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170-580: While the symbol of the five-fold cross appears to originate in the 11th century, its association with the Kingdom of Jerusalem dates to the second half of the 13th century. The symbolism of the five-fold cross is variously given as the Five Wounds of Christ , Christ and the four evangelists , or Christ and the four quarters of the world . The symbolism of five crosses representing the Five Wounds

340-501: A pilgrimage in 1120. He brought Jerusalem into the sphere of the Angevin Empire , as the father of Geoffrey V of Anjou and grandfather of the future Henry II of England . Not everyone appreciated the imposition of a foreigner as king. In 1132 Antioch, Tripoli, and Edessa all asserted their independence and conspired to prevent Fulk from exercising the suzerainty of Jerusalem over them. He defeated Tripoli in battle, and settled

510-805: A Jerusalem cross to those who accompanied him at the inauguration of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem . In the early 20th century, the Jerusalem cross also came to be used as a symbol of world evangelisation in Protestantism. A derived design known as the " Episcopal Church Service Cross " was first used during World War I by the Anglican Episcopal Church in the United States . The Jerusalem cross

680-487: A Muslim garrison to occupy his fief in Tiberias , probably hoping that Saladin would help him overthrow Guy. Saladin, meanwhile, had pacified his Mesopotamian territories, and was now eager to attack the crusader kingdom; he did not intend to renew the truce when it expired in 1187. Before the truce expired, Raynald of Chatillon, the lord of Oultrejourdain and of Kerak and one of Guy's chief supporters, recognized that Saladin

850-648: A certain unity in Gaul, Charles saved it from a great peril. In 711 the Arabs had conquered Spain. In 720 they crossed the Pyrenees, seized Narbonensis, a dependency of the kingdom of the Visigoths, and advanced on Gaul. By his able policy Odo succeeded in arresting their progress for some years; but a new vali, Abdur Rahman , a member of an extremely fanatical sect, resumed the attack, reached Poitiers, and advanced on Tours,

1020-626: A cessation of hostilities if Chilperic would recognize his rights as mayor of the palace in Austrasia. The refusal was not unexpected but served to impress upon Charles's forces the unreasonableness of the Neustrians. They met near Cambrai at the Battle of Vincy on 21 March 717. The victorious Charles pursued the fleeing king and mayor to Paris, but as he was not yet prepared to hold the city, he turned back to deal with Plectrude and Cologne. He took

1190-400: A child in Jerusalem. The few European knights who did travel to Jerusalem did not even see any combat, since the truce with Saladin had been re-established. William V of Montferrat was one of the few who came to his grandson Baldwin V's aid. Baldwin V's rule, with Raymond of Tripoli as regent and his great-uncle Joscelin of Edessa as his guardian, was short. He was a sickly child and died in

1360-464: A darker reputation, for his alleged abuse of church property. A ninth-century text, the Visio Eucherii , possibly written by Hincmar of Reims , portrayed Charles as suffering in hell for this reason. According to British medieval historian Paul Fouracre , this was "the single most important text in the construction of Charles's reputation as a seculariser or despoiler of church lands". By

1530-568: A fourth time, to Aimery of Lusignan , Guy's brother. Aimery had already inherited Cyprus from Guy, and had been crowned king by Frederick Barbarossa's son, Emperor Henry VI . Henry led a crusade in 1197 but died along the way. Nevertheless, his troops recaptured Beirut and Sidon for the kingdom before returning home in 1198. A five-year truce was then concluded with the Ayyubids in Syria in 1198. The Ayyubid empire had fallen into civil war after

1700-532: A large Byzantine fleet of some 300 ships to assist Amalric, and the town of Damietta was placed under siege. However, the Byzantine fleet sailed with enough provisions for only three months. By the time the Crusaders were ready, supplies were already running out and the fleet retired. Each side sought to blame the other for the failure, but both knew that they could not take Egypt without the other's assistance:

1870-736: A location between the French cities of Tours and Poitiers , in a victory described by the Continuations of Fredegar . According to the historian Bernard Bachrach , the Arab army, mostly mounted, failed to break through the Frankish infantry. News of this battle spread, and may be recorded in Bede's Ecclesiastical History (Book V, ch. 23). However, it is not given prominence in Arabic sources from

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2040-568: A new, better-organized crusade against Egypt. In late 1217 King Andrew II of Hungary and Duke Leopold VI of Austria arrived in Acre and, along with John of Brienne, raided territory further inland, including Mount Tabor , but without success. After the departure of the Hungarians, the remaining Crusaders set about refortifying Caesarea and the Templar fortress of Château Pèlerin throughout

2210-409: A note of unfinished business". Charles married twice, his first wife being Rotrude of Treves , daughter either of Lambert II, Count of Hesbaye , or of Leudwinus , Count of Treves. They had the following children: Most of the children married and had issue. Hiltrud married Odilo I ( Duke of Bavaria ). Landrade was once believed to have married a Sigrand (Count of Hesbania) but Sigrand's wife

2380-657: A refusal to pay tribute to Jerusalem, and requests were sent to Nur ad-Din for assistance; in response, Amalric invaded , but was turned back when the Egyptians flooded the Nile at Bilbeis . The Egyptian vizier Shawar again requested help from Nur ad-Din, who sent his general Shirkuh , but Shawar quickly turned against him and allied with Amalric. Amalric and Shirkuh both besieged Bilbeis in 1164, but both withdrew due to Nur ad-Din's campaigns against Antioch, where Bohemond III of Antioch and Raymond III of Tripoli were defeated at

2550-543: A second unsuccessful siege of Damascus by the two brothers, Al Afdal accepted a fief consisting of Samosata and a number of other towns. Az-Zahir of Aleppo submitted to his uncle in 1202, thus re-uniting the Ayyubid territories. Meanwhile, schemes were hatched to reconquer Jerusalem through Egypt. A Fourth Crusade was planned after the failure of the Third, but it resulted in the sack of Constantinople in 1204, and most of

2720-552: A series of wars fought by Frankish princes for booty and territory... One of Fredegar's continuators presented the battle of Poitiers as what it really was: an episode in the struggle between Christian princes as the Carolingians strove to bring Aquitaine under their rule." More recently, the memory of Charles has been appropriated by far right and white nationalist groups, such as the ' Charles Martel Group ' in France, and by

2890-675: A small number of Jews and Samaritans . According to Benjamin of Tudela , who travelled through the kingdom around 1170, there were 1,000 Samaritans in Nablus , 200 in Caesarea and 300 in Ascalon . This sets a lower bound for the Samaritan population at 1,500, since the contemporary Tolidah , a Samaritan chronicle, also mentions communities in Gaza and Acre . Benjamin of Tudela estimated

3060-494: Is also the symbol of Kairos, a four-day Jesuit retreat that is held for youth in high schools and parishes around the world. The four crosses are used to symbolize the motto of the retreat, "Live the fourth". The Unicode character set has a character ☩, U+2629 CROSS OF JERUSALEM in the Miscellaneous Symbols table. However, the glyph associated with that character according to the official Unicode character sheet

3230-487: Is first recorded in the context of the consecration of the St Brelade's Church under the patronage of Robert of Normandy (before 1035); the crosses are incised in the church's altar stone . The "cross-and-crosslets" or Tealby pennies minted under Henry II of England during 1158–1180 have the "Jerusalem cross" on the obverse, with the four crosslets depicted as decussate (diagonal) . Similar cross designs on

3400-483: Is shown as a simple cross potent , and not a Jerusalem cross. The Jerusalem cross is often used in frequency selective surface applications. The Jerusalem cross is an attractive choice for the periodic element because such a choice makes the frequency selective surface less sensitive to angle of incidence . Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem , also known as the Crusader Kingdom ,

3570-477: Is the only defeat of Charles's career. Charles retreated to the hills of the Eifel to gather and train men. In April 716, he fell upon the triumphant army near Malmedy as it was returning to Neustria. In the ensuing Battle of Amblève , Charles attacked as the enemy rested at midday. According to one source, he split his forces into several groups which fell at them from many sides. Another suggests that while this

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3740-493: The Battle of Cresson near Nazareth. Raymond and Guy finally agreed to attack Saladin at Tiberias, but could not agree on a plan; Raymond thought a pitched battle should be avoided, but Guy probably remembered the criticism he faced for avoiding battle in 1183, and it was decided to march out against Saladin directly. On 4 July 1187, the army of the kingdom was utterly destroyed at the Battle of Hattin . Raymond of Tripoli, Balian of Ibelin, and Reginald of Sidon escaped, but Raynald

3910-587: The Battle of Harim . It seemed likely that Antioch itself would fall to Nur ad-Din, but he withdrew when Emperor Manuel sent a large Byzantine force to the area. Nur ad-Din sent Shirkuh back to Egypt in 1166, and Shawar again allied with Amalric, who was defeated at the Battle of al-Babein . Despite the defeat, both sides withdrew, but Shawar remained in control with a crusader garrison in Cairo. Amalric cemented his alliance with Manuel by marrying Manuel's niece Maria Komnene in 1167, and an embassy led by William of Tyre

4080-581: The Ibelin family . Baldwin asserted his independence by mediating disputes in Antioch and Tripoli, and gained the support of the Ibelin brothers when they began to oppose Manasses' growing power, thanks to his marriage to their widowed mother Helvis of Ramla . In 1153 Baldwin had himself crowned as sole ruler, and a compromise was reached by which the kingdom was divided in two, with Baldwin taking Acre and Tyre in

4250-554: The Iberian Peninsula . Alongside his military endeavours, Charles has been traditionally credited with an influential role in the development of the Frankish system of feudalism . At the end of his reign, Charles divided Francia between his sons, Carloman and Pepin . The latter became the first king of the Carolingian dynasty . Pepin's son Charlemagne , grandson of Charles, extended the Frankish realms and became

4420-585: The Inquisition that the location of a sword with five crosses had been revealed to her, and that the Priests of Fierbois had found the sword in the location she described and sent it to her. Following a local tradition that the sword was a relic of Charles Martel , some have speculated the five crosses on the blade may have been the Jerusalem Cross. A banner with a variation of the Jerusalem cross

4590-462: The Khwarezmian and Mongol invaders. As a relatively minor kingdom, it received little financial or military support from Europe; despite numerous small expeditions, Europeans generally proved unwilling to undertake an expensive journey to the east for an apparently losing cause. The Mamluk sultans Baibars (reigned 1260–1277) and al-Ashraf Khalil (reigned 1290–1293) eventually reconquered all

4760-536: The Lusignan dynasty , sided with Frederick, whose father had crowned Aimery of Lusignan king in 1197. At Limassol , Frederick demanded that John give up not only the regency of Cyprus, but also John's own lordship of Beirut on the mainland. John argued that Frederick had no legal authority to make such demands and refused to give up either title. Frederick then imprisoned John's sons as hostages to guarantee John's support for his crusade. John did accompany Frederick to

4930-651: The Teutoburg Forest and thus secured the Frankish border. When the Frisian leader Radbod died in 719, Charles seized West Frisia without any great resistance on the part of the Frisians , who had been subjected to the Franks but had rebelled upon the death of Pippin. When Chilperic II died in 721, Charles appointed as his successor the son of Dagobert III, Theuderic IV , who was still a minor, and who occupied

5100-648: The Third Crusade in 1192. The original Kingdom of Jerusalem lasted from 1099 to 1187 before being almost entirely overrun by the Ayyubid Sultanate under Saladin . Following the Third Crusade, it was re-established in Acre in 1192. The re-established state is commonly known as the "Second Kingdom of Jerusalem" or, alternatively, as the "Kingdom of Acre" after its new capital city. Acre remained

5270-560: The Treaty of Ramla negotiated in 1192; Saladin allowed pilgrimages to be made to Jerusalem, allowing the crusaders to fulfil their vows, after which they all returned home. The native crusader barons set about rebuilding their kingdom from Acre and the other coastal cities. For the next hundred years, the Kingdom of Jerusalem remained a tiny kingdom hugging the Syrian coastline. Its capital

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5440-480: The "noble party", led by Raymond of Tripoli and the lesser nobility of the kingdom, who favoured peaceful co-existence with the Muslims. This is the interpretation offered by William of Tyre, who was firmly placed in the "noble" camp, and his view was taken up by subsequent historians; in the 20th century, Marshall W. Baldwin , Steven Runciman , and Hans E. Mayer favoured this interpretation. Peter W. Edbury , on

5610-469: The 720s onwards. Indeed, the anonymous Chronicle of 754 records a victory for Odo in 721 at the Battle of Toulouse , while the Liber Pontificalis records that Odo had killed 375,000 Saracens. It is more likely that this invasion or raid took place in revenge for Odo's support for a rebel Berber leader named Munnuza . Whatever the precise circumstances were, it is clear that an army under

5780-564: The Agilolfing Princess Swanachild as a second wife. In 725 and 728, he again entered Bavaria but, in 730, he marched against Lantfrid , Duke of Alemannia, who had also become independent, and killed him in battle. He forced the Alemanni to capitulate to Frankish suzerainty and did not appoint a successor to Lantfrid. Thus, southern Germany once more became part of the Frankish kingdom, as had northern Germany during

5950-577: The Anatolian Sultanate of Rum by Kilij Arslan I , and in Syria by his brother Tutush I , who died in 1095. Tutush's sons Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan and Duqaq inherited Aleppo and Damascus respectively, further dividing Syria amongst emirs antagonistic towards each other, as well as Kerbogha , the atabeg of Mosul . This disunity among the Anatolian and Syrian emirs allowed the Crusaders to overcome any military opposition they faced on

6120-530: The Byzantine Empire in 1261) used an extended form of the Jerusalem cross, where each of the four crosslets was itself surrounded by four smaller crosslets (a "Jerusalem cross of Jerusalem crosses"). In late medieval heraldry the Crusader's cross was used for various Crusader states. The 14th-century Book of All Kingdoms uses it as the flag of Sebasteia . The Pizzigano chart , dating from about

6290-479: The Byzantine Empire, by marrying Theodora Comnena , a niece of emperor Manuel; Manuel married Baldwin's cousin Maria . As William of Tyre put it, it was hoped that Manuel would be able "to relieve from his own abundance the distress under which our realm was suffering and to change our poverty into superabundance". The relationship between Byzantium and Jerusalem has divided historians, with some historians supporting

6460-475: The Byzantine interpretation that Amalric recognised Manuel as his overlord, while other scholars such as Andrew Jotischky see the relationship as one of Byzantine protection of Orthodox Christians in Jerusalem. When Baldwin died childless in 1162, a year after his mother Melisende, the kingdom passed to his brother Amalric, who renewed the alliance negotiated by Baldwin. In 1163 the chaotic situation in Egypt led to

6630-455: The Frankish army against Saladin's incursions into the kingdom, but neither side made any real gains, and Guy was criticized by his opponents for not striking against Saladin when he had the chance. In October 1183, Isabella married Humphrey of Toron at Kerak during a siege by Saladin, who perhaps hoped to take some valuable prisoners. As King Baldwin, although now blind and crippled, had recovered enough to resume his reign and his command of

6800-540: The Franks and Mayor of the Palace , was the de facto ruler of the Franks from 718 until his death. He was a son of the Frankish statesman Pepin of Herstal and a noblewoman named Alpaida . Charles successfully asserted his claims to power as successor to his father as the power behind the throne in Frankish politics. Continuing and building on his father's work, he restored centralized government in Francia and began

6970-628: The Franks in return for legitimate royal affirmation of his own mayoralty over all the kingdoms. Between 718 and 732, Charles secured his power through a series of victories. Having unified the Franks under his banner, Charles was determined to punish the Saxons who had invaded Austrasia. Therefore, late in 718, he laid waste their country to the banks of the Weser , the Lippe , and the Ruhr . He defeated them in

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7140-543: The Great (or Eudes, as he is sometimes known), the duke of Aquitaine , who had become independent during the civil war in 715, but was again defeated, at the Battle of Soissons , by Charles. Chilperic fled with his ducal ally to the land south of the Loire and Raganfrid fled to Angers . Soon Chlotar IV died and Odo surrendered King Chilperic in exchange for Charles recognizing his dukedom. Charles recognized Chilperic as king of

7310-563: The Holy Sepulchre to establish a king for the newly created Kingdom of Jerusalem. Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse and Godfrey of Bouillon were recognized as the leaders of the crusade and the siege of Jerusalem. Raymond was the wealthier and more powerful of the two, but at first he refused to become king, perhaps attempting to show his piety and probably hoping that the other nobles would insist upon his election anyway. The more popular Godfrey did not hesitate like Raymond, and accepted

7480-686: The Holy Sepulchre uses the Jerusalem cross as its emblem, in red, which is also used in the coat of arms of the Custodian of the Holy Land , head of the Franciscan friars who serve at the holy Christian sites in Jerusalem, and whose work is supported by the Order. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem , affiliated with the Order, also uses the Jerusalem cross in its emblem. The Jerusalem cross

7650-503: The Ibelins (now closely allied to Conrad) argued that Isabella and Humphrey's marriage was illegal, as she had been underage at the time; underlying this was the fact that Humphrey had betrayed his wife's cause in 1186. The marriage was annulled amid some controversy. Conrad, who was now the nearest kinsman to Baldwin V in the male line, and had already proved himself a capable military leader, then married Isabella, but Guy refused to concede

7820-654: The Latin patriarch, there were four suffragan archdioceses and numerous dioceses. During Baldwin I 's reign, the kingdom expanded even further. The number of European inhabitants increased, as the minor crusade of 1101 brought reinforcements to the kingdom. Baldwin repopulated Jerusalem with Franks and native Christians, after his expedition across the Jordan in 1115. With help from the Italian city-states and other adventurers, notably King Sigurd I of Norway , Baldwin captured

7990-587: The Latins of Jerusalem ". Daimbert compromised by crowning Baldwin I in Bethlehem rather than Jerusalem, but the path for a monarchy had been laid. Within this framework, a Catholic church hierarchy was established, overtop of the local Eastern Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox authorities, who retained their own hierarchies (the Catholics considered them schismatics and thus illegitimate, and vice versa). Under

8160-489: The Pippinid wealth at Cologne. The Neustrians allied with another invading force under Redbad, King of the Frisians and met Charles in battle near Cologne , which was still held by Plectrude. Charles had little time to gather men or prepare and the result was inevitable. The Frisians held off Charles, while the king and his mayor besieged Plectrude at Cologne, where she bought them off with a substantial portion of Pepin's treasure. After that they withdrew. The Battle of Cologne

8330-408: The Seljuks in 1073; they recaptured it in 1098 from the Artuqids , a smaller Turkish tribe associated with the Seljuks, just before the arrival of the crusaders. The Crusaders arrived at Jerusalem in June 1099; a few of the neighbouring towns ( Ramla , Lydda , Bethlehem , and others) were taken first, and Jerusalem itself was captured on July 15. On 22 July, a council was held in the Church of

8500-417: The Teutonic Knights , arrived in the east late in 1227, and while waiting for the emperor they set about refortifying Sidon , where they built the sea castle , and Montfort , which later became the headquarters of the Teutonic Knights . The Ayyubids of Damascus did not dare attack, as al-Mu'azzam had suddenly died not long before. Frederick finally arrived on the Sixth Crusade in September 1228, and claimed

8670-407: The Tower of David and the banner of the Kingdom of Jerusalem", but not the crown itself, to both Philip II of France and Henry II of England ; the latter, as a grandson of Fulk, was a first cousin of the royal family of Jerusalem, and had promised to go on crusade after the murder of Thomas Becket . Both kings preferred to remain at home to defend their own territories, rather than act as regent for

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8840-414: The Younger Neustria, Burgundy, Provence, and Metz and Trier in the "Mosel duchy". Grifo was given several lands throughout the kingdom, but at a later date, just before Charles died. Earlier in his life Charles had many internal opponents and felt the need to appoint his own kingly claimant, Chlotar IV . Later, however, the dynamics of rulership in Francia had changed, and no hallowed Merovingian ruler

9010-434: The alliance was maintained, and plans for another campaign in Egypt were made, which ultimately were to come to nought. In the end, Nur ad-Din was victorious and Saladin established himself as Sultan of Egypt . Saladin soon began to assert his independence from Nur ad-Din, and with the death of both Amalric and Nur ad-Din in 1174, he was well-placed to begin exerting control over Nur ad-Din's Syrian possessions as well. Upon

9180-550: The army after Fulk's death, but Edessa could not be recaptured, despite Zengi's own assassination in 1146. The fall of Edessa shocked Europe, and a Second Crusade arrived in 1148. After meeting in Acre in June, the crusading kings Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany agreed with Melisende, Baldwin III and the major nobles of the kingdom to attack Damascus . Zengi's territory had been divided amongst his sons after his death, and Damascus no longer felt threatened, so an alliance had been made with Zengi's son Nur ad-Din ,

9350-537: The army, Guy was removed from the regency and his five-year-old stepson, King Baldwin's nephew and namesake Baldwin , was crowned as co-king in November. King Baldwin himself then went to relieve the castle, carried on a litter, and attended by his mother. He was reconciled with Raymond of Tripoli and appointed him military commander. The siege was lifted in December and Saladin retreated to Damascus. Saladin attempted another siege in 1184, but Baldwin repelled that attack as well, and Saladin raided Nablus and other towns on

9520-439: The atabeg Zengi of Mosul, who had taken control of Aleppo and had set his sights on Damascus as well; the union of these three states would have been a serious blow to the growing power of Jerusalem. A brief intervention in 1137–1138 by the Byzantine emperor John II Comnenus , who wished to assert imperial suzerainty over all the crusader states, did nothing to stop the threat of Zengi; in 1139 Damascus and Jerusalem recognized

9690-453: The boundaries of the kingdom, by capturing Jaffa , Haifa , Tiberias , and other cities, and reducing many others to tributary status. He set the foundations for the system of vassalage in the kingdom, establishing the Principality of Galilee and the County of Jaffa , but his reign was short, and he died of an illness in 1100. His brother Baldwin of Boulogne successfully outmanoeuvred Daimbert and claimed Jerusalem for himself as " King of

9860-568: The bulk of the steady flow of reinforcements throughout the two-hundred-year span of its existence; its rulers and elite were therefore predominantly French . French Crusaders also brought their language to the Levant, thus establishing Old French as the lingua franca of the Crusader states, in which Latin served as the official language. While the majority of the population in the countryside comprised Christians and Muslims from local Levantine ethnicities, many Europeans (primarily French and Italian ) also arrived to settle in villages across

10030-427: The capital for the rest of its existence, even during the two decades that followed the Crusaders' establishment of partial control over Jerusalem during the Sixth Crusade , through the diplomacy of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen vis-à-vis the Ayyubids. The vast majority of the Crusaders who established and settled the Kingdom of Jerusalem were from the Kingdom of France , as were the knights and soldiers who made up

10200-409: The capture of Tyre that year. The influence of Jerusalem was further extended over Edessa and Antioch, where Baldwin II acted as regent when their own leaders were killed in battle, although there were regency governments in Jerusalem as well during Baldwin's captivity. Baldwin was married to the Armenian noblewoman Morphia of Melitene , and had four daughters: Hodierna and Alice , who married into

10370-459: The chances of preserving his life's work were better with a successful field commander like Charles than with Plectrude in Cologne. Willibrord subsequently baptized Charles's son Pepin . Gerberding suggests a likely date of Easter 716. Charles also received support from bishop Pepo of Verdun. Charles took time to rally more men and prepare. By the following spring, he had attracted enough support to invade Neustria. Charles sent an envoy who proposed

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10540-423: The city and dispersed her adherents. Plectrude was allowed to retire to a convent. Theudoald lived to 741 under his uncle's protection. Upon this success, Charles proclaimed Chlothar IV king in Austrasia in opposition to Chilperic and deposed Rigobert , archbishop of Reims , replacing him with Milo , a lifelong supporter. In 718, Chilperic responded to Charles's new ascendancy by making an alliance with Odo

10710-455: The civil wars of Charles' reign. The next six years were devoted in their entirety to assuring Frankish authority over the neighboring political groups. Between 720 and 723, Charles was fighting in Bavaria, where the Agilolfing dukes had gradually evolved into independent rulers, recently in alliance with Liutprand the Lombard . He forced the Alemanni to accompany him, and Duke Hugbert submitted to Frankish suzerainty. In 725 he brought back

10880-435: The coast, but could not recover Jerusalem or any of the inland territory of the kingdom. It has been suggested that this may have actually been a strategic decision by Richard rather than a failure as such, as he may have recognized that Jerusalem, in particular, was in fact a strategic liability as long as the Crusaders were obligated to defend it, as it was isolated from the sea where Western reinforcements could arrive. Conrad

11050-515: The concept of jihad came to be interpreted as a kind of counter-crusade against the kingdom, which was an impediment to Muslim unity, both political and spiritual. In Jerusalem, the Crusaders were distracted by a conflict between Melisende and Baldwin III. Melisende continued to rule as regent long after Baldwin came of age. She was supported by, among others, Manasses of Hierges, who essentially governed for her as constable; her son Amalric , whom she set up as Count of Jaffa ; Philip of Milly ; and

11220-494: The coronation, and in Nablus he suggested that Isabella and Humphrey should be crowned instead, but Humphrey refused to agree to this plan which would have certainly started a civil war. Humphrey went to Jerusalem and swore allegiance to Guy and Sibylla, as did most of Raymond's other supporters. Raymond himself refused to do so and left for Tripoli; Baldwin of Ibelin also refused, gave up his fiefs, and left for Antioch. Raymond of Tripoli allied with Saladin against Guy and allowed

11390-429: The crown. When Richard arrived in 1191, he and Philip took different sides in the succession dispute. Richard backed Guy, his vassal from Poitou, while Philip supported Conrad, a cousin of his late father Louis VII. After much ill feeling and ill health, Philip returned home in 1191, soon after the fall of Acre. Richard defeated Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf in 1191 and the Battle of Jaffa in 1192, recovering most of

11560-434: The crusader states to victory at the Battle of Azaz in 1125. His reign saw the establishment of the first military orders , the Knights Hospitaller and the Knights Templar ; the earliest surviving written laws of the kingdom, compiled at the Council of Nablus in 1120; and the first commercial treaty with the Republic of Venice , the Pactum Warmundi , in 1124. The increase of naval and military support from Venice led to

11730-646: The crusaders involved never arrived in the kingdom. Aimery, however, not knowing of the diversion to Constantinople, raided Egypt in advance of the expected invasion. Both Isabella and Aimery died in 1205 and again an underage girl, Isabella and Conrad's daughter Maria of Montferrat , became queen of Jerusalem. Isabella's half-brother John of Ibelin, the Old Lord of Beirut governed as regent until 1210 when Maria married an experienced French knight, John of Brienne . Maria died in childbirth in 1212, and John of Brienne continued to rule as regent for their daughter Isabella II . The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 called for

11900-467: The days when he was tottering on excommunication, and set the stage for his son and grandson to assert themselves in the peninsula. Charles died on 22 October 741, at Quierzy-sur-Oise in what is today the Aisne département in the Picardy region of France. He was buried at Saint Denis Basilica in Paris . His territories had been divided among his adult sons a year earlier: to Carloman he gave Austrasia, Alemannia, and Thuringia, and to Pippin

12070-416: The death of Saladin in 1193. His sons claimed various parts of his empire: az-Zahir took control of Aleppo, al-Aziz Uthman held Cairo, while his eldest son, al-Afdal , retained Damascus. Saladin's brother Al-Adil Sayf ad-Din (often called "Saphadin" by the Crusaders) acquired al-Jazira (northern Mesopotamia), and al-Adil's son al-Mu'azzam took possession of Karak and Transjordan . In 1196, al-Afdal

12240-451: The death of the pro-western Emperor Manuel in 1180, the Kingdom of Jerusalem lost its most powerful ally. The subsequent events have often been interpreted as a struggle between two opposing factions, the "court party", made up of Baldwin's mother, Amalric's first wife Agnes of Courtenay , her immediate family , and recent arrivals from Europe who were inexperienced in the affairs of the kingdom and who were in favour of war with Saladin; and

12410-456: The direction of Medina , although he did not make it that far. It was probably around this time that Raynald also attacked a Muslim caravan. The kingdom had a truce with Saladin at the time, and Raynald's actions have been seen as an independent act of brigandage; it is possible that he was trying to prevent Saladin from moving his forces north to take control of Aleppo, which would have strengthened Saladin's position. In response, Saladin attacked

12580-409: The dispute, but an assassination attempt was then made on Hugh, for which Fulk was blamed. This scandal allowed Melisende and her supporters to gain control of the government, just as her father had intended. Accordingly, Fulk "became so uxorious that...not even in unimportant cases did he take any measures without her knowledge and assistance." Fulk was then faced with a new and more dangerous enemy:

12750-542: The dividing line between wives and concubines was not clear-cut in eighth-century Francia. It is likely that the accusation of "illegitimacy" derives from the desire of Pepin's first wife Plectrude to see her progeny as heirs to Pepin's throne. By Charles's lifetime the Merovingians had ceded power to the Mayors of the Palace , who controlled the royal treasury, dispensed patronage, and granted land and privileges in

12920-594: The duke at the Battle of the Boarn . Charles ordered the Frisian pagan shrines destroyed, and so wholly subjugated the populace that the region was peaceful for twenty years after. In 735, Duke Odo of Aquitaine died. Though Charles wished to rule the duchy directly and went there to elicit the submission of the Aquitanians, the aristocracy proclaimed Odo's son, Hunald I of Aquitaine , as duke, and Charles and Hunald eventually recognised each other's position. In 737, at

13090-478: The eighteenth century, historians such as Edward Gibbon had begun to portray the Frankish leader as the saviour of Christian Europe from a full-scale Islamic invasion. In the nineteenth century, the German historian Heinrich Brunner argued that Charles had confiscated church lands in order to fund military reforms that allowed him to defeat the Arab conquests, in this way brilliantly combining two traditions about

13260-433: The emir of Aleppo. Perhaps remembering attacks launched on Jerusalem from Damascus in previous decades, Damascus seemed to be the best target for the crusade, rather than Aleppo or another city to the north which would have allowed for the recapture of Edessa. The subsequent Siege of Damascus was a complete failure; when the city seemed to be on the verge of collapse, the crusader army suddenly moved against another section of

13430-549: The failure of the crusade, John travelled throughout Europe seeking assistance, but found support only from Frederick, who then married John and Maria's daughter Isabella II in 1225. The next year, Isabella died giving birth to their son Conrad IV , who succeeded his mother to the throne although he never appeared in the East. Frederick had reneged on his promise to lead the Fifth Crusade, but was now eager to cement his claim to

13600-512: The families of the Count of Tripoli and Prince of Antioch; Ioveta , who became an influential abbess; and the eldest, Melisende , who was his heir and succeeded him upon his death in 1131, with her husband Fulk V of Anjou as king-consort. Their son, the future Baldwin III , was named co-heir by his grandfather. Fulk was an experienced crusader and had brought military support to the kingdom during

13770-743: The fate of King Roderick at the Rio Barbate, it is doubtful that a "do-nothing" sovereign of the Merovingian realm could have later succeeded where his talented major domus had failed. Indeed, as Charles was the progenitor of the Carolingian line of Frankish rulers and grandfather of Charlemagne, one can even say with a degree of certainty that the subsequent history of the West would have proceeded along vastly different currents had 'Abd al-Rahman been victorious at Tours-Poitiers in 732." And in 1993,

13940-583: The first emperor in the West since the Fall of the Western Roman Empire . Charles, nicknamed "Martel" ("the Hammer") in later chronicles, was a son of Pepin of Herstal and his mistress, possible second wife, Alpaida . He had a brother named Childebrand , who later became the Frankish dux (that is, duke ) of Burgundy . Older historiography commonly describes Charles as "illegitimate", but

14110-506: The first years of the reign. In 731, after defeating the Saxons, Charles turned his attention to the rival southern realm of Aquitaine, and crossed the Loire, breaking the treaty with Duke Odo. The Franks ransacked Aquitaine twice, and captured Bourges , although Odo retook it. The Continuations of Fredegar allege that Odo called on assistance from the recently established emirate of al-Andalus, but there had been Arab raids into Aquitaine from

14280-457: The focus of his succession passed to his sister Sibylla and his younger half-sister Isabella . Baldwin and his advisors recognised that it was essential for Sibylla to be married to a Western nobleman in order to access support from European states in a military crisis; while Raymond was still regent, a marriage was arranged for Sibylla and William of Montferrat , a cousin of Louis VII of France and of Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor . It

14450-454: The fortress in the south from which Fatimid Egyptian armies had continually raided Jerusalem since the foundation of the kingdom. The fortress was captured and was added to the County of Jaffa, still in the possession of his brother Amalric. With the capture of Ascalon the southern border of the kingdom was now secure, and Egypt, formerly a major threat to the kingdom but now destabilized under

14620-490: The future Baldwin V . Raynald was then named regent. Soon afterwards, Philip of Flanders arrived in Jerusalem on pilgrimage ; he was Baldwin IV's cousin, and the king offered him the regency and command of the army, both of which Philip refused, although he objected to the appointment of Raynald as regent. Philip then attempted to intervene in the negotiations for Sibylla's second husband, and suggested one of his own retinue, but

14790-506: The holy town of Gaul. In October 732—just 100 years after the death of Mahomet —Charles gained a brilliant victory over Abdur Rahman , who was called back to Africa by revolts of the Berbers and had to give up the struggle. ...After his victory, Charles took the offensive". Similarly, William E. Watson , who wrote of the battle's importance in Frankish and world history in 1993, suggested that "Had Charles Martel suffered at Tours-Poitiers

14960-432: The influential political scientist Samuel Huntington saw the battle of Tours as marking the end of the "Arab and Moorish surge west and north". Other recent historians, however, argue that the importance of the battle is dramatically overstated, both for European history in general and for Charles's reign in particular. This view is typified by Alessandro Barbero , who in 2004 wrote, "Today, historians tend to play down

15130-457: The kingdom in 1182, but was defeated at Belvoir Castle . King Baldwin, although quite ill, was still able to command the army in person. Saladin attempted to besiege Beirut from land and sea, and Baldwin raided Damascene territory, but neither side did significant damage. In December 1182, Raynald launched a naval expedition on the Red Sea , which made it as far south as Rabigh . The expedition

15300-510: The kingdom's Muslim neighbours." Baldwin brought with him an Armenian wife, traditionally named Arda (although never named such by contemporaries), whom he had married to gain political support from the Armenian population in Edessa, and whom he quickly set aside when he no longer needed Armenian support in Jerusalem. He bigamously married Adelaide del Vasto , regent of Sicily, in 1113, but

15470-463: The kingdom's existence. The kingdom also inherited "oriental" qualities, influenced by pre-existing customs and populations. The majority of the kingdom's inhabitants were native Christians, especially Greek and Syriac Orthodox , as well as Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. The native Christians and Muslims, who were a marginalized lower class, tended to speak Greek and Arabic, while the crusaders, who came mainly from France , spoke French . There were also

15640-482: The kingdom, and from Damascus and Mosul at the Battle of al-Sannabra in the northeast in 1113. As Thomas Madden says, Baldwin was "the true founder of the kingdom of Jerusalem", who "had transformed a tenuous arrangement into a solid feudal state. With brilliance and diligence, he established a strong monarchy, conquered the Palestinian coast, reconciled the crusader barons, and built strong frontiers against

15810-484: The kingdom. The West was hesitant to send large-scale expeditions; for the next few decades, only small armies came, headed by minor European nobles who desired to make a pilgrimage . The Muslim states of Syria were meanwhile gradually united by Nur ad-Din, who defeated the Principality of Antioch at the Battle of Inab in 1149 and gained control of Damascus in 1154. Nur ad-Din was extremely pious and during his rule

15980-584: The lands of our friends." However, the main objective quickly became the control of the Holy Land . The Byzantines were frequently at war with the Seljuks and other Turkish dynasties for control of Anatolia and Syria . The Sunni Seljuks had formerly ruled the Seljuk Empire , but this empire had collapsed into several smaller states after the death of Malik-Shah I in 1092. Malik-Shah was succeeded in

16150-431: The last drowned en route. Guy of Lusignan, who had been refused entry to Tyre by Conrad, began to besiege Acre in 1189. During the lengthy siege , which lasted until 1191, Patriarch Heraclius, Queen Sibylla and her daughters, and many others died of disease. With the death of Sibylla in 1190, Guy now had no legal claim to the kingship, and the succession passed to Sibylla's half-sister Isabella. Isabella's mother Maria and

16320-472: The leadership of Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi headed north, and after some minor engagements marched on the wealthy city of Tours. According to British medieval historian Paul Fouracre , "Their campaign should perhaps be interpreted as a long-distance raid rather than the beginning of a war". They were, however, defeated by the army of Charles at the Battle of Tours (known in France as the Battle of Poitiers), at

16490-527: The leadership of Maurontus . Charles used the relative peace to set about integrating the outlying realms of his empire into the Frankish church. He erected four dioceses in Bavaria ( Salzburg , Regensburg , Freising , and Passau ) and gave them Boniface as archbishop and metropolitan over all Germany east of the Rhine, with his seat at Mainz . Boniface had been under his protection from 723 on. Indeed,

16660-471: The mainland, but Frederick was not well-received there; one of his few supporters was Balian, Lord of Sidon , who had welcomed the crusaders the year before and now acted as an ambassador to the Ayyubids. The death of al-Mu'azzam negated the proposed alliance with al-Kamil, who along with his brother al-Ashraf had taken possession of Damascus (as well as Jerusalem) from their nephew, al-Mu'azzam's son an-Nasir Dawud . However, al-Kamil presumably did not know of

16830-465: The male line with a strong claim to the throne, there was concern about the extent of his ambitions, although he had no direct heirs of his own. To balance this, the king turned from time to time to his uncle, Joscelin III of Edessa , who was appointed seneschal in 1176; Joscelin was more closely related to Baldwin than Raymond was, but had no claim to the throne himself. As a leper, Baldwin had no children and could not be expected to rule much longer, so

17000-578: The name of the figurehead king. Charles's father, Pepin of Herstal, had united the Frankish realm by conquering Neustria and Burgundy . Pepin was the first to call himself Duke and Prince of the Franks, a title later taken up by Charles. In December 714, Pepin of Herstal died. A few months before his death and shortly after the murder of his son Grimoald the Younger , he had taken the advice of his wife Plectrude to designate as his sole heir Theudoald , his grandson by their deceased son Grimoald . This

17170-425: The native barons refused his suggestion. In addition, Philip seemed to think he could carve out a territory of his own in Egypt, but he refused to participate in the planned Byzantine-Jerusalem expedition. The expedition was delayed and finally cancelled, and Philip took his army away to the north. Most of the army of Jerusalem marched north with Philip, Raymond III, and Bohemond III to attack Hama , and Saladin took

17340-445: The new kingdom. The papal legate Daimbert of Pisa convinced Godfrey to hand over Jerusalem to him as Latin patriarch , with the intention to set up a theocratic state directly under papal control. According to William of Tyre, Godfrey may have supported Daimbert's efforts, and he agreed to take possession of "one or two other cities and thus enlarge the kingdom" if Daimbert were permitted to rule Jerusalem. Godfrey did indeed increase

17510-418: The next few years. More troops were certainly needed, since Saladin was finally able to gain control of Aleppo, and with peace in his northern territories, he could focus on Jerusalem in the south. King Baldwin was so incapacitated by his leprosy that it was necessary to appoint a regent, and Guy of Lusignan was chosen, as he was Baldwin's legal heir and the king was not expected to live. The inexperienced Guy led

17680-671: The north and Melisende remaining in control of Jerusalem and the cities of the south. Baldwin was able to replace Manasses with one of his own supporters, Humphrey II of Toron . Baldwin and Melisende knew that this situation was untenable. Baldwin soon invaded his mother's possessions, defeated Manasses, and besieged his mother in the Tower of David in Jerusalem. Melisende surrendered and retired to Nablus, but Baldwin appointed her his regent and chief advisor, and she retained some of her influence, especially in appointing ecclesiastical officials. In 1153, Baldwin launched an offensive against Ascalon ,

17850-718: The north and west lay the states of Armenian Cilicia and the Byzantine Empire , with which Jerusalem had a close relationship in the twelfth century. Further east, various Muslim emirates were located which were ultimately allied with the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad . The kingdom was ruled by King Aimery of Lusignan (1197–1205), the King of Cyprus , another crusader state founded during the Third Crusade. Dynastic ties also strengthened with Tripoli, Antioch, and Armenia. The kingdom

18020-614: The obverse of coins go back to at least the Anglo-Saxon period . As the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem , the design is traditionally attributed to Godfrey of Bouillon himself. It was not used, however, by the Christian rulers of Jerusalem during the 12th century. A simple blazon of or, a cross argent is documented by Matthew Paris as the coat of arms of John of Brienne , who had been king of Jerusalem during 1210–1212, upon John's death in 1237. The emblem used on

18190-484: The opportunity to invade the kingdom. Baldwin proved to be an effective and energetic king as well as a brilliant military commander: he defeated Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard in September 1177 despite being greatly outnumbered and having to rely on a levee-en-masse . Although Baldwin's presence despite his illness was inspirational, direct military decisions were actually made by Raynald. Hugh III of Burgundy

18360-415: The other hand, argues that William, as well as the thirteenth-century authors who continued William's chronicle in French and were allied to Raymond's supporters in the Ibelin family, cannot be considered impartial. Although the events were clearly a dynastic struggle, "the division was not between native barons and newcomers from the West, but between the king's maternal and paternal kin." Miles of Plancy

18530-497: The palace . On 26 September 715, Raganfrid's Neustrians met the young Theudoald's forces at the Battle of Compiègne . Theudoald was defeated and fled back to Cologne. Before the end of the year, Charles had escaped from prison and been acclaimed mayor by the nobles of Austrasia. That same year, Dagobert III died and the Neustrians proclaimed Chilperic II , the cloistered son of Childeric II , as king. In 716, Chilperic and Raganfrid together led an army into Austrasia intent on seizing

18700-522: The papal armies were led by Frederick's former father-in-law John of Brienne. Frederick was forced to return home in 1229, leaving the Holy Land "not in triumph, but showered with offal" by the citizens of Acre. Charles Martel Charles Martel ( / m ɑːr ˈ t ɛ l / ; c.  688 – 22 October 741), Martel being a sobriquet in Old French for "The Hammer", was a Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of

18870-640: The paternal line, and could have claimed the throne if the king died without an heir or a suitable replacement. Before Raymond and Bohemond arrived, Agnes and King Baldwin arranged for Sibylla to be married to a Poitevin newcomer, Guy of Lusignan , whose older brother Amalric of Lusignan was already an established figure at court. Internationally, the Lusignans were useful as vassals of Baldwin and Sibylla's cousin Henry II of England . Baldwin betrothed eight-year-old Isabella to Humphrey IV of Toron , stepson of

19040-489: The period. Despite his victory, Charles did not gain full control of Aquitaine, and Odo remained duke until 735. Between his victory of 732 and 735, Charles reorganized the kingdom of Burgundy , replacing the counts and dukes with his loyal supporters, thus strengthening his hold on power. He was forced, by the ventures of Bubo, Duke of the Frisians , to invade independent-minded Frisia again in 734. In that year, he slew

19210-477: The perpetrator of the Christchurch mosque shootings at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch , New Zealand, in 2019. The memory of Charles is a topic of debate in contemporary French politics on both the right and the left. In the seventeenth century, a legend emerged that Charles had formed the first regular order of knights in France. In 1620, Andre Favyn stated (without providing

19380-455: The port cities of Acre (1104), Beirut (1110), and Sidon (1111), while exerting his suzerainty over the other crusader states to the north – Edessa (which he had founded in 1097 during the crusade), Antioch, and Tripoli, which he helped capture in 1109. He successfully defended against Muslim invasions, from the Fatimids at the numerous battles at Ramla and elsewhere in the southwest of

19550-572: The position as leader. Most modern historians chronicle that he took the title Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri ("advocate" or "defender" of the Holy Sepulchre). Others report that Godfrey himself seems to have used the more ambiguous term princeps , or simply retained his title of dux from Lower Lorraine. According to William of Tyre, writing in the later 12th century when Godfrey had become a legendary hero, he refused to wear "a crown of gold" where Christ had worn "a crown of thorns ". Raymond

19720-500: The powerful Raynald of Châtillon , thereby removing her from the influence of the Ibelin family and that of her mother. The dispute between the two factions in the kingdom affected the election of a new Patriarch in 1180. When Patriarch Amalric died on 6 October 1180, the two most obvious choices for his successor were William of Tyre and Heraclius of Caesarea. They were fairly evenly matched in background and education, but politically they were allied with opposite parties, as Heraclius

19890-489: The regency in Antioch by arranging a marriage between the countess, Melisende's niece Constance , and his own relative Raymond of Poitiers . Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, the native crusader nobles opposed Fulk's preference for his Angevin retinue. In 1134 Hugh II of Jaffa revolted against Fulk, allying with the Muslim garrison at Ascalon, for which he was convicted of treason in absentia . The Latin patriarch intervened to settle

20060-552: The regency of the kingdom in the name of his infant son. Frederick immediately came into conflict with the native nobles of Outremer, some of whom resented his attempts to impose Imperial authority over both Cyprus and Jerusalem. The Cypriot nobles were already quarrelling amongst themselves about the regency for Henry I of Cyprus , who was still a child. The High Court of Cyprus had elected John of Ibelin as regent, but Henry's mother Alice of Champagne wished to appoint one of her supporters; Alice and her party, members or supporters of

20230-609: The region. At first the kingdom was little more than a loose collection of towns and cities captured during the First Crusade , but at its height in the mid-12th century, the kingdom encompassed roughly the territory of modern-day Israel , Palestine and the southern parts of Lebanon . From the Mediterranean Sea , the kingdom extended in a thin strip of land from Beirut in the north to the Sinai Desert in

20400-404: The reign of several underaged caliphs, was reduced to a tributary state. Nur ad-Din remained a threat in the east, and Baldwin had to contend with the advances of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus , who claimed suzerainty over the Principality of Antioch. In order to bolster the defences of the kingdom against the growing strength of the Muslims, Baldwin III made the first direct alliance with

20570-465: The remaining crusader strongholds, culminating in the destruction of Acre in 1291. The kingdom was ethnically, religiously, and linguistically diverse, although the Crusaders established themselves and their descendants as an elite Catholic minority. They imported many customs and institutions from their homelands in Europe, and there were close familial and political connections with the West throughout

20740-526: The restoration of Jerusalem and most of the rest of the former kingdom. The Crusaders finally managed to starve out the city and captured it in November. Al-Kamil retreated to the nearby fortress of al-Mansurah , but the crusaders remained in Damietta throughout 1219 and 1220, awaiting the arrival of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II , while King John returned to Acre briefly to defend against al-Mu'azzam, who

20910-432: The ruler. However, Fouracre argued that "...there is not enough evidence to show that there was a decisive change either in the way in which the Franks fought, or in the way in which they organised the resources needed to support their warriors." Many twentieth-century European historians continued to develop Gibbon's perspectives, such as French medievalist Christian Pfister , who wrote in 1911 that "Besides establishing

21080-406: The saint himself explained to his old friend, Daniel of Winchester , that without it he could neither administer his church, defend his clergy nor prevent idolatry. In 739, Pope Gregory III begged Charles for his aid against Liutprand , but Charles was loath to fight his onetime ally and ignored the plea. Nonetheless, the pope's request for Frankish protection showed how far Charles had come from

21250-508: The same time, the cross of Jerusalem in gold on a silver field appears as the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in early armorials such as the Camden Roll . The coat of arms of the King of Jerusalem featured gold on silver (in the case of John de Brienne, silver on gold), a metal on a metal, and thus broke the heraldic Rule of Tincture ; this was justified by the fact that Jerusalem

21420-532: The same time, uses it as the flag of Tbilisi . Carlo Maggi , a Venetian nobleman who visited Jerusalem and was made a knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in the early 1570s, included the Jerusalem cross in his coat of arms. There is a historiographical tradition that Peter the Great flew a flag with a variant of the Jerusalem cross in his campaign in the White Sea in 1693. Joan of Arc reportedly told

21590-594: The seals of the rulers of Jerusalem during the 12th century was a simplified depiction of the city itself, showing the tower of David between the Dome of the Rock and the Holy Sepulchre , surrounded by the city walls . Coins minted under Henry I (r. 1192–1197) show a cross with four dots in the four quarters, but the Jerusalem cross proper appears only on a coin minted under John II (r. 1284-1285). At about

21760-564: The series of military campaigns that re-established the Franks as the undisputed masters of all Gaul . According to a near-contemporary source, the Liber Historiae Francorum , Charles was "a warrior who was uncommonly ... effective in battle". Charles gained a very consequential victory against an Umayyad invasion of Aquitaine at the Battle of Tours , at a time when the Umayyad Caliphate controlled most of

21930-434: The severity of the threat to both states, and an alliance was concluded which halted Zengi's advance. Fulk used this time to construct numerous castles, including Ibelin and Kerak . After the death of both Fulk and Emperor John in separate hunting accidents in 1143, Zengi invaded and conquered Edessa in 1144. Queen Melisende, now regent for her elder son Baldwin III, appointed a new constable, Manasses of Hierges , to head

22100-477: The significance of the battle of Poitiers, pointing out that the purpose of the Arab force defeated by Charles Martel was not to conquer the Frankish kingdom, but simply to pillage the wealthy monastery of St-Martin of Tours". Similarly, in 2002 Tomaž Mastnak wrote: "The continuators of Fredegar's chronicle, who probably wrote in the mid-eighth century, pictured the battle as just one of many military encounters between Christians and Saracens—moreover, as only one in

22270-518: The small size of Frederick's army, nor the divisions within it caused by his excommunication, and wished to avoid defending his territories against another crusade. Frederick's presence alone was sufficient to regain Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and a number of surrounding castles without a fight: these were recovered in February 1229, in return for a ten-year truce with the Ayyubids and freedom of worship for Jerusalem's Muslim inhabitants. The terms of

22440-582: The south; into modern Jordan and Syria in the east, and towards Fatimid Egypt in the west. Three other Crusader states founded during and after the First Crusade were located further north: the County of Edessa (1097–1144), the Principality of Antioch (1098–1268), and the County of Tripoli (1109–1289). While all three were independent, they were closely tied to Jerusalem. Beyond these to

22610-464: The summer of 1186. Raymond and his supporters went to Nablus, presumably in an attempt to prevent Sibylla from claiming the throne, but Sibylla and her supporters went to Jerusalem, where it was decided that the kingdom should pass to her, on the condition that her marriage to Guy be annulled. She agreed but only if she could choose her own husband and king, and after being crowned, she immediately crowned Guy with her own hands. Raymond had refused to attend

22780-493: The surrounding territory, was allowed to flee to Tyre, Tripoli, or Egypt (whence they were sent back to Europe), but those who could not pay for their freedom were sold into slavery, and those who could were often robbed by Christians and Muslims alike on their way into exile. The capture of the city led to the Third Crusade , launched in 1189 and led by Richard the Lionheart , Philip Augustus and Frederick Barbarossa , though

22950-567: The tail end of his campaigning in Provence and Septimania , the Merovingian king, Theuderic IV, died. Charles, titling himself maior domus and princeps et dux Francorum , did not appoint a new king and nobody acclaimed one. The throne lay vacant until Charles' death. The interregnum, the final four years of Charles' life, was relatively peaceful although in 738 he compelled the Saxons of Westphalia to submit and pay tribute and in 739 he checked an uprising in Provence where some rebels united under

23120-422: The throne from 721 to 737. Charles was now appointing the kings whom he supposedly served ( rois fainéants ). By the end of his reign, he didn't appoint any at all. At this time, Charles again marched against the Saxons. Then the Neustrians rebelled under Raganfrid, who had left the county of Anjou. They were easily defeated in 724 but Raganfrid gave up his sons as hostages in turn for keeping his county. This ended

23290-612: The throne through Conrad. There were also plans to join with al-Kamil in attacking al-Mu'azzam in Damascus, an alliance which had been discussed with Egyptian envoys in Italy. But after continually delaying his departure for the Holy Land, including suffering an outbreak of disease in his fleet, he was excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX in 1227. The crusaders, led not by Frederick but by his representatives Richard Filangieri , Henry IV, Duke of Limburg , and Hermann of Salza , Grand Master of

23460-507: The total Jewish population of 14 cities in the kingdom to be 1,200, making the Samaritan population of the time larger than the Jewish, perhaps for the only time in history. The First Crusade was preached at the Council of Clermont in 1095 by Pope Urban II , with the goal of assisting the Byzantine Empire against the invasions of the " Turks and Arabs" and "to destroy this vile race from

23630-618: The treaty were unacceptable to the Patriarch of Jerusalem Gerald of Lausanne , who placed the city under interdict . In March, Frederick crowned himself in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but because of his excommunication and the interdict Jerusalem was never truly reincorporated into the kingdom, which continued to be ruled from Acre. Meanwhile, in Italy, the Pope used Frederick's excommunication as an excuse to invade his Italian territories;

23800-853: The turning point in Charles's struggle. Richard Gerberding points out that up to this time, much of Charles's support was probably from his mother's kindred in the lands around Liege. After Amblève, he seems to have won the backing of the influential Willibrord , founder of the Abbey of Echternach . The abbey had been built on land donated by Plectrude's mother, Irmina of Oeren , but most of Willibrord's missionary work had been carried out in Frisia. In joining Chilperic and Raganfrid, Radbod of Frisia sacked Utrecht, burning churches and killing many missionaries. Willibrord and his monks were forced to flee to Echternach. Gerberding suggests that Willibrord had decided that

23970-466: The walls, and was driven back. The Crusaders retreated within three days. There were rumours of treachery and bribery, and Conrad III felt betrayed by the nobility of Jerusalem. Whatever the reason for the failure, the French and German armies returned home, and a few years later Damascus was firmly under Nur ad-Din's control. The failure of the Second Crusade had dire long-term consequences for

24140-527: The way home. In October 1184, Guy of Lusignan led an attack on the Bedouin nomads from his base in Ascalon. Unlike Raynald's attacks on caravans, which may have had some military purpose, Guy attacked a group that was usually loyal to Jerusalem and provided intelligence about the movements of Saladin's troops. At the same time, King Baldwin contracted his final illness and Raymond of Tripoli, rather than Guy,

24310-501: The way to Jerusalem. Egypt and much of Palestine were controlled by the Arab Shi'ite Fatimid Caliphate , which had extended further into Syria before the arrival of the Seljuks. Warfare between the Fatimids and Seljuks caused great disruption for the local Christians and for Western pilgrims. The Fatimids, under the nominal rule of caliph al-Musta'li but actually controlled by vizier al-Afdal Shahanshah , had lost Jerusalem to

24480-679: The winter of 1217 and spring of 1218. In the spring of 1218 the Fifth Crusade began in earnest when German crusader fleets landed at Acre. Along with King John, who was elected leader of the crusade, the fleets sailed to Egypt and besieged Damietta at the mouth of the Nile in May. The siege progressed slowly, and the Egyptian sultan al-Adil died in August 1218, supposedly of shock after the Crusaders managed to capture one of Damietta's towers. He

24650-453: Was a Crusader state that was established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade . It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1099 until the fall of Acre in 1291. Its history is divided into two periods with a brief interruption in its existence, beginning with its collapse after the siege of Jerusalem in 1187 and its restoration after

24820-411: Was appointed as his regent. His nephew Baldwin was paraded in public, wearing his crown as Baldwin V. Baldwin IV finally succumbed to his leprosy in May 1185. Meanwhile, the succession crisis had prompted a mission to the West to seek assistance. In 1184, Patriarch Heraclius travelled throughout the courts of Europe, but no help was forthcoming. Heraclius offered the "keys of the Holy Sepulchre, those of

24990-468: Was briefly bailli or regent during Baldwin IV 's minority. Miles was assassinated in October 1174, and Count Raymond III of Tripoli , Amalric's first cousin, became regent. It is highly probable that Raymond or his supporters engineered the assassination. Baldwin reached his majority in 1176, and despite his illness he no longer had any legal need for a regent. Since Raymond was his nearest relative in

25160-508: Was chosen as the emblem of the Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag (German Protestant Church Assembly) in the 1950s, since the 1960s shown in a simplified form where the central Cross potent is replaced by a simple Greek cross. The modern national flag of Georgia was introduced in 2004, with a design based on the 15th century Pizzigano chart 's use of the cross as the flag of Tbilisi . The papal Order of

25330-399: Was convinced to divorce her as well in 1117; Adelaide's son from her first marriage, Roger II of Sicily , never forgave Jerusalem, and for decades withheld much-needed Sicilian naval support. Baldwin died without heirs in 1118, during a campaign against Egypt, and the kingdom was offered to his brother Eustace III of Boulogne , who had accompanied Baldwin and Godfrey on the crusade. Eustace

25500-510: Was defeated and two of Raynald's men were actually taken to Mecca to be executed in public. Like his earlier raids, Raynald's expedition is usually seen as selfish and ultimately fatal for Jerusalem, but according to Bernard Hamilton, it was actually a shrewd strategy, meant to damage Saladin's prestige and reputation. In 1183 a general tax was levied throughout the kingdom, which was unprecedented in Jerusalem and almost all of medieval Europe to that point. The tax helped pay for larger armies for

25670-464: Was driven out of Damascus by al Adil in alliance with Uthman. When Uthman died in 1198, al Afdal returned to power as regent in Egypt for Uthman's infant son. Allied with az-Zahir, he then attacked his uncle in Damascus. The alliance fell apart, and al-Adil then defeated al Afdal in Egypt and annexed the country. In 1200 Al-Adil proclaimed himself Sultan of Egypt and Syria, entrusting Damascus to al-Mu'azzam and al-Jazira to another son, al-Kamil . Following

25840-434: Was executed by Saladin and Guy was imprisoned in Damascus. Over the next few months, Saladin easily overran the entire kingdom. Only the port of Tyre remained in Frankish hands, defended by Conrad of Montferrat , who had coincidentally arrived just in time from Constantinople . The fall of Jerusalem essentially ended the first Kingdom of Jerusalem. Much of the population, swollen with refugees fleeing Saladin's conquest of

26010-554: Was expected to come to Jerusalem and marry Sibylla, but Hugh was unable to leave France due to the political unrest there in 1179–1180 following the death of Louis VII. Meanwhile, Baldwin IV's stepmother Maria, mother of Isabella and stepmother of Sibylla, married Balian of Ibelin . At Easter in 1180, Raymond and his cousin Bohemond III of Antioch attempted to force Sibylla to marry Balian's brother Baldwin of Ibelin . Raymond and Bohemond were King Baldwin's nearest male relatives in

26180-404: Was his intention, he then decided, given the enemy's unpreparedness, this was not necessary. In any event, the suddenness of the assault led them to believe they were facing a much larger host. Many of the enemy fled and Charles's troops gathered the spoils of the camp. His reputation increased considerably as a result, and he attracted more followers. This battle is often considered by historians as

26350-588: Was hoped that by allying with a relative of the Western emperor, Frederick would come to the kingdom's aid. Jerusalem looked again towards the Byzantine Empire for help, and Emperor Manuel was looking for a way to restore his empire's prestige after his defeat at the Battle of Myriokephalon in 1176; this mission was undertaken by Raynald of Châtillon . After William of Montferrat arrived in 1176, he fell ill and died in June 1177, leaving Sibylla widowed and pregnant with

26520-810: Was immediately opposed by the Austrasian nobles because Theudoald was a child of only eight years of age. To prevent Charles using this unrest to his own advantage, Plectrude had him imprisoned in Cologne , the city which was intended to be her capital. This prevented an uprising on his behalf in Austrasia , but not in Neustria . Pepin's death occasioned open conflict between his heirs and the Neustrian nobles who sought political independence from Austrasian control. In 715, Dagobert III named Raganfrid mayor of

26690-499: Was incensed and took his army to forage away from the city. The new kingdom, and Godfrey's reputation, was secured with the defeat of the Fatimid Egyptian army under al-Afdal Shahanshah at the Battle of Ascalon one month after the conquest, on August 12, but Raymond and Godfrey's continued antagonism prevented the crusaders from taking control of Ascalon itself. There was still some uncertainty about what to do with

26860-525: Was massing his troops, and attacked Muslim caravans in an attempt to disrupt this. Guy was on the verge of attacking Raymond, but realized that the kingdom would need to be united in the face of the threat from Saladin, and Balian of Ibelin effected a reconciliation between the two during Easter in 1187. Saladin attacked Kerak again in April, and in May, a Muslim raiding party ran into the much smaller embassy on its way to negotiate with Raymond, and defeated it at

27030-452: Was more likely the sister of Rotrude. Auda married Theoderic, Count of Autun . Charles also married a second time, to Swanhild and they had a child named Grifo . With Ruodhaid , with whom he had: For early medieval authors, Charles was famous for his military victories. Paul the Deacon for instance attributed a victory against the Saracens actually won by Odo of Aquitaine to Charles. However, alongside this there soon developed

27200-438: Was moved to Acre and controlled most of the coastline of present-day Israel and southern and central Lebanon, including the strongholds and towns of Jaffa, Arsuf, Caesarea, Tyre, Sidon, and Beirut. At best, it included only a few other significant cities, such as Ascalon and some interior fortresses, as well as suzerainty over Tripoli and Antioch. The new king, Henry of Champagne, died accidentally in 1197, and Isabella married for

27370-447: Was one of Agnes of Courtenay's supporters. The canons of the Holy Sepulchre asked the king for advice, and Heraclius was chosen through Agnes' influence. There were rumours that Agnes and Heraclius were lovers, but this information comes from the partisan 13th-century continuations of William of Tyre's history, and there is no other evidence to substantiate such a claim. At the end of 1181, Raynald of Châtillon raided south into Arabia, in

27540-413: Was raiding the kingdom from Damascus in John's absence. Still expecting the emperor's imminent arrival, in July 1221, the Crusaders set off towards Cairo, but they were stopped by the rising Nile , which al-Kamil allowed to flood by breaking the dams along its course. The sultan easily defeated the trapped Crusader army and regained Damietta. Emperor Frederick had, in fact, never left Europe at all. After

27710-403: Was required. Charles divided his realm among his sons without opposition (though he ignored his young son Bernard ). For many historians, Charles laid the foundations for his son Pepin's rise to the Frankish throne in 751, and his grandson Charlemagne's imperial acclamation in 800. However, for Paul Fouracre, while Charles was "the most effective military leader in Francia", his career "finished on

27880-427: Was sent to Constantinople to negotiate a military expedition, but in 1168 Amalric pillaged Bilbeis without waiting for the naval support promised by Manuel. Amalric accomplished nothing else, but his actions prompted Shawar to switch sides again and seek help from Shirkuh. Shawar was promptly assassinated, and when Shirkuh died in 1169, he was succeeded by his nephew Yusuf, better known as Saladin . That year, Manuel sent

28050-515: Was so holy, it was above ordinary rules. The gold and silver were also connected to Psalms 68:13, which mentions a "dove covered in silver, and her feathers with yellow gold". The Gelre Armorial (14th century) attributes to the "emperors of Constantinople" (the Latin Empire ) a variant of the Jerusalem cross with the four crosslets inscribed in circles. Philip of Courtenay , who held the title of Latin Emperor of Constantinople from 1273–1283 (even though Constantinople had been reconquered by

28220-429: Was soon increasingly dominated by the Italian city-states of Venice and Genoa . The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (reigned 1220–1250) had ambitions in the Crusader state, claiming the kingdom by marriage, but his presence sparked a civil war (1228–1243) among the kingdom's nobility. The kingdom became little more than a pawn in the politics and warfare of the Ayyubid and Mamluk dynasties in Egypt, as well as

28390-404: Was succeeded by his son al-Kamil . In the autumn of 1218 reinforcements arrived from Europe, including the papal legate Pelagius of Albano . In the winter the crusaders were affected by floods and disease, and the siege dragged on throughout 1219, when Francis of Assisi arrived to attempt to negotiate a truce. Neither side could agree to terms, despite the Ayyubid offer of a thirty-year truce and

28560-487: Was unanimously elected king in April 1192, but was murdered by the Hashshashin only days later. Eight days after that, the pregnant Isabella was married to Count Henry II of Champagne , nephew of Richard and Philip, but politically allied to Richard. As compensation, Richard sold Guy the island of Cyprus , which Richard had captured on the way to Acre, although Guy continued to claim the throne of Jerusalem until his death in 1194. The crusade came to an end peacefully, with

28730-431: Was uninterested, and instead the crown passed to Baldwin's relative, probably a cousin, Baldwin of Le Bourg , who had previously succeeded him in Edessa. Baldwin II was an able ruler, and he too successfully defended against Fatimid and Seljuk invasions. Although Antioch was severely weakened after the Battle of Ager Sanguinis in 1119, and Baldwin himself was held captive by the emir of Aleppo from 1123 to 1124, Baldwin led

28900-410: Was used at the proclamation of the Revolution on Mount Pelion Anthimos Gazis in May 1821 in the Greek War of Independence . When Albert, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), visited Jerusalem in 1862, he had a Jerusalem cross tattooed on his arm. German Emperor Wilhelm II visited Jerusalem in 1898 and awarded the Jerusalem-Erinnerungskreuz (Jerusalem Memorial Cross) order in the shape of

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