Amalric and the Assassins

In 1173 King of Jerusalem Amalric I tried to make an alliance with the Order of Assassins. They were a sect of Shi'ite Islam whose goals were political as well as religious: they went after the Abbasid Caliphate as well as Christians. They had been subdued by the Templars and were forced into an annual tribute.

Amalric made them a deal: convert to Christianity, and you won't have to pay tribute to the Templars anymore. An envoy from the Order of Assassins to Amalric's court agreed to this. (Yes, hard to believe that this was a serious agreement on the part of the Order, since their entire identity was being faithful to their Shi'ite leader, the "Old Man of the Mountain" Rashid al-Din Sinan.)

Anyway, the envoy was returning from the negotiations when he was discovered by a patrol of Templars led by Walter of Mesnil. Despite being granted safe conduct by Amalric, the Templars killed him. William of Tyre and Walter Map both wrote about the incident, claiming it was a great loss of the chance to convert more Muslims to Christianity. (Walter Map suggested that the Templars did not want the Assassins to convert because it would make the Templars superfluous, but this imagines (quite wrongly) that there weren't plenty of non-Christians for the Templars to guard against and take tribute from.

Amalric was furious and demanded from the Templar master, Odo of Saint Armand, that Walter be turned over to him for punishment. Odo refused, saying that he had already given Walter penance to do and that Walter was being sent to the pope.

Amalric would have none of it. He went to where Walter was staying before heading to the pope and captured him, imprisoning him in Tyre.

On 15 May in 1174, Amalric's rival Nur ad-Din died. Amalric felt this was the best chance to (again) try to conquer Egypt. His first attack on a city there failed, but he accepted money to retreat. Heading back to Jerusalem, he fell ill. By the time he got to Jerusalem, it seemed clear that he had contracted dysentery. No treatment helped, and he died on 11 July. He left behind two daughters and a son, Baldwin, a sickly boy of 13 years. The illustration shows Amalric dying and the boy being crowned.

There were concerns about the young Baldwin IV. He did not seem to feel pain, which meant he was likely suffering from leprosy. In fact, I've talked about him as The Leper King, and that he was the only viable candidate, but he was fairly soon replaced by Baldwin V, his nephew through Sibylla of Jerusalem.

Since all that has been covered before, I want to turn to the mother of Baldwin V and sister of Baldwin IV, Sibylla of Jerusalem.

The 1170 Syrian Earthquake

On the morning of 29 June 1170, the inhabitants of what are now western Syria, central southern Turkey, and Lebanon were rocked by one of the largest seismic events ever to occur along the northern part of the Dead Sea Transform Fault System (also called simply the Levant Fracture).

We've mentioned earthquakes before, during a synod in England in 1382, the 1386 Destruction of Basel, and the Monday before Easter 1185 in the East Midlands. The 1170 Syrian quake was so devastating that an uneasy truce was formed between enemies Emir of Aleppo and Damascus Nur ad-Din and King Amalric I of Jerusalem.

The day had begun in 1170 and people were going about their business when it struck. In Antioch, Patriarch Athanasius I was performing Mass in the Cathedral of Saint Peter, where 70 years earlier a version of the Holy Lance had been found. Athanasius was pulled out alive but died soon after from his injuries. About 50 others were killed in the collapse of the dome. Several other churches in Antioch were also destroyed, as were the defensive walls along the Orontes river.

Damage reached from Antioch to Tripoli in the south. Bohemond III, Prince of Antioch, was so distressed by the destruction all around that he cut his hair and donned sackcloth as a sign of mourning. The Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller had been given several castles by Count Raymond II of Tripoli as a shield on his borders to hold against the Turks. They were all reported as destroyed.

This earthquake has been estimated to have been a magnitude 7.7 on the moment magnitude scale (see illustration). The illustration shows the destructive force of the scale. Damage was so widespread that it appears in several records. In all, an estimated 80,000 people were killed, and aftershocks were felt for three months.

Although Nur ad-Din and Amalric were agreed to hold off on hostilities while rebuilding their kingdoms, others were not so kind. In December, Saladin came with an enormous force to besiege Amalric's fortress of Darum in the south while Tripoli was still trying to rebuild. For some reason, however, Saladin destroyed part of Darum and left without occupying it. Amalric rebuilt Darum to be stronger, but the threat from Egypt was clear.

Amalric did his best to preserve the kingdom. We will see how that turned out tomorrow.

Egypt Again

January 1169 saw the death of Bertrand of Blancfort, the master of the Templars. Bertrand was not as keen on invading Egypt as was Amalric I, King of Jerusalem.  In August of that year, no doubt with the influence of Amalric, Philip of Milly had been elected to lead the Templars.

Amalric and Philip had been allies for several years: the two had supported Amalric's mother, Queen Melisende, in her opposition to Amalric's brother, King Baldwin III. Around the same time Amalric convinced his ally through marriage, Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenos, to send soldiers to help in the invasion of Egypt (see illustration). Amalric also had the Hospitallers on his side.

This combination Franco-Byzantine expedition thought they would be served by unrest in Egypt. Egypt was being ruled by outsiders, and Shirkuh had been killed. Rough seas hindered the fleet, however, and the mouth of the Nile was blocked, making it difficult to reach the port city of Damietta, their first goal.

William of Tyre reported that Damietta could be taken quickly; however, constructing siege engines took too long, and boats from the south could provide Damietta with fresh supplies. Also, the Egyptians launched a ship on fire at the Byzantine fleet, causing the loss of six ships.

Weather was also a problem. Heavy October rains were demoralizing, and the food stores of the attackers were running low. They were unable to land and find fresh supplies. The Greek leaders felt Amalric was being too timid. Amalric worried that they had not battered the walls of Damietta enough to try to take the city. The Greeks prepared to ignore Amalric and attack, but Amalric started negotiations with Damietta before the attack could take place. For a sum of gold, Amalric retreated. He was back home on 12 December.

It was not wise to stay away from Jerusalem for overlong, since Nur ad-Din was constantly harassing the borders. Then something happened on 29 June 1170 that caused Amalric and Nur ad-Din to declare a temporary truce, something devastating to both men and their people, with a death toll estimated at 80,000. It was not a plague.

Tomorrow we'll look at the earthquake of 1170.

Like a Mouse in a Wallet

Yesterday's post introduced the phrase more muris in pera, "like a mouse in a wallet." It was said by William of Tyre about Andronikos Comnenos, a cousin of the Byzantine Emperor, who came to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

To explain this phrase, we first have to understand that the word "wallet" was first used in the late 14th century and referred to a very different way of carrying valuables than the pocket-sized device we think of today. The wallet at the time was a satchel (from Latin saccellus, referring to a small bag or pouch) or a knapsack. (The word was first used as a "flat case for carrying money" in 1834 in American English.)

What was a "wallet" centuries ago? A larger pouch, perhaps with a flap, for carrying many things necessary for life: currency, surely, but also items of daily necessity and food. It was something not easily lived without if something happened to it.

So when William of Tyre said that Andronikos acted like a mouse in a wallet, he was describing an ungovernable destructive force, taking advantage of access to important things.

Andronikos (born c. 1120) was an adventurous sort, with a history of scandals, both political and romantic. When he arrived in the area c.1167, he was in his 40s. Byzantine Emperor Manuel made him governor of Cilicia, but he was bored in that post and went to Antioch where there was much more excitement, like seducing Philippa of Antioch, sister of the current Prince of Antioch, Bohemond III, as well as the sister of Manuel's second wife, Maria of Antioch. Bohemond complained to Manuel, who named someone else governor of Cilicia and recalled Andronikos.

Andronikos refused to return, and Philippa turned down the offer of marriage to the newly-appointed governor of Cilicia, berating him for being inferior in all ways to Andronikos. Andronikos and Philippa went to Jerusalem where King Amalric I gave him Beirut to govern.

Andronikos abandoned Philippa a year later, and went to Acre where he seduced Theodora Comnena, the dowager widow of Amalric's predecessor and brother, Baldwin III. The two were about 30 years apart in age. For reasons mentioned yesterday, Amalric did not want Theodora to remarry, and consanguinity said they should not (Theodora was the daughter of Andronikos' cousin Isaac).

Again, Manuel was furious and demanded Andronikos return to Constantinople. When he did not, Manuel sent a command that Andronikos be blinded. This would, of course, make him ineligible to become emperor, no matter his standing in the imperial family. (This was a common way for the Byzantines to eliminate rivals.) Theodora got word of the letter demanding the blinding and warned Andronikos.

Andronikos could not be sure that Amalric would support him rather than help Manuel, and so the two eloped and went to a place they figured they could not be touched by either Manuel or Amalric: the court of Nur ad-Din, currently the biggest rival/enemy of both those rulers! In a way, this was fortunate for Amalric: the two were well out of the way, Amalric got Acre back, and through his own wife was still allied with the Byzantines.

Andronikos had much more ahead of him, including eventually becoming emperor (the illustration shows the gold coin struck showing him being crowned by Christ), but let's at least finish the love story before we return to the Kingdom of Jerusalem under Amalric.

The two traveled a lot over the next decade before settling in northeastern Anatolia just beyond the Byzantine border as guests of the 8th King of Georgia, George III. They had children, and life was fine until Byzantine imperial forces found them and captured Theodora and their children, taking them back to Constantinople. 

Andronikos himself went to Constantinople and appeared before Manuel with a chain around his neck, pleading humbly for Theodora and the children to be returned to him. Manuel relented, and the family was sent to Paphlagonia where they lived in a castle on the Black Sea coast. Andronikos was there to govern, and took  his duties seriously this time. In 1182, he would return to politics, by which time Theodora was probably dead, since she no longer appears in records.

The mouse had found his soulmate, apparently, and finally was out of the wallet. Now we can go back to the wallet and see what Amalric was up to.

Fighting for Egypt

In 1163, the young Fatimid caliph of Egypt was al-Adid, who was only 12 and a puppet of several strong nobles and viziers. His current vizier, Shawar, was overthrown by the military commander Dirgham. Shortly after, Amalric I, King of Jerusalem, attacked on the pretense that Egypt was not keeping up tributes promised to Baldwin III, Amalric's brother and predecessor.

Amalric failed, but it motivated Nur ad-Din, Emir of Aleppo, to attack Crusader forces in Syria to keep their attention away from Egypt. While Nur ad-Din was attacking Tripoli, Shawar visited him asking for help to be restored to power in Egypt.

Nur ad-Din did not want to divide his forces, but gave a Kurdish mercenary general employed by the Zengid Dynasty permission to invade Egypt. General Shirkuh was happy to do so, but his approach to Egypt frightened Dirgham enough to forge an alliance with Amalric to fight Shirkuh. Unfortunately, Amalric assembled his forces but did not arrive in time to help. Dirgham was killed, and Shawar was restored to power over the kingdom and the young caliph.

But Shawar and Shirkuh fell out and Shawar called Amalric for help. Amalric attacked Shirkuh's forces, but they came to a stalemate and each agreed to leave Egypt. In 1166, however, Shirkuh came back. Shawar called on Amalric again, who arrived in January 1167. Another stalemate was reached, and again the two agreed to retreat and leave Egypt to Shawar (although Amalric left a garrison in Cairo). Amalric also demanded more tribute from Egypt.

Amalric came back in the winter of 1168, at which point Shawar re-allied himself with Shirkuh. They could not drive Amalric out of Cairo, and Amalric progressed until he was camped at Fustat (now called Old Cairo). Shawar decided to destroy the city rather than let it fall into Christian hands. An Egyptian historian, writing at least two centuries later, says:

Shawar ordered that Fustat be evacuated. He forced [the citizens] to leave their money and property behind and flee for their lives with their children. In the panic and chaos of the exodus, the fleeing crowd looked like a massive army of ghosts.... Shawar sent 20,000 naphtha pots and 10,000 lighting bombs and distributed them throughout the city. Flames and smoke engulfed the city and rose to the sky in a terrifying scene. The blaze raged for 54 days.

Shirkuh did not give up, however. He fought until Amalric was forced out of Egypt, conquered Cairo himself, executed Shawar, and ruled Egypt for ... two months. He was succeeded by his nephew, a name better known to modern readers: Saladin.

Amalric would continue to invade Egypt. Tomorrow we'll return to see how his reign was going.

Nur ad-Din

Born into the Zengid Dynasty, Al-Malik al-Adil Abu al-Qasim Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd bin Imad al-Dīn Zengī, known as Nur ad-Din, became Emir of Aleppo in 1146 when he was 28 years old.

He set out to eliminate the Frankish kingdoms that had been created by Crusaders. He attacked Antioch and rebuffed attempts to recover the County of Edessa, which had fallen to the Zengid Dynasty in 1144. An attempt to recapture Edessa by the Franks led to Nur ad-Din executing the male population of Armenian Christians and enslaving the women and children.

(The illustration shows in dark orange Zengid territory when Nur ad-Din became Emir. The lighter orange shows how the territory expanded by 1174 when Nur ad-Din died.)

The Second Crusade in 1148 was an attempt to recover Edessa. They were unable to do so, and looked for another suitable goal. Aleppo was too far, so attacking Nur ad-Din directly was not feasible. They considered Damascus, but a siege there lasted only four days before the Crusade gave up.

After the departure of the Crusade, Nur ad-Din prepared another attack on Antioch. This led to the Battle of Inab in 1149, during which Prince Raymond of Antioch was killed, along with the husband (at the time) of Agnes of Courtenay, and many Franks. He conquered so much of the territory around Antioch that he was content to leave the city itself alone. (Antioch soon after became part of the Byzantine Empire, which Nur ad-Din was not prepared to go against.) He was able to march all the way to the Mediterranean, a symbolic goal.

In 1163, the new King of Jerusalem, Amalric I, began an offensive against Egypt. Egypt at the time was weakened by a series of very young Fatimid caliphs who were undermined and overruled by their viziers and other powerful nobles. Amalric failed, but it motivated Nur ad-Din to attack the Crusaders in Syria to draw their attention and forces away from Egypt.

What followed was a dance of shifting alliances between Turks and Franks. I'll explain soon.

Amalric Ascends

Baldwin III, King of Jerusalem, contracted dysentery in 1162 after taking some pills from a Syriac physician. He was only 33 years old, and healthy prior to the pills, so poison was suspected, but no investigation turned up any sign of wrongdoing. Trying to get home from Antioch, he got as far as Beirut. He summoned his nobles to him, announcing his younger brother, Amalric, as his heir. He died on 10 February 1163.

Amalric was 27, and therefore unlike Baldwin at his ascension needed no regent (besides, his mother Queen Melisende had died on 11 September 1161) and was ready to rule. Unfortunately, the High Court refused to recognize him as king until he got rid of his wife, Agnes of Courtenay, for reasons on which historians cannot agree.

Amalric and Agnes already had children, and the need for an heir was a concern. Amalric gained papal agreement from Pope Alexander III that his children would be seen as legitimate even if his marriage was annulled. The marriage was annulled, presumably on the grounds of consanguinity.

Eight days after Baldwin's death, he was interred in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. On the same day in the same place, Amalric was crowned (see illustration) by the patriarch, Amalric of Nesle, the chief spokesman who told him he had to give up Agnes. (Although king and patriarch often worked together, this king excluded this patriarch from his councils, possibly because of the Agnes decision.)

One of Amalric's first pieces of legislation was the Assise sur la ligece ("Assize on liege-homage"). This declared all lords to be vassals of the king. This change allowed the vassals of Amalric's vassals to appeal directly to the king if they felt their overlords were not being fair or trustworthy. It disallowed the seizing of fiefs by lords, but allowed the king to confiscate fiefs from anyone.

Amalric's chief military goal during his reign was to conquer Egypt. This was not just a "land grab." The Crusaders were constantly threatened by Muslim neighbors, chief of whom was Nur ad-Din, Emir of Aleppo since 1146. Nur ad-Din also saw the strategic importance of Egypt: if he could control it, he would have the Crusader states surrounded.

The next decade saw these two men working against each other over Egypt. So let's learn more about Nur ad-Din next time.

Templars: The Early Days

Formed about 1120 by Hugues de Payens and eight others—including André de Montbard, the uncle of St. Bernard of Clairvaux—the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, aka Templars, had some trouble getting established. They wanted to be a monastic order of knights to provide protection to pilgrims in the Holy Land, which had been opened up to Western European Travel by the Crusades (begun in 1095).

King Baldwin II of Jerusalem had given them space in the palace complex on the Temple Mount, which had most recently been the captured Al-Aqsa Mosque. They had no funds, however, and so André de Montbard turned to his already famous nephew to write an endorsement of the order, after which they started to thrive. André eventually became the Grand Master, but with his death in 1156 the last of the original nine founders was gone. The next Grand Master took a step back and decided it was time for reform.

Bertrand de Blanchefort (c.1109 - 13 January 1169) was a son of Lord Godfrey of Guyenne. Although raised as a warrior and becoming a member of an order of warrior-monks, he wanted to emphasize facets of the Templars other than their status as soldiers. One step was to ask the pope for permission to use the title "Master by Grace of God" in order to stress the religious nature of the order less than the military nature.

He also wrote a set of clear rules for different positions in the order, and created checks and balances against the Grand Master's role, to ensure that future Grand Masters could not make decisions on the order's purpose or goals without the support of the rest of the knights.

In 1157, he was captured after fighting alongside King Baldwin III of Jerusalem in a battle against Nur ad-Din Zangi, ruler of the Syrian province of the Seljuk Empire. He remained a prisoner for three years until the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenos made a peace treaty with Nur ad-Din and had Bertrand released.

Bertrand also fought with Baldwin's successor, Amalric I, in an unsuccessful expedition against Egypt in 1163. Another expedition was planned in 1168, but Bertrand refused to participate, and was involved instead in drawing up a peace treaty with Egypt later. After Bertrand's death, however, Amalric pressured the Templars to elect Philip of Milly as their next Grand Master, a man with whom Amalric already had a relationship. Because of this choice, Amalric gained Templar support for future fighting forays. Who was this next Grand Master? Where did he come from? I'll talk about him next time.