Count of Edessa (1100-1118) and second king of Jerusalem (1118-1131).
Baldwin was a son of Hugh I, count of Rethel, and Melisende of Montlhery, through whom he was related to many of the noble families of Ile-de-France, Champagne, the Orleanais, and Lotharingia. As Hugh is also known to have had a son called Manasses, the name traditionally given to eldest sons of the counts of Rethel, it is likely that Baldwin was a younger son; the name most commonly applied to him by contemporary chroniclers (Lat. Balduinus de Burgo) derived from the castle of Bourcq (dep. Ardennes, France), which may have been his portion of the family lands. In 1096 he joined the First Crusade (1096-1099), travelling in the army of his kinsman, Godfrey of Bouillon, and later took service with Godfrey’s brother Baldwin (later Baldwin I of Jerusalem), who had established himself as count of Edessa in 1097-1098, and who appointed him as his successor there when he left to become ruler of Jerusalem after Godfrey’s death (1100). Soon after his accession as count, Baldwin II married Morphia, daughter of the Armenian lord Gabriel of Melitene, by whom he was to have four daughters.
Most of Baldwin’s reign in Edessa was spent in defending the county from Turkish attacks. In 1104 he was captured by the Turks of Mosul while besieging the Muslim city of Har-ran; during his subsequent four-year captivity in Mosul, the county was governed by the Antiochene Normans Tancred (until late 1104) and Richard of the Principate (1104-1108), neither of whom attempted to ransom him. Baldwin’s release in 1108 was secured through the efforts of his cousin and vassal Joscelin of Courtenay, lord of Turbessel. However, his restoration to Edessa only came about after a short but intensive war against Richard and Tancred, in which each side enlisted the aid of Turkish allies against their Christian opponents. Hostility between Baldwin and Tancred persisted until 1110, when a reconciliation was imposed by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem. From around this time Count Baldwin was forced to abandon much of his territory east of the river Euphrates in the face of intensifying Turkish pressure; fresh strife occurred in 1112, when he accused Joscelin of Courtenay (whose lands, situated west of the river, were safer from attack) of making insufficient contributions to the defense of the county. Joscelin surrendered his fiefs and went to Jerusalem, where Baldwin I made him lord of Tiberias. In 1114 the city of Edessa itself was besieged by a Turkish army led by Aq Sunqur al-Bursuqi, atabeg of Mosul, but the Turkish threat was averted through the victory of Roger of Antioch over a coalition organized by the Saljuq sultan Muhammad at the battle of Tell Danith (14 September 1115). Baldwin used this opportunity to expand his territory through the conquest of several of the independent Armenian principalities to the north, including the strongholds of Raban, Kesoun, Bira, and Gargar (1115-1117).
By 1118 the security of the county of Edessa had been sufficiently established that Count Baldwin was able to visit Jerusalem, where he arrived to find that King Baldwin I had died while on campaign in Egypt (2 April), having named his elder brother Eustace of Boulogne as successor. However, a powerful party led by the patriarch Arnulf and Joscelin of Courtenay promoted Count Baldwin’s candidature and succeeded in having him consecrated as king on 14 April 1118. As it was possible that Eustace or one of his descendants would claim the throne at a future date, Baldwin II attempted to secure his position through new appointments within the clergy and nobility of the kingdom. He favored men originating in Ile-de-France and surrounding areas who were linked by ties of kinship and vassalage to Baldwin’s family; he rewarded Joscelin for his support by naming him as his successor in Edessa.
Much of the first half of Baldwin II’s reign was taken up with the defense of the principality of Antioch after the defeat of Prince Roger at the Ager Sanguinis (Field of Blood) in June 1119. Baldwin marched north in August, winning the victory of Zerdana against the Turks of Mardin and Damascus, only returning to Jerusalem for his coronation at Christmas. Until 1126 he governed Antioch as regent for its underage heir, Bohemund II, and led further campaigns to defend the Frankish north in 1120, 1122, and 1123. During the last of these he was captured by the Turks and
Jerusalem im Spiegel der Urkunden,” Deutsches Archiv fur Erforschung des Mittelalters 47 (1991), 559-566.
Murray, Alan V., “Dynastic Continuity or Dynastic Change? The Accession of Baldwin II and the Nobility of the Kingdom of Jerusalem,” Medieval Prosopography 13 (1992), 1-27.
-, The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Dynastic
History, 1099-1125 (Oxford: Prosopographica et Genealogica, 2000).
Nicholson, Robert L., “The Growth of the Latin States, 1118-1144,” in A History of the Crusades, ed. Kenneth M. Setton, 6 vols. (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969-1989), 2:368-409.
Riley-Smith, Jonathan S. C., “Further Thoughts on Baldwin II’s Etablissement on the Confiscation of Fiefs,” in Crusade and Settlement, ed. Peter W. Edbury (Cardiff: University College Cardiff Press, 1985), pp. 176-180.
Sabourin, Pascal, “Baudoin [sic] de Bourcq, croise, comte d’Edesse, roi de Jerusalem. Proposition d’un itineraire peu ordinaire,” Revue historique ardennaise 31 (1996), 3-15.
Remained a prisoner until August 1124. The repeated campaigning in the north and the consequent disruption to government, as well as the granting of lordships and offices to the king’s relatives and their vassals, led to opposition among the Jerusalem nobility, some of whom made an abortive attempt to depose Baldwin during his absence in favor of Count Charles of Flanders.
After his release from captivity, Baldwin devoted himself to the defense of his kingdom, undertaking major campaigns against Damascene territory in 1126 and 1129. During this time he also arranged for his eldest daughter Melisende to marry Fulk V, count of Anjou; they and their son Baldwin III (born 1130) succeeded as joint rulers on the king’s death (21 August 1131). Baldwin Il’s second daughter, Alice, married Prince Bohemund II of Antioch, and the third, Hodierna, married Count Raymond II of Tripoli; the youngest, Yveta, who had served as a hostage for him after his second captivity, became a nun, ending her life as abbess of the convent of St. Lazarus at Bethany.
-Alan V. Murray
Bibliography
Grillo, Peter R., “Romans de croisade, histoires de famille: Recherches sur le personnage de Baudouin de Sebourg,” Romania 110 (1989), 383-395.
Mayer, Hans Eberhard, “Jerusalem et Antioche au temps de Baudouin II,” Academic des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. Comptes-rendus 4 (1980), 717-733.
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Impact on the East,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 39 (1985), 139-147.
, “Die antiochenische Regentschaft Balduins II. von
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