See also

Family of Baldwin II + of RETHEL and Morphia + of MELITENE

Husband: Baldwin II + of RETHEL (1080-1131)
Wife: Morphia + of MELITENE (1080-1126)
Children: Alice + of JERUSALEM (1105-1153)
Melisende (1105-1161)
Hodierna (1110-1164)
Loveta (1120-1170)

Husband: Baldwin II + of RETHEL

Name: Baldwin II + of RETHEL
Sex: Male
Father: Hugh I + (1050-1118)
Mother: Melisende + of MONTLHERY (1055-1147)
Birth 1080
Title frm 1100 to 1118 (age 19-38) Count of Edessa
Title frm 14 Apr 1118 to 1131 (age 37-51) King of Jerusalem
Occupation King of Jerusalem
Death 21 Aug 1131 (age 50-51)

Wife: Morphia + of MELITENE

Name: Morphia + of MELITENE
Sex: Female
Father: Gabriel + (1059-1103)
Mother: unknown + (1061- )
Birth 1080
Religion Greek Orthodox
Occupation Queen Consort of Jerusalem
Title frm 1118 to 1126 (age 37-46) Queen Consort of Jerusalem
Death 1 Oct 1126 (age 45-46)
Burial Abbey of St. Mary Josaphat, Jerusalem

Child 1: Alice + of JERUSALEM

Name: Alice + of JERUSALEM
Sex: Female
Spouse: Bohemond II + GUISCARD (1090-1130)
Birth 1105
Occupation Princess of Jerusalem
Title frm 1126 to 1130 (age 20-25) Princess of Jerusalem
Death 1153 (age 47-48)

Child 2: Melisende

Name: Melisende
Sex: Female
Spouse: Fulk V + of JERUSALEM (1092-1143)
Birth 1105
Occupation Queen of Jerusalem
Death 11 Sep 1161 (age 55-56)

Child 3: Hodierna

Name: Hodierna
Sex: Female
Spouse: Raymond II (1115-1152)
Birth 1110
Occupation Countess of Tripoli
Title frm 1137 to 1152 (age 26-42) Countess of Tripoli
Death 1164 (age 53-54)

Child 4: Loveta

Name: Loveta
Sex: Female
Birth 1120
Occupation Princess of Jerusalem
Death 1170 (age 49-50)

Note on Husband: Baldwin II + of RETHEL

Baldwin II of Jerusalem (in French; Baudouin), formerly Baldwin II of Edessa, also called Baldwin of Bourcq, born Baldwin of Rethel (died 21 August 1131) was the second count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118, and the third king of Jerusalem from 1118 until his death.

 

Baldwin was the son of Hugh, count of Rethel, and his wife Melisende, daughter of Guy I of Montlhéry. He had two younger brothers, Gervase and Manasses, and two sisters Matilda and Hodierna. Baldwin was called a cousin of the brothers Eustace III of Boulogne, Godfrey of Bouillon, and Baldwin of Boulogne, but the exact manner in which they are related has never been discovered. He left his own family behind to follow his cousins on the First Crusade in 1096. Some books (in particular Steven Runciman's History of the Crusades) have claimed a fictitious Ida of Boulogne as grandmother to Baldwin II in order to force the relationship. While Ida of Boulogne did exist, neither of Baldwin's parents were her descendants.

 

[edit] Count of EdessaIn the aftermath of the crusade, Baldwin of Boulogne became the first count of Edessa, while Baldwin of Bourcq entered the service of Bohemund of Taranto, Prince of Antioch, acting as an ambassador between Antioch and Edessa. Baldwin of Bourcq also became regent of the Principality, when Bohemund was taken prisoner by the Danishmends in 1100. That year, Baldwin of Boulogne was elected king of Jerusalem upon the death of Godfrey, and Baldwin of Bourcq was appointed count of Edessa in his stead. As count, in 1101 Baldwin married Morphia of Melitene, the daughter of the Armenian prince Gabriel of Melitene. He also helped ransom Bohemund from the Danishmends, preferring Bohemund to his nephew Tancred, who was now regent.

 

In 1102 Baldwin and Tancred assisted King Baldwin against the Egyptians at Ascalon. In 1104 the Seljuk Turks invaded Edessa. With help from Antioch, Count Baldwin met them at the Battle of Harran. The battle was disastrous and Count Baldwin was captured; Tancred became regent of Edessa in his absence. Tancred and Bohemund preferred to ransom their own Seljuk prisoners for money rather than an exchange for Baldwin, and the count remained in captivity in Mosul until 1108, when he was ransomed for 60 000 dinars by Joscelin of Courtenay. Tancred refused to restore Edessa to him, but with the support of the Kurds, Arabs, Byzantines, and even the Seljuks, Tancred was forced to back down. In 1109, after reconciling with Tancred, the two participated in the capture of Tripoli.

 

[edit] King of JerusalemUpon the death of Baldwin I in 1118, the crown was offered to the king's elder brother Eustace III, but Joscelin of Courtenay insisted that the crown pass to Baldwin of Bourcq, despite Count Baldwin having exiled Joscelin from Edessa in 1113. Baldwin of Edessa accepted and was crowned king of Jerusalem as Baldwin II on Easter Sunday, 14 April 1118. Almost immediately, the kingdom was simultaneously invaded by the Seljuks from Syria and the Fatimids from Egypt, although by showing himself ready and willing to defend his territory, Baldwin forced the Muslim army to back down without a battle. In 1119, the crusader Principality of Antioch was invaded, and Baldwin hurried north with the army of Jerusalem. Roger of Salerno, prince of Antioch, would not wait for Baldwin's reinforcements, and the Antiochene army was destroyed in a battle the crusaders came to call Ager Sanguinis (the Field of Blood). Although it was a crushing blow, Baldwin helped Antioch recover and drove out the Seljuks later that year.

 

Around this time, the second of three military orders were created. In 1118, Hugues de Payens founded the Knights Templar in Jerusalem, while the Knights Hospitaller, which had been founded in 1113, evolved into a military order from the charitable order that they had originally been. Baldwin also called the Council of Nablus in 1120, where he probably established the first written laws for the kingdom, and extended rights and privileges to the growing bourgeois communities. King Baldwin allowed Hugues de Payens to set up quarters in a wing of the royal palace, the captured Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Because of where it was built, on the ruins of the older Temple, the Crusaders referred to this structure as the Temple of Solomon, and it was from this structure that they took their name of "Knights of the Temple", or Templars.

 

In 1122 Joscelin, who had been appointed count of Edessa when Baldwin became king, was captured in battle. Baldwin returned to the north to take over the regency of the county, but he too was taken captive by the Ortoqids while patrolling the borders of Edessa in 1123, and was held captive with Joscelin. Eustace Grenier acted as regent in Jerusalem, and at the Battle of Yibneh defeated an Egyptian invasion hoping to take advantage of the king's absence. Baldwin and Joscelin escaped from captivity with help from the Armenians in 1124. Meanwhile, the crusaders besieged and captured Tyre, with help from a Venetian fleet. This would lead to the establishment of Venetian and other Italian trading colonies in the coastal cities of the kingdom, which were autonomous and free from taxes and military duties, under the terms of the Pactum Warmundi.

 

In 1125 Baldwin assembled the knights from all the crusader territories and met the Seljuks at the Battle of Azaz. Although the Seljuk army was much larger, the crusaders were victorious, and they restored much of the influence they had lost after the Ager Sanguinis. Had Antioch and Edessa not been fighting amongst themselves after the battle, Baldwin may have been able to attack Aleppo; however, Aleppo and Mosul were soon united under Zengi in 1128. Baldwin attempted to take Damascus in 1126 with the help of the Templars, but the attempt was pushed back by emir Toghtekin.

 

[edit] SuccessionAlso assisting Baldwin during the attack on Damascus was his new son-in-law, Fulk V of Anjou. Baldwin had no sons with Morphia, but four daughters: Melisende, Alice, Hodierna, and Ioveta. In 1129 Baldwin named Melisende his heir, and arranged for her to marry Fulk. His daughters Alice and Hodierna also married important princes, Bohemund II of Antioch and Raymond II of Tripoli respectively (his fourth daughter Ioveta became abbess of the convent in Bethany). In 1131 Baldwin fell sick and died on 21 August, and was buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

 

William of Tyre described Baldwin as "a devout and God-fearing man, notable for his loyalty and for his great experience in military matters," and said that he was nicknamed "the Thorny" (cognominatus est Aculeus). Ibn al-Qalanisi, who calls him "Baldwin the Little" (Baghdawin al-ru'aiuis) to distinguish him from Baldwin I, remarked that "after him there was none left amongst them possessed of sound judgment and capacity to govern." Galbert of Bruges was not so favourable; he called Baldwin "grasping and penurious", and believed he had been captured because he "had not governed the people of God well." Galbert even claims the kingdom was offered to Charles I, Count of Flanders during Baldwin's captivity; it is possible that Eustace Grenier, a native of Flanders, made such an offer.[1]

 

Melisende, by law the heir to the kingdom, succeeded her father with Fulk as her co-ruler. The new queen and king were crowned on 14 September.

Note on Wife: Morphia + of MELITENE

Morphia of Melitene, or Morfia, or Moraphia (died c. 1126 or 1129) was the wife of Baldwin II, king of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.[1]

 

Morphia was the daughter of an Armenian nobleman named Gabriel (or Khoril, in Armenian), the ruler of the city of Melitene. Although ethnically Armenian, the family practised the Greek Orthodox faith. Melitene was a neighbour of the crusader County of Edessa, and Gabriel soon became a vassal of the county. The future Baldwin II of Jerusalem was also count of Edessa after 1100, and he consolidated his position in the county by marrying Morphia around 1101. Gabriel, who was very wealthy, gave 50,000 gold bezants as a dowry. Baldwin and Morphia had four daughters: Melisende, Alice, Hodierna, and Ioveta.

 

When Baldwin became King of Jerusalem in 1118, Morphia and her children remained in Edessa. After the Muslim victory at the Battle of Ager Sanguinis in 1119, Baldwin returned to the north to respond to the threat. After having secured the crusader territories, he returned home in 1120 with his family, and Morphia was finally crowned as queen. Morphia went back north when Baldwin was taken captive while patrolling the borders of Edessa in 1123, and helped ensure his release by offering their young daughter Ioveta as a hostage.

 

According to the Melisende Psalter, Morphia died on October 1, but the year is unknown; it was either 1126 or 1127, more likely 1126. With no male heir, Baldwin II designated Melisende, his oldest daughter, as his heir, and married her to Fulk V of Anjou.[2] Two of their other daughters also married influential crusader lords: Alice married Bohemund II of Antioch, and Hodierna married Raymond II of Tripoli. Ioveta became a nun.

 

Morphia was probably partially responsible for the Greek and Armenian cultural influences that appeared in the Latin kingdom. Art from the kingdom, such as the Melisende Psalter, often shows a mixture of eastern and western styles, just as the western crusaders had begun to accustom themselves to eastern culture. Morphia was buried at the abbey of St. Mary Josaphat, just outside of Jerusalem.