Kingdom of Jerusalem

The kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom created in the East in 1099 at the time of the First Crusade.

Situation

The kingdom of Jerusalem is the Latin state of the southernmost East. The kingdom, starting from the reign of Baudouin I {{er}} extends on the territory from the Palestine. The littoral goes from Gaza and Daron to Beirut. Towards the interior, the kingdom goes to the valley of the the Jordan. Later, the other bank of the Jordan will be occupied until the Red Sea, forming the ground of in addition to-Jordan.

See the chart of the Latin States of the East.

Feudal composition

The kingdom of Jerusalem was divided in a royal field and four pricipaux strongholds. These principal strongholds, as well as the royal field, had to them-even the vassal ones.

The principal strongholds of the kingdom of Jerusalem were:

  • the County of Jaffa, including/understanding:
    • the Seigneurie of Ascalon
    • the Seigneurie of Ibelin
    • the Seigneurie of Rowed
    • the Seigneurie of Mirabel

The seigniories dependant on the royal field were:

There were also some detached seigniories of the royal field:

Armorial bearings

Blasonnement: money , with the potencée, confined gold cross of four small crosses of very the .

according to the tradition this blazon is voluntarily with the enquerre (he contravenes the heraldic rules by metal directly on metal), for better marking the very particular prestige of this Kingdom

History

The kingdom in Jerusalem

The kingdom of Jerusalem was born from the First crusade and the catch of Jerusalem (July 15th 1099). Godefroy de Bouillon was the first sovereign, but was satisfied with it with the title of Avoué of the Holy Sepulchre. It was initially necessary to fight a first counter-attack Fatimide, which was beaten with Ascalon on August 12th, 1099. The kingdom was limited to the towns of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, the port of Jaffa and the road connecting Jerusalem and Jaffa.

Several cross chiefs left the Holy City, either to cut principalities, or to return to Europe. There remained nothing any more but Godefroy, Tancrède de Hauteville and three hundred knights. Tancrède conquered the plain of Galileo and founded the principality of Galileo. Godefroy died on July 18th 1100.

The question of the legal status of the new state arose then, related to that of the succession. Daimbert of Pisa, patriarch of Jerusalem, wished a theocratic state and called its ally Bohémond, prince d' Antioche. But this one had just been made prisoner by the Turks and Baudouin, count d' Edesse, brother of Godefroy, was presented and Daimbert was obliged to accept it, then to crown it king de Jérusalem.

Baudouin Ier passed his reign to conquer the littoral and to push back against Islamic attacks. He succeeds in making recognize the suzerainty of kingdom of Jerusalem on the others Latin States of the East. He died in 1118 and the lords of the kingdom chose to him like successor Baudouin of the Borough, count d' Edesse.

Baudouin II reinforced the franque presence out of Holy Land and gained several victories, but could not seize interior Syria, the towns of Alep and remaining Damas to the Moslems.

Successes of the first crusade were mainly due to divisions of the Moslems. Foulque of Anjou managed to maintain this balance, but Syria Musulmane commançait to unify under the cane of Nur AD-DIN. The Second crusade did not have any positive test, the crusaders having attacked Damas, the only emirate combined with the Francs.

The reigns of Baudouin III and Amaury Ier are marked by the search for alliances, near Byzance and of the Egypt Fatimide, but this last action showed a failure which contributed to the hegemony of Saladin on joined together Syria and Egypt, taking the kingdom out of clipper.

Baudouin IV the leprous, then Raymond III of Tripoli, regent in the name of Baudouin V, succeeded in holding Saladin in failure, but the behavior of Renaud de Châtillon and the advent of Guy de Lusignan brought the catastrophe: the franque army was overcome with Hattin (July 4th 1187), the captive king, and Saladin quickly undertook the conquest of the Latin States of the East. The kingdom of Jerusalem was reduced soon to the port of Tyr, the Comté of Tripoli was reduced to the town of Tripoli, the castle of Tortose and the Krak of the Knights, and the Principauté of Antioche in Antioche and Marqab.

It is of Tyr that the counter-attack came. Conrad de Montferrat, an energetic and solved man, uncle de Baudouin V, there had unloaded in July 1187, put the city in a state of defense, and pushed back the attacks of Saladin. To counterbalance this reaction, Saladin delivered Guy de Lusignan, but Conrad refused with this last the entry of Tyr. While Conrad married Isabelle of Jerusalem to take advantage of rights to the throne, Guy de Lusignan started to besiege Acre. This seat lasted two years, the Francs being found besieged by an army of help of Saladin, and in prey with the competition between partisans of Guy and in favor of Conrad. It is only on arrival of the Third crusade, led by Philippe II Auguste and Richard Lion-hearted, that the city could be taken. Philippe Auguste returned to France, but Richard remained and made the conquest of the coastal strip and negotiated with Saladin a peace guaranteeing to the Christian pilgrims the access to Jerusalem. Under the pressure of the barons, he resigned himself to recognize Conrad as king de Jérusalem, installing Guy de Lusignan on the throne of Cyprus which he had just conquered on the Byzantines.

The kingdom at Midsummer's Day d' Acre

Jerusalem was lost, and the seat of the kingdom was installed with Saint-Jean-in Acre, although always named kingdom of Jerusalem . Conrad de Montferrat became the new king, but was assassinated about it shortly after. The two husbands following of Isabelle followed one another then, Henri II of Champagne, then Amaury II of Lusignan, the brother of Guy de Lusignan, and king de Chypre. He managed to take again several ports and to reconstitute the kingdom all along the littoral, of Jaffa to Beirut. With its death, it was Marie de Montferrat which succeeded to him, under the regency of Jean d' Ibelin, the old lord of Beirut .

When Marie was nineteen years old, the regent Maria with Jean de Brienne. In 1218, this one launched a forwarding to Egypt with an aim of negotiating the restitution of Jerusalem. The November 5th 1219, it took Damiette, and the sultan of Egypt was been willing to exchange the city against Jerusalem. The legate Pelagius of Albania opposed and walked on Cairo it at the time of believed of the Nile. Forwarding turned thus to the catastrophe and successes of the operation were reduced to nothing.

To obtain helps of the Occident, Jean de Brienne Maria in 1225 her daughter Isabelle II with the Germanic Roman Emperor Frederic II of Hohenstaufen. , which drew aside from the throne. Frederic II, although having succeeded in recovering Jerusalem by treaty dissatisfied the barons and the war of Lombards burst between the imperial ones and the barons. They are only in 1232 that the barons carried it, leaving at imperial only the town of Tyr which was taken in 1243.

While maintaining a fiction of kings Hohenstaufen, the barons organized a collegial government, directed by Jean d' Ibelin, then by his/her son Balian, but anarchy settled. Jerusalem was taken again by the Moslems in 1244. Saint Louis, came to the head from a crusade, but was made prisoner with Damiette. After its release, it controlled the kingdom of 1250 with 1254 and reorganized it, but anarchy settled after its departure, worsened by the competitions between the Gênois and the Vénitiens, the double claim with the throne of Hugues III of Cyprus and Charles of Anjou. During this time, the sultan Mamelouk Baybars gradually took again the various fortified towns of the kingdom. The last fortified town was Midsummer's Day d' Acre, which was taken the May 18th 1291.

Institutions

The institutions of the kingdom, laws initially not written, were gathered by Jean d' Ibelin in the Assises of Jerusalem.

The king

See also the List of the kings de Jérusalem

The kingdom of Jerusalem was first of all an elective monarchy: Godefroi de Bouillon, Baudouin Ier and Baudouin II were indicated in this manner. But the barons quickly took the practice to choose the king in the royal family, so much so that apès the reign of Frederic II, and in spite of the absence of the sovereign and the rejection of the Hohenstaufen, the fiction of kings Hohenstaufen was established.

This double nature of the succession, elective and hereditary, allowed:

The nobility and High-Court

Contrary to many countries of Europe, the feudal power was initially established, each noble crusader seeking to cut a Holy Land stronghold, thus transposing the feudal system in the East, and it was only then that the need for coordinating military operations establishes the monarchical institution. So true sovereignty does not lie in the king, but in the body of the nobility joins together in assembly under the name of Cour of Liege the or High court . Composed at the beginning of vassal direct of the Crown, it was increased in 1162 vassal backs. It has a sovereign authority higher than that of the king, who has only the military capacity. Before being recognized and crowned, the king was to lend the oath to respect the habits and the Assises of the kingdom.

Legal courses

The High court is also charged to regulate the litigations interesting the noble ones. Other courses judged businesses concerning the remainder of the population:
  • the Court of the Middle-class men , to judge the free men of birth commoner and Latin language. It is composed of twelve sworn or notable, and chaired by the Viscount of Jerusalem.
  • the Court of the Ray , to consider the natives syriaques, made up of sworn indigenous and chaired by the ray , an indigenous civil servant.

Officers of the kingdom

See the article: List of the officers of the kingdom of Jerusalem

See too

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