, and he promptly returned to Tripoli. At the suggestion of his mother, the king appointed his maternal uncle, Joscelin of Courtenay, to the office of seneschal and arranged for him to marry a rich heiress, Agnes of Milly. Baldwin was able to trust Joscelin as he was his closest kinsman who had no claim to the throne. This change in government signaled a new Frankish approach to the Egyptian ruler Saladin, who had encircled the crusader states during Raymond's regency by conquering Muslim principalities in Syria. Baldwin did not ratify Raymond's peace treaty with Saladin, firmly agreeing with Joscelin that the sultan's power needed to be curbed.

Map of the Near East in c. 1165. By the time Baldwin IV ascended, the Fatimid Caliphate had been overthrown by Saladin, who advanced into Zengid territory.

As soon as he took over the government, Baldwin began planning a full-scale attack on Egypt with his advisers. The king took advantage of Saladin's campaign in Aleppo to lead a raid around Damascus. This was his first experience of warfare. Despite having sensation in only one hand, he refused to delegate his military duties and took part in fighting. He and his advisers decided to intervene in Saladin's war against the Order of Assassins. On 1 August 1176, Baldwin and Raymond led the armies of Jerusalem and Tripoli, respectively, in a raid of the Beqaa Valley (modern-day Lebanon). They successfully defeated the garrison of Damascus, forcing Saladin to abandon his campaign.

William of Montferrat married Baldwin's sister Sibylla in November 1176 and was made count of Jaffa and Ascalon, but the nobles no longer trusted his cousin Emperor Frederick's ability to aid the kingdom. According to Sicard of Cremona, Baldwin offered to resign the throne to William; if he did, William declined because he knew he lacked the support of the nobility.

To carry out his attacks on Egypt, Baldwin needed naval support. He thus sent Raynald of Châtillon to lead an embassy to Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, Raynald's stepson-in-law, in Constantinople in the winter of 1176–77. Manuel agreed to take part in the invasion in return for the establishment of Byzantine protectorate over the kingdom and restoration of the Orthodox patriarch, Leontius II, in Jerusalem. Raynald's mission was successful, and Baldwin consented to his marriage with the lady of Transjordan, Stephanie of Milly.

In April 1177, William of Monferrat fell sick in Ascalon. Baldwin visited him and became gravely ill too. William died two months later in June, leaving Sibylla pregnant and Baldwin incapacitated without a deputy ahead of a major war offensive; the king entrusted the government and military command to Raynald, snubbing the count of Tripoli. Baldwin's first cousin Count Philip I of Flanders arrived in the East in September. He brought to Baldwin financial aid from another cousin, King Henry II of England; Henry was invested because he and Baldwin both belonged to the Angevin family. Still in sickbed in Ascalon, the king had himself taken back to Jerusalem in a litter and convened a general council, on the advice of which he offered regency to Philip. Philip declined, and Raynald retained his post.

The Byzantines sent a war fleet in preparation of the invasion of Egypt, but to Baldwin's regret, they withdrew because of the uncooperativeness of Philip of Flanders, Bohemond of Antioch, Raymond of Tripoli, and the grand master of the Knights Hospitaller, Roger de Moulins. Saladin's power remained unchecked, and the Byzantine alliance collapsed. Despite the hostility of the Latin patriarch, Amalric of Nesle, Baldwin continued to court the Greek patriarch, Leontius, in hopes that the Byzantines would remain committed to his kingdom.

Initial conflicts with Saladin

13th-century depiction of Baldwin toppling an enemy at the Battle of Montgisard

Philip left the Kingdom of Jerusalem with his troops in late October 1177 to help Raymond of Tripoli attack the Muslim-held city of Hama. With the Frankish army in northern Syria, Saladin seized the opportunity to invade Baldwin's kingdom on 18 November. Though still recovering from malaria, Baldwin and the nobleman Raynald of Châtillon rode to meet the sultan, while the Knights Templar hurried to defend Gaza. The king took his humble host to Ascalon, where in desperation he issued an arrière-ban, summoning all able-bodied men to join the host.

Saladin reached Ascalon on 22 November 1177 and Baldwin led his troops out to meet him, but seeing how drastically outnumbered he was, the king retreated into the city. William of Tyre reported Saladin's strength as 26,000 men, but this number was most likely a great exaggeration. Saladin, seeing the strength in his numbers and concluding that Baldwin's army posed no threat to him, confidently proceeded towards Jerusalem. In the meantime, the king managed to contact the Templars and ordered them to abandon Gaza and join him. Baldwin and Raynald then rode out of Ascalon joined up with the Templars along the coast; Saladin was not anticipating this, and did not send any of his men to monitor the city. Baldwin and Raynald attacked his dispersed army at Montgisard; the young king was in the forefront, while Raynald directed much of the cavalry. Saladin, who barely survived, suffered a crushing defeat; only a tenth of his army made it back to Egypt, and one of his great-nephews was killed. His army would additionally be routed for twelve miles after the battle was lost. Saladin later remarked on his devastating defeat, telling the chronicler Ibn Shaddad, "Although it was so great a disaster, God, blessed be His name, made it good in the end by the famous victory at Hattin."

Ruined fortress of Le Chastellet

Without enough men to launch an offensive on the retreating Muslims, Baldwin decided to fortify the Damascene frontier. The Templars pressured him to build a castle, Chastellet, on the upper Jordan River, but the king was reluctant to do so because the Franks had promised not to mark that part of the border. After protests of local Muslims, Saladin offered Baldwin 60,000 dinars in exchange for aborting the construction, but the king refused; Saladin then offered Baldwin 100,000 dinars, which he refused again. In 1178, Baldwin hosted the patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Michael the Syrian, in Jerusalem and won his lasting loyalty to the Frankish cause.

In April 1179, Baldwin intended to round up the sheep passing from Damascus to Banias. Saladin's nephew Farrukh Shah was sent to investigate the king's movement but suddenly ran into him, and a skirmish followed. The elderly but exceptionally able constable, Humphrey II of Toron, sustained fatal wounds while protecting the king.

A few weeks later, Baldwin rode out to intercept Bedouin raids of Beirut and Sidon. In June, a battle took place. Baldwin and his army marched to the hills of Marj Ayyun, accompanied by Raymond of Tripoli and Odo of St Amand, the grand master of the Knights Templar. The crusaders had no difficulty routing Saladin's army, and believing the battle to be won, they let their guard down; Raymond and Odo moved with their knights to an area between Marj Ayyun and the Litani River. Saladin's raiding party then attacked the crusaders by surprise and routed Baldwin's army, defeating the Christians soundly; the king was unhorsed and carried to safety on a knight's back because he could not remount on his own. Many crusaders were taken prisoner, including Odo, Baldwin of Ibelin, and Raymond's stepson Hugh of Saint Omer. Raymond escaped to Tyre, which William of Tyre called "disgraceful".

On 24 August 1179, Saladin, who found that the Templars at Le Chastellet posed a serious issue, laid siege to the fortress. His most trusted officers advised a hasty assault rather than a regular siege, and the Muslims immediately stormed the outer defences. When Baldwin heard of this, he summoned a host to Tiberias to respond to Saladin's siege of Le Chastellet. In the meantime, the Muslims were able to mine the inner walls of the castle, breaching it on 29 August 1179 and capturing it on the same day. The castle fell before the relic of the True Cross could be fetched from Jerusalem to accompany the Christian troops; as Le Chastellet was specifically built to withstand a long siege, the crusaders saw no reason to rush. The historian William of Newburgh said that "the Christian army assembled at Tiberias, but not with the speed which was customary." Saladin remained at the castle for a fortnight, demolishing the building and executing the Christian soldiers there who were not killed in battle.

Rise of factions

In the winter of 1177–78, the king's widowed sister, Sibylla, gave birth to a son, Baldwin, named after the king. In June, a year of official mourning for the child's father, William, concluded, and it became appropriate to seek another husband for Sibylla. Baldwin of Ibelin's suit was well known, but not entertained. His brother, Balian of Ibelin, married the king's stepmother, Queen Maria, in late 1177; Hamilton believes that the king allowed the match to avoid antagonizing the Ibelins. In July 1178, Baldwin IV began associating Sibylla with him in some public acts, thereby acknowledging her as next in line to the throne. He contemplated her marriage to Duke Hugh III of Burgundy, and wrote to the king of France:

"To be deprived of the use of one's limbs is of little help to one in carrying out the work of government ... It is not fitting that a hand so weak as mine should hold power when fear of Arab aggression daily presses upon the Holy City and when my sickness increases the enemy's daring... I therefore beg you that, having called together the barons of the kingdom of France, you immediately choose one of them to take charge of this Holy Kingdom."

Raymond and Bohemond arriving in Jerusalem to find Sibylla married to Guy

During the Holy Week in 1180, Raymond III of Tripoli and Bohemond III of Antioch marched with their armies to Jerusalem. Hamilton considers it most likely that they intended to force the king to have Sibylla marry Baldwin of Ibelin and then to abdicate, thereby removing the Courtenays from power and promoting a local noble to the throne instead of Sibylla's foreign match. The king had never approved of Baldwin of Ibelin's ambition to marry his sister, and though he did wish to abdicate, he was not keen on having terms forced on him. The king acted decisively before his kinsmen's armies reached Jerusalem, arranging for Sibylla to marry a Poitevin knight, Guy of Lusignan, even though she was promised to Hugh III of Burgundy. Raymond and Bohemond had no option but to accept the fait accompli, and the coup was foiled.

Baldwin had hoped to abdicate, but was prevented by a deep rift within his court. The historian Steven Runciman speaks of a division already existing at the beginning of Baldwin's reign, with the diplomatic native barons and the Hospitallers on one side and the "aggressive, militantly Christian" newcomers from Western Europe and Templars on the other. This view, though common in older historiography, is rejected by modern authors such as Bernard Hamilton and Peter Edbury; Hamilton posits that the factions arose only after Sibylla's marriage to Guy and centered on the king's paternal relatives (cousins Raymond of Tripoli and Bohemond of Antioch; stepmother, Maria; and her new family, the Ibelins) and maternal relatives (mother, Agnes; stepfather, Reynald of Sidon; sister, Sibylla; brother-in-law, Guy; uncle, Joscelin; and Raynald of Châtillon), of whom the king supported the latter. In light of these problems, Baldwin proposed a two-year truce with Saladin, who was glad to accept and campaign freely in northern Syria. However, this truce did not include Tripoli, which enabled Saladin to launch raids there. Baldwin sent his uncle and chief minister, Joscelin, to assure the Byzantine court that Jerusalem still needed their protection, but Emperor Manuel died during the negotiations and the seneschal had to spend the entire winter in Constantinople to complete them. From mid-1180 to mid-1181, the full burden of government thus fell on the shoulders of the sickly king, who relied chiefly on his mother during this period.

To secure Guy's position and prevent the emergence of an alternative claimant, Baldwin had his eight-year-old half-sister, Isabella, the daughter of Maria Komnene, solemnly betrothed to the teenage lord of Toron, Humphrey IV, in October 1180. Isabella was subsequently sent to live at Kerak Castle with Stephanie of Milly, Humphrey's mother, as far as possible from her own maternal kin and any potential conspirators. By the terms of the marriage contract, Humphrey ceded Toron to Baldwin, who thus prevented the union of two great fiefs under one vassal and strengthened his position against the count of Tripoli.

Baldwin IV's family, including the Courtenay party (blue rectangular) and their opponents (red rounded)

Baldwin II of Jerusalem Morphia of Melitene Eremburga of Maine Fulk V of Anjou Melisende of Jerusalem Alice of Jerusalem Hodierna of Jerusalem Geoffrey V of Anjou Sibylla of Anjou Baldwin III of Jerusalem Joscelin of Courtenay Agnes of Courtenay Amalric of Jerusalem Maria Komnene Balian of Ibelin Stephanie of Milly Raynald of Châtillon Constance of Antioch Raymond III of Tripoli Henry II of England Philip I of Flanders William of Montferrat Sibylla of Jerusalem Guy of Lusignan Baldwin IV of Jerusalem Isabella I of Jerusalem Humphrey IV of Toron Bohemond III of Antioch Maria of Antioch Manuel I Komnenos Baldwin of Antioch Baldwin V of Jerusalem

Truce and resumed hostilities

Saladin as depicted on a dirham coin, c. 1190

Baldwin used his truce with Saladin to strengthen the position of his maternal kin, granting Maron and Chastel Neuf to Joscelin and usufruct of Toron to Agnes, while associating Guy and Sibylla with him in public acts. He remained unreconciled with Raymond and forbade the count to enter the kingdom in early 1182, owing to suspicions of another conspiracy. Baldwin probably intended to charge Raymond with treason and deprive him of the Principality of Galilee, a fief of Jerusalem held by Raymond through his marriage to Eschiva of Bures. The law prevented the king from seizing the fief without the assent of the High Court, and its members urged the king to reconcile with Raymond; Baldwin reluctantly heeded his vassals' advice.

Baldwin's truce with Saladin was due to expire in May 1182, but was broken in mid-1181 by Raynald, who seized a merchant caravan on its way from Egypt to Damascus. Raynald ignored the king's request to make restitution to Saladin, who was preparing to annex the Zengid-ruled Aleppo. The king, who consistently acted against Saladin's attempts to expand into northern Syria, decided to oppose him. The recent anti-Catholic coup in Constantinople gave Saladin confidence to attack the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and in July, Baldwin marched with his host to relieve the Muslims' siege of Bethsan. His outnumbered army won the Battle of Le Forbelet, historian Bernard Hamilton attributing the victory to the respect and loyalty commanded by Baldwin, who stayed on the battlefield despite his illness and intense heat; according to William of Tyre, as many men died of sunstroke as by the sword.

The defeated sultan took his host to besiege Beirut, while another army from Egypt attacked the south of the kingdom. Baldwin knew he was being provoked into dividing his forces, and deciding that Beirut was of a greater strategic importance, he ignored the southern attack and moved with his troops to Tyre. From there, he procured assistance from the Italian maritime republics in lifting Saladin's naval blockade of Beirut. Saladin abandoned the siege, but declined to make a truce, worrying Baldwin and his advisers. Saladin proceeded north to fight the Zengids, thereby expanding his realm, while Baldwin first led an attack on Saladin's Damascene territory, and then on Bosra, before finally laying siege to and capturing Cave de Sueth. In the winter of 1182–1183, after agreeing on a strategy with his council, Baldwin attacked Damascus again; he threatened to destroy a mosque in Darayya, but local Christians convinced him not to for fear of losing their churches in retaliation.

Last years

Progressing disability

Kerak Castle

Baldwin could not walk unsupported or use his hands from 1183; because of an inability to blink, his cornea dried and he became blind, but he nevertheless had to summon his troops in response to Saladin's march south following the Egyptian conquest of Aleppo in June. However, the king then developed a severe fever, leaving him unlikely to survive. He was attended by his mother and the new patriarch, Heraclius, at nearby Nazareth, and having summoned the High Court to his bedside, Baldwin entrusted the government to his brother-in-law, Guy, who was next in line to succeed him. Guy's appointment to regency was meant to be permanent; the king retained only the royal title and authority over the city of Jerusalem, but he had Guy swear that, while Baldwin lived, he would not make himself king or alienate parts of the royal demesne.

Fearing discontent among his barons, Baldwin had failed to give Guy any experience in military leadership before making him regent. The great lords of the kingdom, Bohemond III of Antioch and Raymond III of Tripoli, and the grand masters of the military orders refused to cooperate with Guy. However, Baldwin recovered unexpectedly and returned to Jerusalem. Having found that the coastal climate suited his health, Baldwin offered Jerusalem to Guy in exchange for Tyre. Guy brusquely refused, possibly because Tyre was more lucrative, leaving Baldwin gravely insulted.

The wedding of Baldwin's half-sister, Isabella, and Humphrey IV of Toron was celebrated in Kerak in late 1183. Saladin attacked during the festivities and laid siege to the castle, hoping to capture the king's half-sister and her husband. The retired king had gathered a council in Jerusalem to inform him about the government of the kingdom when news about the siege reached him. The defence of such a vital fortress and the king's half-sister within it could not be entrusted to Guy, who had proven unable to command the troops; despite the burden of his illness, Baldwin immediately dismissed Guy from the regency and resumed power. Guy's removal from power was effectively disinheritance, and at the council's insistence, deliberations about the kingdom's succession followed. Although Heraclius, along with the grand masters of the Templars and Hospitallers, tried to intervene on Guy's behalf, it was no use; Raymond, Bohemond, and Reynald easily convinced the king to dismiss Guy. The proposal of the king's mother that Sibylla's five-year-old son, Baldwin, be made co-king was accepted, and the boy was crowned on 20 November 1183.

In late November, Baldwin ordered the lighting of a beacon on the Tower of David, which may have been the first in a chain of such beacons to hearten the defenders of the intensely bombarded Kerak. Baldwin accompanied his troops again, but having become blind and immobile, he went in a litter slung between two horses. His presence was essential to unite the discordant barons, and even his humiliated brother-in-law led his men. Since Baldwin was far too ill to take part in any fighting, he appointed Raymond III of Tripoli as field commander. Warned by his scouts about the king's approach and concerned about having left Egypt unguarded, Saladin abandoned the siege on 4 December, and Baldwin entered Kerak triumphantly.

Brother-in-law's insubordination

The question of regency for his nephew troubled Baldwin; the only way to ensure that Guy could not claim it was to have his marriage to Sibylla annulled. Baldwin discussed this with the patriarch, Heraclius, intending to claim that he had forced his sister to marry Guy and that the marriage was unlawful because of that. However, Sibylla's unwavering loyalty to Guy thwarted his plans, as the couple refused to appear at court.

Early in 1184, Baldwin ordered Guy to attend him as a vassal in Jerusalem, but Guy declined, citing poor health. After this was repeated several times, Baldwin had himself carried to Ascalon in the company of the High Court, where Guy refused to let him into the city. From the battlements and towers, the inhabitants witnessed the king ceremoniously raise his hand to knock on the gates and demand admission, only for the gates to remain closed. The king was then welcomed in Jaffa, however, where he installed a governor, thereby depriving Guy of half of his county. In Acre, Baldwin summoned his council, probably to gain support to seize Guy's fief on the grounds of refusal of the royal summons. However, the patriarch and the grand masters begged Baldwin to forgive Guy to avoid a civil war. This was as unacceptable to Baldwin, as it would have been to any contemporary king, but the patriarch and the grand masters stormed out of the council, swaying the rest of the assembly to withhold support for the action.

Baldwin was reconciled with the patriarch and the grand masters by June when he sent them to Europe on a diplomatic mission to seek aid for the kingdom. He informed them by letter that Saladin was once more besieging Kerak, and again, Saladin abandoned the siege when the litter-bound king approached with his army. Once in Kerak, Baldwin ordered and financed the repairs of the damaged castle.

Last months, death, and aftermath

Death of Baldwin IV and coronation of Baldwin V in the 1280 edition of William of Tyre's Histoire d'Outremer

In late 1184, Baldwin was shocked to learn about Guy's massacre of the Bedouin of the royal fief of Darum, who were under royal protection and who provided information about the Egyptians' movements. However, the king developed another fever. When Baldwin returned to Jerusalem in late 1184 or early 1185, he bestowed regency on Raymond of Tripoli, the man whom he had never trusted, but to whom he could find no better alternative. Baldwin expected to survive the illness, having done so twice before, but within weeks it became apparent that he would not. On his deathbed, the king summoned the High Court to appoint a permanent regent for his nephew, Baldwin V, and Raymond was chosen. The dying king ordered that homage be rendered to his nephew as king and to Raymond as regent, to be followed by a solemn crown-wearing ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Baldwin IV died, attended by his vassals, in March of 1185, or before 16 May 1185 at the latest when Baldwin V is recorded as the sole king. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, close to his father, King Amalric. The young Baldwin V died the next year, and Sibylla, who succeeded her late son, made Guy king. Baldwin IV's realm was destroyed by Saladin following the sultan's decisive victory over Guy at the Horns of Hattin in 1187. Sibylla and her daughters died in 1190, leaving Isabella I as the heir to the defeated kingdom.

Assessment and legacy

19th-century depiction of Baldwin commanding troops at the Battle of Montgisard, by Charles-Philippe Larivière. Baldwin is depicted in a litter, but he was still mobile at the time and fought this battle on horseback.

Christian defeat at Hattin two years after Baldwin's death marred the king's legacy, with historians tracing fatal discord to his reign. Yet, while Baldwin was on the throne, the kingdom lost no territory and flourished both economically and spiritually. Baldwin understood the importance of curbing Saladin's power, which was reflected in his choice of ministers. He did not devise strategy or diplomacy alone, and delegated Church patronage and finances to his mother, Agnes, and uncle, Joscelin, respectively. His chief contribution was his determination not to abdicate before finding a suitable successor despite leprosy making government an unbearable burden. As was clear during his reign and especially in its disastrous aftermath, Baldwin alone preserved unity in the kingdom. Long after his death, he was hailed as the final Christian leader to successfully defend Jerusalem.

Contemporary Christian theologians were divided on the issue of Baldwin's leprosy. Pope Alexander III showed little sympathy when writing about Baldwin, declaring his leprosy a "just judgement of God", but another school of thought encouraged the faithful to see Christ in the affected. Baldwin's reign may have led to a lesser stigmatization of the illness in the 13th-century Kingdom of Jerusalem, but his subjects' acceptance of his illness confounded some Muslims. Muslim historian Imad al-Din al-Isfahani wrote:

In spite of illness the Franks were loyal to him, they gave him every encouragement ... being satisfied to have him as their ruler; they exalted him ... they were anxious to keep him in office, but they paid no attention to his leprosy.

The Andalusian pilgrim Ibn Jubayr, who visited the kingdom in 1184, also had a negative impression of the king:

The pig, the lord of Acre whom they call king, lives secluded and is not seen, for God has afflicted him with leprosy ...

Baldwin's public image may have been aided by his chastity; this was seen as evidence of extraordinary sanctity because his contemporaries believed that lepers were extremely lustful. His success against Saladin was also interpreted as a sign of God's favor. After the disastrous Seventh Crusade, a crusader was told by an old man in Damascus:

I have seen a time when King Baldwin of Jerusalem, the one who was a leper, beat Saladin although he only had 300 armed men against Saladin's 3,000. But now your sins have come to such a pass that we round you up in the fields like cattle.

Despite perceived sanctity, Baldwin was not particularly devout. Although he openly wished to abdicate, he had no intentions of leading a monastic life. He was primarily a knight, both in character and in upbringing, and to his contemporaries his most distinctive traits were his courage and honourableness.

See also

• Kingdom of Heaven – film in which Edward Norton plays Baldwin, who is portrayed as an androgynous, orientalized, and fragile king bound to his chamber

References

Bibliography

• Hamilton, Bernard (2000). The Leper King and His Heirs: Baldwin IV and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521017473.
• Mitchell, Piers D. (2000). "An evaluation of the leprosy of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem in the context of the medieval world". In Hamilton, Bernard (ed.). The Leper King and His Heirs: Baldwin IV and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521017473.
• Riley-Smith, Jonathan (1973). The feudal nobility and the kingdom of Jerusalem, 1174–1277. Macmillan. ISBN 9780208013484.
• Runciman, Steven (1989) [1952]. The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100–1187. A History of the Crusades. Vol. II. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521061636.
• Lewis, Kevin James (2017). The Counts of Tripoli and Lebanon in the Twelfth Century: Sons of Saint-Gilles. Routledge. ISBN 9781472458902.
• Stevenson, W. B. (2012) [1907]. The Crusaders in the East: a brief history of the wars of Islam with the Latins in Syria during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107669093.
• Baldwin, Marshall W. (1969) [1955]. "The Latin States under Baldwin III and Amalric I, 1143–1174; The Decline and Fall of Jerusalem, 1174–1189". In Baldwin, Marshall W. (ed.). The First Hundred Years. A History of the Crusades. Vol. I. The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 528–561, 590–621. ISBN 9780299048341.