Accession King Fulk died in a hunting accident on 10 November 1143, and Queen Melisende swiftly seized power. No
royal election was held because the joint reign initiated in 1131 continued with Melisende and Baldwin III. The patriarch of Jerusalem,
William of Messines,
consecrated and
anointed Baldwin as king and crowned him together with Melisende on
Christmas Day. The coronation did not change much in Baldwin's life; because he was only 13 at the time, his mother became his guardian. Although she is often described as having ruled as
regent in Baldwin's name, neither she nor William of Tyre understood her authority in those terms. William explicitly presented her rule as grounded in hereditary right, and the historian Bernard Hamilton has argued that she should be considered a
queen regnant. In 1144, Baldwin issued a charter without reference to Melisende. From that point on, however, all charters were issued in both of their names. This led the historian
Hans E. Mayer to suggest that Melisende prohibited the issuance of any charters solely in her son's name. Because a woman could not command the army, the queen appointed her recently arrived cousin
Manasses of Hierges to serve as
constable. To uphold her authority, she cultivated a core group of loyal men, with Manasses at its forefront. Her inner circle also included
Philip of Milly,
lord of Nablus,
Elinand of Tiberias,
prince of Galilee, and
Rohard the Elder,
viscount of Jerusalem. Their support enabled Melisende to anchor her authority in the capital as well as the strategically vital regions of
Samaria and
Galilee, which included portions of the
royal domain.
Initial war experiences Wadi Musa Warfare offered Baldwin III one clear advantage over his mother. As a medieval monarch—and particularly as a king of Jerusalem—he was expected to embody military prowess. In 1144, the native population in
Wadi Musa rebelled and called in Muslim forces, which seized the eponymous fortress. Although Baldwin was still a minor, he decided to act. Because the stronghold was too well-defended to storm directly, he cut down the olive trees that were the inhabitants' main source of livelihood and offered pardons. The people of Wadi Musa accepted his rule and dismissed their Muslim allies. Baldwin turned 14 in 1144, and this was his first military success. When Edessa came
under siege by
Zengid forces later in 1144, however, Baldwin was not called upon. The appeal for help from the Edessenes was addressed to him, but it was his mother who responded. She called a council and dispatched her key supporters—Manasses of Hierges, Philip of Nablus, and Elinard of Tiberias—with an army without involving Baldwin. Melisende apparently resented her son's success at Wadi Musa, and in the interest of preserving her own power, aimed to prevent him from building a public image as a successful military leader. The army did not reach Edessa in time: the city fell to the Turks, who killed its Frankish inhabitants. Baldwin came of age in 1145. The occasion was not publicly celebrated and, like his coronation, brought no real change in his fortunes.
Hauran In early 1147,
Altuntash—governor of
Bosra and
Salkhad in the
Hauran—attempted to secede from the authority of the Damascene ruler
Mu'in ad-Din Unur. He approached the Franks with a proposal: he would surrender his towns to them in return for their support and a lordship in the Hauran. Melisende presented the offer to her council. Though Unur was an ally, the proposal was tempting. The Hauran was home to a largely Christian population, and gaining a foothold there would expose Damascus to strategic pressure. An army was assembled at Tiberias, and the government notified Unur of the plan to reinstate Altuntash. Unur objected and promised compensation for the kingdom's expenses if the operation was called off. Melisende dispatched a knight,
Bernard Vacher, to Damascus, instructing him to clarify that the army would only accompany Altuntash to Bosra and not attack Damascene lands. Unur persuaded Bernard that the campaign should be abandoned. Bernard then convinced Baldwin, and the council reversed its earlier decision. Many within the army, driven by hopes of plunder, protested the change in course. Under their pressure, Baldwin decided to march. The Hauran expedition was fraught with danger from the outset because Bosra was farther east than any other holding of the kingdom. Baldwin and his army crossed the mountains and descended into a plain west of
Daraa near the
Yarmuk River. They were immediately encircled by Turkish forces in far greater numbers than anticipated—a development likely triggered by the arrival of
Nur ad-Din Zengi on 27 May, who was summoned by Unur after Baldwin's earlier warning. Progress slowed and water grew scarce; when they reached sight of Bosra, Baldwin and his men discovered that Altuntash's wife had already handed it over to the Turks. As Baldwin and his army withdrew, the Turks set fire to surrounding crops and brush, compounding the army's hardship. Baldwin was reportedly offered a chance to flee on the swiftest horse in the army, belonging to his vassal John Gotman. He refused, likely recognizing that abandoning his army would irreparably damage his reputation. William of Tyre attributes the army's survival to
divine intervention: first, when Archbishop
Robert I of Nazareth raised the
True Cross, miraculously reversing the wind and halting the spread of fire; and again when a mysterious
knight on a white horse, bearing a red banner, appeared to lead the men to safety—imagery clearly echoing tales from the First Crusade. Unur, however, deliberately held back the Muslim forces from pursuing the retreating Franks. According to the chronicler
Ibn al-Qalanisi, Unur feared that an overly aggressive assault might provoke retaliation, and he was still wary of letting Nur ad-Din grow too dominant—preserving, if only as a contingency, the possibility of renewing his alliance with Baldwin. According to Mayer, Melisende pinned the blame for this failure on Baldwin and used it to undermine him: in a subsequent charter, she included Amalric on the same footing as Baldwin.
Second Crusade The Western Christian world was horrified by the news of the fall of Edessa. At the urging of
Pope Eugene III, the ruling elites of France and Germany took the cross and set out for the Levant in the company of
papal legates. The Germans, led by King
Conrad III, arrived first; Baldwin, the
Knights Templar, and the new patriarch,
Fulcher of Angoulême, met with Conrad in April 1148. They decided that the crusaders should set out to conquer Damascus rather than retake Edessa, which was rumored to have been so badly destroyed that defending it would be impossible if it were restored to Christian rule. The conquest of Damascus, on the other hand, would serve the interest of Jerusalem much better. Mayer concludes that, while the queen might have opposed attacking an ally, Baldwin wished to gain the upper hand over Melisende if Damascus were to be conquered under his co-leadership. The French contingent, led by King
Louis VII and including nobles such as Baldwin's brother-in-law Count
Thierry of Flanders, arrived in June. Fulcher, Baldwin, and Melisende greeted the assembled crusaders
at Palmarea near Acre on 24 June, and the decision to attack Damascus was formally taken. The
siege of Damascus began with early success. The crusaders advanced through
Banyas and
Mount Lebanon before descending into the plain near
Darayya. There, they pushed into orchards irrigated by the
Barada, where Baldwin led the
vanguard. Fighting through mud walls and narrow paths, the crusaders took control of the river. Within the city, panic spread, and citizens erected street barricades to delay an apparently imminent breach. However, the momentum abruptly shifted, whether, as William claims, through betrayal and false advice or, as Ibn al-Qalanisi suggests, in response to logistical pressures. The kings abandoned their strong position and relocated to the south and southeast, supposedly where the defenses were weaker. However, the new ground offered little water or provisions, and any return to their earlier position was soon cut off by enemy forces. Muslim reinforcements poured in, and the crusaders found themselves trapped; their temporary defenses were under constant attack and unable to break out. As reports of a larger Islamic force approaching circulated, fear overtook the crusaders, and the campaign turned from siege to survival. The army withdrew in disorder under relentless fire in an ignominious defeat for the Christians. Rumors of betrayal led to speculation over who was to blame, and among the various theories, one implicated Baldwin III. According to Patriarch
Michael the Syrian, the Damascenes secretly warned Baldwin that if Damascus fell, Conrad might claim Jerusalem for himself. They allegedly offered Baldwin 200,000 dinars to withdraw, and he accepted—only to discover later that the coins were worthless, gold-plated copper. The historian
Malcolm Barber gives no credence neither to this theory nor to others, which variously implicate the Templars, Thierry of Flanders, and Raymond of Poitiers. Melisende capitalized on Baldwin's setback by reducing his status in royal documents: in 1149, she started issuing charters in her name alone and merely allowed him to consent. In 1149, Baldwin was presented with a new opportunity to win glory. Following the
battle of Inab on 29 June, where Prince Raymond of Poitiers and many of his knights were killed a significant victory for Nur ad-Din, the king hastily marched north with his troops and laid an unsuccessful siege to
Ḥarim. He also sent his vassal
Humphrey II of Toron to reinforce
Azaz with sixty knights, but despite these efforts, his reputation as a military commander saw little improvement. More significant than the military outcome, however, was Baldwin's assumption of the traditional responsibility of the kings of Jerusalem in times of crisis. At the invitation of the local barons, he took up the regency of Antioch, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. By stepping in to defend Antioch and the remnants of Edessa, Baldwin was fulfilling a traditional obligation of the kings of Jerusalem. His time in the principality was brief, and he left Antioch in the care of its patriarch,
Aimery of Limoges; William of Tyre notes that affairs in the kingdom demanded the king's return. Baldwin decided to counteract the Christian losses in the northern Levant by pressing the southern frontier with Egypt, where the power of the
Fatimid caliphs was disentegrating: by early 1150, he was engaged in rebuilding
Gaza in southern Palestine.
Estrangement from mother A rift between Melisende and Baldwin became apparent in 1149. Having become embroiled in a conflict with the Church over her desire to see her
chancellor,
Ralph the Englishman, raised to the
archbishopric of Tyre, the queen apparently decided that Church support was crucial and either dismissed Ralph from the chancery or forced him to resign. Because she could not appoint a successor to Ralph without Baldwin's consent, which Mayer considers unlikely to have been given, the chancery collapsed. Thereafter, the monarchs issued their documents each through their own scribe, maintaining the appearance of a unified kingdom whilst formalizing an unprecedented split in royal authority. Because Melisende had firmly entrenched herself in the southern and inland parts of the kingdom, Baldwin could only hope to establish control over the royal domain on the northern part of the coast, namely the cities of Acre and Tyre. Melisende intervened there as well, however, granting land to the
Knights Hospitaller in 1149. Baldwin consented; Mayer believes that he had to in order to retain the Hospitallers' neutrality. In early 1150, he responded in kind when he fortified the ancient city of
Gaza in Melisende's zone of influence. Like all of his predecessors, Baldwin was preoccupied with neutralizing the constant threat emanating from the Egyptian-held town of
Ascalon, just north of Gaza, and he aimed to encircle it. Mayer credits the patriarch, who accompanied Baldwin to Gaza, with the compromise suggestion to entrust the rebuilt city to the Templars, who were neutral in the brewing conflict between the monarchs. In June 1150, the king went a step further in widening their rift: he completely stopped mentioning his mother in his documents while she still superficially acknowledged him. Baldwin's entourage in 1150 was few. He was attended by his chapel: Ralph, the dismissed chancellor and unconsecrated archbishop of Tyre;
Simon, a claimant to the Principality of Galilee; Hugh of Bethsan, a relatively unimportant Templar knight; and Clarembald, the viscount of Acre. Clarembald's support was the only one of significance because it meant that the king had full control of the lucrative coastal city. The rest of the Church and baronage stood with Melisende. That year, she secured the lordships of
Mirabel and
Ramla for Manasses, her cousin and constable, by arranging for him to marry
Helvis of Ramla. William of Tyre relates that Manasses' "insolent attitude of superiority toward the elders of the realm" caused him to be loathed by the noble, and Baldwin himself held Manasses responsible for driving a wedge between him and his mother.
Disposal of Edessa In May 1150, while the reconstruction of Gaza was still underway, news reached the kingdom of the capture of Count
Joscelin II of Edessa by Nur ad-Din's troops.
Mesud I,
sultan of Rum, seized the opportunity to capture the outlying possessions of Joscelin's county. King Baldwin returned to Jerusalem and summoned the army with the intent of again marching north, but the vassals loyal to his mother did not respond. Unusually, he resorted to summoning them individually, but they still refused. Mayer concludes that the queen did not approve of the expedition and wished to prevent Baldwin from gaining a reputation as a political leader in the northern crusader states. Baldwin went anyway, that being his duty, accompanied by Humphrey II, lord of Toron,
Guy I Brisebarre, lord of Beirut, and the army of Tripoli. Upon arrival in Antioch, Baldwin found that Mesud had gone, but Nur ad-Din had encircled the entire region of
Turbessel. Emperor
Manuel I Komnenos offered an annual income for Countess
Beatrice and her family in return for the cession of the six remaining fortresses of the County of Edessa: Turbessel,
Ravendan,
Aintab,
Duluk,
Bira, and
Samosata. Baldwin convinced the northern nobles that the fortresses could not be held against the Turks and that the Byzantine proposal should be accepted. In this bargain, Mayer sees the first emergence of the young king's political foresight and diplomatic ability: by selling the indefensible fortresses to the Byzantines, he ensured that the blame for their inevitable capture by the Turks would fall on Emperor
Manuel I Komnenos rather than on himself. The Byzantines lost the fortresses within a few months, and they were divided among the
Seljuks of Rum, the
Artuqids, and the Zengids. After conferring with the nobles in Antioch, Baldwin and Count
Raymond II of Tripoli went to Turbessel to install a Byzantine garrison in the fortress and escort the Christians to safety. Nur ad-Din harassed them on their way to Aintab, where Humphrey II of Toron and the Antiochene nobleman
Robert II of Sourdeval expressed confidence that they would be able to hold it if it were granted to one of them. Baldwin refused to renege on his agreement with the emperor and had the Byzantines installed in Aintab as well. They then continued their march, with the king leading the vanguard and the lord of Toron and count of Tripoli safeguarding the rear, until they reached Christian territory. William of Tyre reports that they were plagued by dust, thirst, and the August heat. Baldwin then returned to Antioch.
Civil war In June 1151, Baldwin campaigned against Nur ad-Din in the Hauran. In July, a 70-ship fleet from Egypt targeted Jaffa, Acre, Sidon, Beirut, and Tripoli; Mayer presumes that the king was involved in the defense of these areas. That same year, Melisende consolidated her position in the south, where Baldwin had started to interfere, by naming her younger son, Amalric,
count of Jaffa. Mayer surmises that Baldwin did not approve of this and that, in dissolving the chancery and cultivating her own vassalry, the queen was splitting the kingdom while avoiding a formal division. According to Mayer, Baldwin may have feared that his mother would set up his younger brother as an
anti-king. Baldwin took decisive action in early 1152. He demanded from the patriarch, Fulcher, a confirmatory coronation on Easter that would involve crowning only him and not also his mother. This would, in the eyes of the multitudes gathered in the Holy Sepulchre for Easter, signify the end of the co-reign and the start of Baldwin's sole reign, blessed by the Church. The Church supported Melisende, but the patriarch could not outright deny the king's request. He therefore pleaded with Baldwin to agree to another joint coronation. This would have been counter-productive to Baldwin, so he resorted to deception: he requested that the patriarch crown neither him nor the queen, but the day after Easter staged a solemn procession wearing a
laurel wreath in Jerusalem, the center of his mother's zone of influence. Baldwin's Easter demonstration was so severe that the
High Court convened to discuss the matter. Baldwin demanded from his mother a formal division of the kingdom and a share of inheritance from his grandfather. Melisende argued that the whole kingdom belonged to her by hereditary right, but agreed to cede a half to Baldwin, thereby painting him as the troublemaker. According to William, Baldwin was allowed to choose his share in the partition, and he chose Acre and Tyre; Mayer notes that he could not have chosen anything else because this was the only area where he exercised control. Hamilton considers Baldwin's request "criminally irresponsible" because the kingdom was too small to survive a division, while Mayer argues that the High Court merely ratified the state of affairs that had been in place since 1150. The division of the kingdom, imposed by Baldwin over his mother's objections, was brief. After publicly revealing her vulnerability, he moved quickly. He appointed Humphrey of Toron to serve as his constable and then proclaimed that one half of the kingdom would not suffice for a king. He assembled a force and besieged Manasses at Mirabel, forcing him to surrender and leave the Latin East forever. He then proceeded to occupy the unfortified town of
Nablus, where his mother had fled, and pursued her to Jerusalem. Her barons deserted her, leaving her only with her core supporters, such as her son Amalric, Rohard the Elder, and Philip of Nablus. They retired with the queen to the citadel in the
Tower of David. Patriarch Fulcher at this point emerged in support of the queen: accompanied by his clergy, he went to meet Baldwin outside of the city and implored that he respect the agreement with his mother. Baldwin refused, and Fulcher threatened him with being shunned by the Church before angrily returning to the city. After the citizens sided with Baldwin and opened their gates to him, he attacked the Tower of David with
ballistae, bows, and
mangonels. The battle lasted several days as the besieged defended themselves valiantly; a settlement was then negotiated by which the queen would cede Jerusalem to Baldwin and retire to Nablus, while Baldwin swore an oath not to disturb her in that town. ==Sole reign==