Fulk, King of Jerusalem
Fulk (V) | |
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Bertrade de Montfort |
Fulk (
Count of Anjou
Fulk was born at
Fulk was originally an opponent of King
Crusader and king
By 1127 Fulk was preparing to return to Anjou when he received an embassy from King Baldwin II of Jerusalem. Baldwin II had no male heirs but had already designated his daughter Melisende to succeed him. Baldwin II wanted to safeguard his daughter's inheritance by marrying her to a powerful lord. Fulk was a wealthy crusader and experienced military commander, and a widower. His experience in the field would prove invaluable in a frontier state always in the grip of war.
However, Fulk held out for better terms than mere consort of the queen. He wanted to be king alongside Melisende. Baldwin II, reflecting on Fulk's fortune and military exploits, acquiesced. Fulk abdicated his county seat of Anjou to his son Geoffrey and left for Jerusalem, where he married Melisende on 2 June 1129. Later Baldwin II bolstered Melisende's position in the kingdom by making her sole guardian of her son by Fulk, Baldwin III, born in 1130.
Fulk and Melisende became joint rulers of Jerusalem in 1131 with Baldwin II's death. From the start Fulk assumed sole control of the government, excluding Melisende altogether. He favored fellow countrymen from Anjou to the native nobility. The other
In Jerusalem as well, Fulk was resented by the second generation of Jerusalem Christians who had grown up there since the First Crusade. These natives focused on Melisende's cousin, the popular
However, an assassination attempt was made against Hugh. Fulk, or his supporters, were commonly believed responsible, though direct proof never surfaced. The scandal was all that was needed for the queen's party to take over the government in what amounted to a palace coup. Author and historian Bernard Hamilton wrote that Fulk's supporters "went in terror of their lives" in the palace. Contemporary author and historian William of Tyre wrote of Fulk: "He never attempted to take the initiative, even in trivial matters, without (Melisende's) consent." The result was that Melisende held direct and unquestioned control over the government from 1136 onwards. Sometime before 1136 Fulk reconciled with his wife, and a second son, Amalric, was born.
Securing the borders
Jerusalem's northern border was of great concern. Fulk had been appointed
In 1137 Fulk was defeated in battle near
Fulk also strengthened the kingdom's southern border. His butler
In 1137 and 1142,
Death
In 1143, while the king and queen were in
A marble panel from his tomb (or Baldwin III's) is in the Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem.[3] The panel includes rosettes, one of which has a cross pattée in its center.
Legacy
Depictions
According to William of Tyre, Fulk was "a ruddy man, like David... faithful and gentle, affable and kind... an experienced warrior full of patience and wisdom in military affairs." His chief fault was an inability to remember names and faces.
William described Fulk as a capable soldier and able politician, but observed that Fulk did not adequately attend to the defense of the crusader states to the north. Ibn al-Qalanisi (who calls him al-Kund Anjur, an Arabic rendering of "Count of Anjou") says that "he was not sound in his judgment nor was he successful in his administration." The Zengids continued their march on the crusader states, culminating in the fall of the county after the Siege of Edessa in 1144, which led to the Second Crusade.
Family
In 1110, Fulk married
- Geoffrey V of Anjou (1113–1151),[4] father of Henry II of England.
- Sibylla of Anjou (1112–1165, Bethlehem), married in 1123 William Clito (div. 1124),[4] married in 1134 Thierry, Count of Flanders.
- Matilda of Anjou (c.1111–1154, Fontevrault), married William Adelin; after his death on the White Ship disaster of 1120, she became a nun and later Abbess of Fontevrault[4]
- Elias II of Maine (died 1151)[4]
His second wife was
References
- ^ Runciman (1952), A History of the Crusades, Vol. II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, Cambridge University Press. pp. 212–213, 222–224
- ^ Life among the Europeans in Palestine and Syria in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, Urban Tignor Holmes, A History of the Crusades: The Art and Architecture of the Crusader States, Volume IV, ed. Kenneth M. Setton and Harry W. Hazard, (University of Wisconsin Press, 1977), 19.
- ISBN 978-1-58839-598-6.
Portion of a Transenna Panel […] CTS-SB-09460
- ^ a b c d e LoPrete 2007, Chart 1.
Sources
- Orderic Vitalis
- Robert of Torigny
- William of Tyre
- LoPrete, Kimberly A. (2007). Adela of Blois: Countess and Lord (c.1067-1137). Four Courts Press. ISBN 978-1-85182-563-9.
- Runciman, Steven (1952) A History of the Crusades, Vol. II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem, Cambridge University Press.
- Medieval Women, edited by Derek Baker, the Ecclesiastical History Society, 1978
- Payne, Robert. The Dream and the Tomb, 1984
- The Damascus Chronicle of Crusades, trans. H.A.R. Gibb, 1932.