The Crusader States

by Malcolm Barber

  31. Murray, ‘Baldwin II and his Nobles, 76–8.

  32. Barisan had been third in the list of prominent seculars at the council of Nablus in 1120. See Chapter 6, p. 130.

  33. WT, 14. 16–18, pp. 652–5.

  34. WT, 14.15, p. 652. The phrase used by William is cum domina regina familiaria nimis misceret colloquia, which has a graceful ambiguity.

  35. Mayer, ‘Queen Melisende’, 98–113, and Hamilton, ‘Women in the Crusader States’, pp. 148–51. From the beginning of the reign Fulk seems to have been anxious to emphasise his position. See the grant to the hospital for the poor at Nablus, dating from the mid–1130s, in which he stresses that Baldwin ‘made me his heir in the kingdom of Jerusalem’: R. Hiestand, ‘Zwei unbekannte Diplome der lateinischen Könige von Jerusalem aus Lucca’, Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken, 50 (1970), 8–33, 54–5; ULKJ, vol. 1, no. 131, pp. 302–4.

  36. Orderic Vitalis, vol. 6, bk 12, pp. 390–2. Orderic's comment that initially Fulk ‘acted without the foresight and shrewdness he should have shown’ is very similar to that of Ibn al-Qalanisi. See H.E. Mayer, ‘Angevins versus Normans: The New Men of King Fulk of Jerusalem’, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 133 (1989), 1–25.

  37. Murray, ‘Baldwin II and his Nobles’, 77–81.

  38. See B. Kühnel, Crusader Art of the Twelfth Century: A Geographical, an Historical or an Art Historical Notion?, Berlin, 1994, pp. 34–41.

  39. When Emma married Eustace Grenier, she had brought with her Jericho and its dependencies, worth 5,000 gold pieces annually in William of Tyre's time. This, says William, had belonged to the patriachate of Jerusalem but had been conferred on her by Arnulf of Chocques: WT, 11.15, p. 519.

  40. Richard, Crusades, pp. 139–40.

  41. Asbridge, ‘Alice of Antioch’, 42–3. The political role of the sisters reflects the wider importance of women in the crusader states, where Jean Richard has characterised their status as ‘more western than eastern’. Not only could they act as regents, but they could also govern lordships and receive homage and, in everyday affairs, could appear in public without a veil, in contrast to women in Palermo, another society of mixed cultural values. In the crusader states, the keeping of women in seclusion seems to have been exceptional. See Richard, ‘Le statut de la femme’, 388.

  42. Mayer, ‘Queen Melisende’, 110.

  43. See, for example, the confirmation to the canons of the Holy Sepulchre of 4 December 1138, made ‘with the assent of Queen Melisende and her son Baldwin’, Cartulaire du Saint-Sépulcre, no. 32, pp. 95–6; ULKJ, vol. 1, no. 141, p. 326. Cf. Baldwin II's confirmation to the canons in the last year of his life, made ‘in the presence of the count of Anjou and my daughter Melisende, with their approval and consent’, Cartulaire du Saint-Sépulcre, no. 31, pp. 94–5; ULKJ, vol. 1, no. 124, p. 288. Even so, the queen did not have any role in Antioch, where her consent was not sought: see Mayer, ‘Queen Melisende’, 109–10.

  44. WT, 14.18, pp. 655–6.

  45. Cartulaire du Saint-Sépulcre, no. 74, pp. 173–4; ULKJ, vol. 1, no. 130, p. 302. His designation is bajulus et tutor Antiocheni principatus.

  46. WT, 15.27, p. 711. William says that Amalric, whom he knew well, was aged seven when the king died, which is believed to have been in mid-November 1143.

  47. WT, 14.20, p. 658. Tr. Babcock and Krey, vol. 2, p. 178.

  48. Hodierna is shown as countess of Tripoli in a charter of 4 December 1138 at Acre: ULKJ, vol. 1, no. 141, p. 326.

  49. WT, 17.19, pp. 786–7.

  50. See Friedman, Encounter between Enemies, p. 183.

  51. See Chapter 5, p. 114.

  52. Peregrinationes Tres, p. 68.

  53. See Pringle, Churches, vol. 3, pp. 142–3, 155; Folda, Art of the Crusaders, pp. 64–5, 133, 522, n. 71.

  54. See H.E. Mayer, ‘Fontevrault und Bethanien: Kirchliches Leben in Anjou und Jerusalem im 12. Jahrhundert’, Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, 102 (1991), 34–7, who argues that she was forced into monastic life and that Melisende's omission from the Obituary of the great house of Fontevrault in Maine, on which several other members of the family are enrolled, apparently at Iveta's request, reflects resentment of her elder sister. This may be significant because a house's obituary list recorded anniversary dates of those for whom they should pray. A claim based on the Byzantine concept of porphyrogenitus (that is, ‘born in the purple') was twice used in the kingdom in the 1180s: see J. Riley-Smith, The Feudal Nobility and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1174–1277, London, 1973, pp. 104, 108.

  55. John 11: 1–45; Luke 10: 38–42; Mark 11: 1–11.

  56. Cartulaire du Saint-Sépulcre, no. 34, pp. 98–100; ULKJ, vol. 1, no. 138, pp. 315–21. Mayer, ‘Fontevrault und Bethanien’, 15, stresses the importance of this document, as ninety-one people participated, and it has a witness list longer than any other issued by a king of jerusalem. Thecua, however, was in a more exposed position than Bethany. In 1139, it was abandoned by its inhabitants, who, when they realised they were about to be attacked, hid in caves. A force sent to drive off the attackers was badly beaten. See WT, 15.6, pp. 681–4, and Chapter 7, p. 163.

  57. According to an anonymous pilgrim account, as early as the first decade of the twelfth century, the place was ‘much frequented by the faithful, and by the Jews as well’: tr. JP, p. 188. The east church, originally that of St Lazarus, had been rededicated to Mary and Martha in the early twelfth century: Pringle, Churches, vol. 1, p. 124.

  58. See Pringle, Churches, vol. 1, nos 59–60, pp. 122–37, and plans.

  59. WT, 15.26, pp. 709–10; L'Estoire d'Eracles empereur et la conqueste de la Terre d'Outremer, in RHCr, Occid., vol. 1 (i), p. 700. The Eracles is a French translation of William of Tyre, composed as an epic chronicle for a western, knightly audience. It was written sometime between 1204 and 1234 by a cleric who was in the Holy Land after c.1180 and was therefore in a position to add extra details from his own observation. He could easily have visited Bethany. See J.H. Pryor, ‘The Eracles and William of Tyre: An Interim Report’, in The Horns of Hattin, ed. B.Z. Kedar, London, 1992, pp. 270–93, and B. Hamilton, ‘The Old French Translation of William of Tyre as an Historical Source’, in The Experience of Crusading, vol. 2, ed. P.W. Edbury and J. Phillips, Cambridge, 2003, pp. 93–112.

  60. Mayer, ‘Fontevrault und Bethanien’, 14–16, 25–6.

  61. In addition, Bethany had a dependency in the city of Jerusalem and local priories near Nablus and in Tripoli: see Mayer, ‘Fontevrault und Bethanien’, 18. See also, however, Pringle, Churches, vol. 1, p. 124, who does not believe that this was a double house. However, Pringle's plan and Mayer's belief in a double house are not necessarily incompatible.

  62. Cartulaire du Saint-Sépulcre, no. 38, p. 108; ULKJ, vol. 1, no. 210, p. 393, mentions Matilda as abbess (1144); RRH, no. 327, p. 84, shows that Iveta had succeeded by 1157. See Mayer, ‘Fontevrault und Bethanien’, 19, 30–8. Mayer believes she may have been Fulk's daughter, Matilda of Anjou. She had become a nun at Fontevrault in 1128, at the time when Fulk was finalising his arrangements before his departure for the East; Mayer argues that William of Tyre, who had left the kingdom in 1145, was mistaken in his belief that the abbess had died in office, as in 1149 Matilda became abbess of Fontevrault. Matilda, however, was a common name, and it would be surprising if William was unaware that she was Fulk's daughter, despite his absence from the kingdom.

  63. Robert of Torigni, ‘Chronicle’, in Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I, vol. 4, ed. R. Howlett, RS 82, London, 1889, p. 205. Robert was abbot of Mont-Saint-Michel between 1154 and his death in 1186 and, as such, was well placed to gather information from pilgrims. See Hamilton, ‘Ideals of Holiness’, 698–9.

  64. See Folda, Art of the Crusaders, p. 154.

  65. See Mayer, Die Kanzlei, vol. 1, pp. 173–4, and H.E. Mayer, ‘Guillaume de Tyr à l'école’, Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres de Dijon, 127 (1988), 257–65, where he shows that Wi
lliam retained his admiration for John throughout his life.

  66. Buchthal, Miniature Painting, pp. 21–2.

  67. Folda, Art of the Crusaders, pp. 100–5, and colour plates 5–7.

  68. See J. Backhouse, ‘The Case of Queen Melisende's Psalter: An Historical Investigation’, in Tributes to Jonathan J.G. Alexander: The Making and Meaning of Illuminated Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, Art and Architecture, ed. S. L'Engle and G. Guest, London, 2006, p. 458; Folda, Art of the Crusaders, pp. 162–3, who suggests that the Armenian element may be the result of Melisende's patronage, given her mother's background.

  69. Folda, Art of the Crusaders, p. 155, thinks that the library had been abandoned by the Greeks in 1099.

  70. It did not, however, disappear, for the chapter of the Holy Sepulchre was initially re-established in Tyre (which Saladin had not taken) and then in Acre, when the city was recaptured in 1191: see Buchthal, Miniature Painting, pp. xxx.

  71. Folda, Art of the Crusaders, pp. 282–3, 337–47, colour plate 16, for the Gospel of St John.

  72. For the most thorough analyses, see Buchthal, Miniature Painting, pp. 1–14, and Folda, Art of the Crusaders, pp. 137–62, colour plates 8–13.

  73. WT, 14.22, pp. 659–60.

  74. WT, 14.8, pp. 639–40.

  75. Eracles, 14.8, p. 617.

  76. WT, 14.22, p. 659. Tr. Babcock and Krey, vol. 2, p. 80.

  77. WT, 14.22, pp. 659–61. See Pringle, Churches, vol. 1, p. 95.

  78. Cart., vol. 1, no. 116, pp. 97–8; ULKJ, vol. 1, no. 135, pp. 310–14. See A. Forey, ‘The Militarisation of the Hospital of St John’, Studia Monastica, 26 (1984), 82.

  79. See A. Kloner and M. Cohen, ‘Die Kreuzfahrerburg Beth Guvrin’, in Burgen und Städte der Kreuzzugszeit, Studien zur internationalen Architektur- und Kunstgeschichte, 65, Petersberg, 2008, pp. 285–92.

  80. See A.J. Boas and A.M. Maeir, ‘The Frankish Castle of Blanche Garde and the Medieval and Modern Village of Tell es-Safi in the Light of Recent Discoveries’, Crusades, 8 (2009), 19–22.

  81. WT, 15.24–5, pp. 706–9. Barisan is called Balian the Elder in William's narrative, apparently because of changes in fashion in pronunciation. He may also have received the castle of Mirabel on the road between Jerusalem and Caesarea at this time, although this is not certain, see Edbury, John of Ibelin, pp. 4–5.

  82. Cart., vol. 1, no. 399, pp. 272–3 (1168), no. 509, p. 350 (1177–87). See J. Riley-Smith, The Knights of St John in Jerusalem and Cyprus, c.1050–1310, London, 1967, pp. 435–7.

  83. See Smail, Crusading Warfare, pp. 204–9, for a discussion of the functions of these castles.

  84. WT, 15.6, pp. 681–4. The attempts to defend the kingdom in the king's absence were among the earliest recorded military engagements of the Templars, in this case under Robert of Craon, who had succeeded Hugh of Payns as master.

  85. See Chapter 5, pp. 104–5.

  86. WT, 15.21, pp. 703–4. See Smail, Crusading Warfare, pp. 218–21; Kennedy, Crusader Castles, pp. 45–51; Pringle, Secular Buildings, no. 124, pp. 59–60, for discussion and literature.

  87. WT, 22.29(28), p. 1056.

  88. See M.-L. Favreau-Lilie, ‘Landesausbau und Burg während der Kreuzfahrerzeit: Safad in Obergalilaea’, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palastina-Vereins, 96 (1980), 67–71.

  89. WT, 14.17, 19, pp. 654, 656–7. William says that at this time Fulk and Rainier were engaged in the siege of Jaffa in the conflict with Hugh of Le Puiset, but Ibn al-Qalanisi places the siege of Banyas in December 1132, when the king must still have been preoccupied in the north. Not surprisingly, William's dating of the events of the 1130s lacks precision.

  90. Ibn al-Qalanisi, pp. 215–18.

  91. WT, 14.22, p. 660.

  92. Mukaddasi, p. 24.

  93. For a summary of its history and layout, see A. Grabois, ‘La cité de Baniyas et le château de Subeibeh pendant les croisades’, Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, 13 (1970), 43–55.

  94. WT, 15.7–11, pp. 684–91; Ibn al-Qalanisi, pp. 245, 247–8, 253–61.

  95. WT, 13.19, pp. 610–11.

  96. WT, 14.29, pp. 669–70; Ibn al-Qalanisi, pp. 242–3. These events were soon known in the West, since Orderic Vitalis, vol. 6, pp. 494–503, recounts stories about them in his thirteenth and last book. His information had come from returning pilgrims.

  97. Ibn al-Qalanisi, p. 252.

  98. Cart., vol. 1, no. 144, pp. 116–18. The charter is dated 1142, indiction 7, but 1142 is indiction 5, so it may belong to 1144. However, the mistake is more likely to be in the indiction than the year, of which everybody would have been aware, while the cession of rights held five years before would only make sense if Raymond were talking about 1137 and not 1139, when he had already lost Montferrand and Raphaniya.

  99. Ibn al-Qalanisi, p. 127. Shortly before his death, Tancred had urged Pons to marry his widow, Cecilia, so the settlement of these fiefs may have been part of such an arrangement. Pons was still a boy in 1112 and the marriage did not take place until 1115. See Chapter 5, p. 103.

  100. See J. Richard, ‘Cum omni raisagio montanee … À propos de la cession du Crac aux Hospitaliers’, in Itinéraires d'Orient; Hommages à Claude Cahen (Res Orientales, VI), Paris, 1994, pp. 187–93.

  101. Although the counts had had a constable since at least 1110–11, in the person of the long-serving Roger, last mentioned in 1127, RRH, no. 58, p. 13, no. 118, p. 29, there is little evidence of other leading officials. However, in addition to the three named in the charter, Raymond II had a seneschal and a chamberlain: RRH, no. 191, p. 47, dated December 1139. See Richard, Comté, pp. 71–8, on the operation of the High Court in the county, and pp. 81–3, on the court of the burgesses.

  102. Cart., vol. 1, no. 160, p. 130; ULKJ, vol. 1, no. 170, p. 349.

  103. See Luttrell, ‘The Earliest Hospitallers’, pp. 53–4, and Richard, Comté, p. 62.

  104. See Riley-Smith, Knights of St John, pp. 55–6, and Forey, ‘Militarisation of the Hospital’, 81–3.

  105. WT, 14.23, pp. 661–2.

  106. See J. Richard, ‘Vassaux, tributaires ou alliés? Les chefferies montagnardes et les Ismaîliens dans l'orbite des Etats des croisés’, in Die Kreuzfahrerstaaten als multikulturelle Gesellschaft, Schriften des historischen Kollegs, Kolloquien, 37, ed. H.E. Mayer, Munich, 1997, pp. 141–52.

  107. Richard, ‘À propos de la cession du Crac’, 192.

  108. WT, 14.12, p. 658. See Chapter 7, p. 153.

  109. WT, 14.10, p. 641. Tr. Babcock and Krey, vol. 2, p. 60.

  110. Hamilton, ‘Ralph of Domfront’, 4–6.

  111. WT, 14.20–1, pp. 657–9. Tr. Babcock and Krey, pp. 77–80.

  112. Edbury and Rowe, William of Tyre, p. 46, suggest that he may have had access to a narrative for the period, but there is nothing extant, and that personal witness was equally likely to have been his main source.

  113. Asbridge, ‘Alice of Antioch’, 44–5.

  114. John Kinnamos, Deeds of John and Manuel Comnenus, tr. C.M. Brand, Columbia Records of Civilization, 95, New York, 1976, p. 22. Most historians see this proposal as emanating from Alice, but there is no evidence for this. Kinnamos places the events after Bohemond's death and refers to the Antiochene leaders as the proponents. Asbridge, ‘Alice of Antioch’, 46, questions the traditional chronology.

  115. WT, 14.24, p. 663. Tr. Babcock and Krey, vol. 2, p. 83. WT, 14.30, p. 670; Kinnamos, pp. 22–4; Continuation of Gregory the Priest, in Armenia and the Crusades, tr. Dostourian, p. 241. Gregory came from Kesoun and appears to be continuing the chronicle of Matthew of Edessa. See G. Beech, ‘A Little-Known Armenian Historian of the Crusading Period: Gregory the Priest (1136–62)’, in Truth as Gift: Studies in Medieval Cistercian History in Honor of John R. Sommerfeldt, ed. M.L. Dutton, D.M. La Corte and P. Lockey, Cistercian Studies Series, 204, Kalmazoo, 2004, pp. 119–21. Gregory says that Leon and his family were removed to Constantinople, where Leon died.

  116. WT, 14. 24, pp. 662–3. Tr. Babcock and Krey, p. 84. Pope Innocent I
I was sufficiently alarmed to issue a bull forbidding any Latins serving in the imperial army or living in Byzantine territories from taking part in any attack on Antioch: Cartulaire du Saint-Sépulcre, no. 10, pp. 51–2.

  117. WT, 14.30, pp. 670–1. William says he swore ligiam and fidelitatem. Kinnamos, p. 24.

  118. Kinnamos, p. 25; O City of Byzantium: Annals of Niketas Choniates, tr. H.J. Magoulias, Detroit, 1984, p. 18; Ibn al-Qalanisi, p. 248. Shaizar was the home city of Usamah ibn Munqidh, but he has only anecdotes about the siege: Memoirs of Usmah Ibn-Munqidh, pp. 122, 143–4.

  119. Ibn al-Qalanisi, pp. 249–51, for the attack on Aleppo.

  120. WT, 15.1–3, pp. 674–8. See B. Hamilton, ‘William of Tyre and the Byzantine Empire’, in Porphyrogenita: Essays on the History and Literature of Byzantium and the Latin East in Honour of Julian Chrysostomides, ed. C. Dendrinos, J. Harris, E. Harvalia-Crook and J. Herrin, Aldershot, 2003, p. 223.

  121. WT, 15,4–5, pp. 678–81.

  122. Kinnamos, p. 25.

  123. Kinnamos, pp. 26–7.

  124. WT, 15.19, pp. 700–1.

  125. WT, 15.20, pp. 701–2. Tr. Babcock and Krey, pp. 124–5. The phrase per ignaviam Grecorum suggests cowardice as well as idleness.

  126. WT, 14.30, p. 670. Tr. Babcock and Krey, p. 92.

  127. Niketas Choniates, p. 22. See J. Harris, Byzantium and the Crusades, London, 2003, pp. 82–9, for the differing perceptions of the Greeks and Latins of the proper order in Syria and Palestine.

  128. Kinnamos, pp. 27–31; WT, 15.23, pp. 705–6.

  129. Hamilton, ‘Ralph of Domfront’, 20–1.

  130. Ibn al-Qalanisi, pp. 245–6.

  131. WT, 15.12–17, pp. 691–9, sets out the history of these events in Rome and Antioch.

  132. A previous legate, Peter, archbishop of Lyon, had died at Acre in May 1139: WT, 15.11, pp. 688–9.

  133. See R. Hiestand, ‘Ein neuer Bericht über das Konzil von Antiochia 1140’, Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum, 20 (1988), 314–50. Hiestand suggests that the witness could be Baldwin, chancellor of the patriarch of Jerusalem (later archbishop of Caesarea).