Baudouin of the Borough

See also: Baudouin II

Baudouin II of Bourcq (and not of the Borough as one a long time called by error), died the August 21st 1131, was count d' Édesse of 1100 to 1118 then king de Jérusalem of 1118 to 1131.

He is the son junior by Hugues count de Rethel and by Mélisente of Montlhéry. Before the Crusade, it had the seigniory of Bourcq in the Ardennes, from where it drew its name. In 1095, it engages in the First Crusade, in the quota of its cousins Eustace III of Boulogne Godefroy de Bouillon, and of Baudouin of Boulogne. It follows Baudouin I in Edesse, and thus it finds count d' Edesse, when Baudouin Ier succeeds his Godefroy brother.

In Edesse, Baudouin II continued the policy of his predecessor. He tied alliances with the Armenian lords of Marash and Malatya (or Mélitène), and extended his suzerainty until these regions, and married Morfia, girl of Gabriel, prince de Malatya. He sought to take Harran, first stage towards Mosul, when he was made prisoner (1104). Released in 1108, it had to be resigned to give up the campaigns of Eastern bank of Euphrate, vis-a-vis the Turkish incursions.

In 1118, with died of king Baudouin Ier of Jerusalem, it collects the succession and entrusts the county of Edesse to one of his/her cousins, Josselin de Courtenay.

After the disaster of Such `Aqibrin (or battles of the Field of Blood), where was killed the prince Roger of Salerno, regent of Antioche, Baudouin II had to ensure the regency of Antioche and to protect the city. He managed to rectify the situation, when a Turkish chief did it captive in 1123. That did not carry to consequence, the franque presence being already strongly enracinée in Syria. The constable Eustace Ier Grenier even succeeds in taking the town of Tyr. In spite of several victories, it could not seize interior Syria, the towns of Alep and remaining Damas to the Moslems. He died in 1131.

Of his wife Morfia de Malatya, it had:

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