Raymond II, Count of Tripoli

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Raymond II
Catholicism

Raymond II (

Rafaniya
in exchange for his release in the summer of 1137.

Since his army proved unable to secure the defence of the eastern borders of his county, Raymond granted several forts to the Knights Hospitaller in 1142. The sudden death of his father's uncle, Alfonso Jordan, count of Toulouse, during the Second Crusade gave rise to gossip which suggested that Raymond had poisoned him because Alfonso Jordan had allegedly wanted to lay claim to Tripoli. Alfonso Jordan's illegitimate son, Bertrand, actually seized the fortress of Areimeh in the County of Tripoli in 1149, but Raymond recaptured it with the assistance of Muslim rulers. Raymond ceded the castle to the Knights Templar.

The marriage of Raymond and his wife,

Melisende of Jerusalem, came to Tripoli to put an end to their conflict. Hodierna preferred to leave Tripoli for Jerusalem along with her sister and Raymond escorted them for a short distance. On his way back to Tripoli, a group of Assassins
stabbed him at the southern gate of the town. He was the first Christian ruler to be murdered by Assassins.

Early life

Raymond was the elder son of

Hodierna, a younger daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, "as early as 1127".[4]

Reign

War with Muslim powers

Crusader states
in 1135

Bazwāj, the mamluk (or slave) commander of Damascus made a raid against Tripoli and defeated Pons in a battle.[5][6] Pons fled from the battlefield, but native Christians captured and handed him over to Bazwāj who had him executed on 25 March 1137.[5] Bazwāj captured a frontier fort but returned to Damascus without attacking Tripoli.[7] To take vengeance for his father's death, Raymond invaded the local Christians' settlements in the Mount Lebanon area and captured many of them.[8][9] The captured men, women and children were taken to Tripoli where the majority were tortured and executed.[8] William of Tyre remarked that Raymond's campaign against the local Christians provided "the first lessons of his martial courage".[10]

After learning of Pons' death,

Fulk of Jerusalem, his maternal uncle and brother-in-law, urging him to hurry to the besieged fortress.[12] Shortly after Fulk and his army crossed the frontier of the County of Tripoli, the envoys of Raymond of Poitiers, prince of Antioch, informed him that the Byzantine Emperor John II Komnenos had invaded Antioch.[12]

Fulk and Raymond of Tripoli decided to launch an assault on Zengi's forces before marching to Antioch, because they thought they could easily defeat the atabeg.

Joscelin II of Edessa, and Emperor John II Komnenos.[13][14] Those besieged in the fortress did not know of these movements but readily agreed to hand over the castle to Zengi in exchange for a safe passage and the release of Raymond and all other Christian captives.[13][15]

Attempts to consolidate

The Byzantine author,

liegeman (vassal) of John II Komnenos.[17] Both sources suggest that Raymond renewed his predecessors' oath of loyalty towards the Byzantine emperor, according to Lewis.[16] Nevertheless, Raymond did not participate in John II Komnenos' military campaign against the Muslim rulers of Northern Syria in 1138.[18] Historian Ralph-Johannes Lilie says the lack of sufficient military forces prevented Raymond from assisting the Byzantines.[19]

Raymond granted several settlements to the

Rafaniya, both seized by Zengi in 1137, to the Hospitallers if they could recapture them.[20][21] When establishing a military order on the eastern borderland, Raymond only wanted to secure the defence of his county, but his magnanimous grant laid the foundation of an almost independent ecclesiastic state.[23]

Family affairs

See also: Siege of Edessa (1144)
A large castle, with a dozen of towers and two lines of walls made of stone, on a hill
Krak des Chevaliers: the large fortress built by the Knights Hospitaller on the land that Raymond had granted to them in 1142

Raymond was a great-grandson of

porphyrogeniture.[26]

Alfonso-Jordan was one of the supreme commanders of the

Melisende of Jerusalem had poisoned Alfons-Jordan because she wanted to prevent him from claiming Tripoli.[31]

Raymond did not attend the assembly of the leaders of the crusade at

Nur ad-Din.[34][35] The two Muslim rulers captured Areimeh and imprisoned Bertrand and his family.[35] After destroying the castle, they returned the territory to Raymond.[36] Raymond granted the land to the Knights Templar in the early 1150s.[37]

Last years

trobadour Jaufre Rudel
dying in the arms of Raymond's wife, Hodierna

King Baldwin III of Jerusalem crossed Tripoli during his march towards northern Syria in the summer of 1150.[38] He wanted to meet with the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos who had purchased the last fortresses of the County of Edessa.[39] Because of a conflict between Baldwin and his mother, Melisende, her supporters had refused to accompany the king, who thus asked Raymond to join him.[38][40] Raymond agreed and accompanied Baldwin to the meeting and they jointly supervised the transfer of the castles to the Byzantines.[38]

A

Fatimid fleet pillaged Tripoli during a plundering raid against the coastal towns in the summer of 1151.[41][42] The Egyptians destroyed ships and killed or captured hundreds of people in the harbour.[41][42] In December, Crusader troops invaded the Beqaa Valley, seizing prisoners and booty during their campaign before the Muslim governor of Baalbek routed them.[43] Nur ad-Din broke into the county in April or May 1152 and captured Tortosa, leaving a garrison there.[40][43] Baldwin III came to Tripoli and held a "general court", attended by the leading barons of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the County of Tripoli.[40][43] After the king's arrival, the Nur ad-Din's troops left Tortosa, but they destroyed the fortress.[43] Since its restoration proved costly, Raymond ceded Tortosa first to the local bishop, then to the Templars who transformed it into one of their most important headquarters.[44]

An "enmity born from marital jealousy" had meanwhile emerged between Raymond and his wife, according to William of Tyre.

Nizari to murder their enemies[49]—at the southern gate to the city, along with two of his knights.[47][48] The motivation of the crime is unknown.[45] Since the Nizari had not previously killed Christian rulers, modern historians propose that the establishment of the Templars at Tortosa had outraged them.[45]

Family

Raymond's close family and relationship with neighbouring rulers[50][51]
Pons II of Toulouse
Almodis of La Marche
Raymond IV of Toulouse
Bertrand of Tripoli
Alfonso Jordan
Pons of Tripoli
Bertrand
Hodierna of Jerusalem
Raymond II of TripoliAgnes of Tripoli
Raymond III of Tripoli

The exact date of the marriage of Raymond and Hodierna is unknown.[4] According to historian Peter Lock, it took place in the spring of 1133, after her brother-in-law, Fulk of Jerusalem, provided military assistance to Raymond's father against Zengi.[52] Raymond and Hodierna's son, Raymond III, was born only in 1140, thus he was still a minor when he succeeded his father in 1152.[53] Raymond and Hodierna's daughter, Melisende, was famed for her beauty, but her delicate health and rumours about her mother's possible infidelity prevented her marriage to the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos.[54]

See also

References

  1. ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 13, 109.
  2. ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 130.
  3. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 109.
  4. ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 104.
  5. ^ a b Lock 2006, p. 42.
  6. ^ Runciman 1989, p. 42.
  7. ^ Runciman 1989, p. 43.
  8. ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 134.
  9. ^ Barber 2012, p. 167.
  10. ^ a b c d Lewis 2017, p. 135.
  11. ^ Lock 2006, p. 43.
  12. ^ a b c d e Lewis 2017, p. 136.
  13. ^ a b c Barber 2012, p. 165.
  14. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 137.
  15. ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 138–139.
  16. ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 141.
  17. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 140.
  18. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 142.
  19. ^ Lilie 1993, p. 120.
  20. ^ a b Barber 2012, p. 166.
  21. ^ a b c Lewis 2017, p. 144.
  22. ^ Lock 2006, p. 45.
  23. ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 145–146.
  24. ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 12–13, 22.
  25. ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 13, 28, 153.
  26. ^ a b c d Lewis 2017, p. 153.
  27. ^ Runciman 1989, pp. 279–280.
  28. ^ Barber 2012, p. 189.
  29. ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 154.
  30. ^ a b c Runciman 1989, p. 280.
  31. ^ Barber 2012, pp. 175–176.
  32. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 152.
  33. ^ Runciman 1989, pp. 286–287.
  34. ^ Runciman 1989, p. 287.
  35. ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 155.
  36. ^ Runciman 1989, pp. 287–288.
  37. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 160.
  38. ^ a b c Lewis 2017, p. 163.
  39. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 162.
  40. ^ a b c Barber 2012, p. 198.
  41. ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 164.
  42. ^ a b Lock 2006, p. 51.
  43. ^ a b c d Lewis 2017, p. 161.
  44. ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 161–162.
  45. ^ a b c Lewis 2017, p. 167.
  46. ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 166–167.
  47. ^ a b Runciman 1989, p. 333.
  48. ^ a b Barber 2012, p. 199.
  49. ^ Daftary 2007, p. 192.
  50. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 13.
  51. ^ Runciman 1989, Appendix III.
  52. ^ Lock 2006, p. 41.
  53. ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 104, 183.
  54. ^ Lewis 2017, pp. 199–200.

Sources

  • ISBN 978-0-300-11312-9
    .
  • ISBN 978-0-521-61636-2
    .
  • ISBN 0-19-820846-4
    .
  • Lewis, Kevin James (2017). The Counts of Tripoli and Lebanon in the Twelfth Century: Sons of Saint-Gilles. Routledge.
    ISBN 978-1-4724-5890-2
    .
  • ISBN 0-19-820407-8
    .
  • Lock, Peter (2006). The Routledge Companion to the Crusades. Routledge.
    ISBN 9-78-0-415-39312-6
    .
  • ISBN 0-521-06163-6
    .

Further reading

Raymond II, Count of Tripoli
Born: c. 1116 Died: 1152
Regnal titles
Preceded by Count of Tripoli
1137–1152 		Succeeded by
Raymond III
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