Heraclius in Europe

So Heraclius of Jerusalem set off for Europe to find support for the Latin kingdoms in the Holy Land and perhaps a husband for Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem. (She already had a husband, Guy of Lusignan, but many wanted him replaced.)

With him went others to lend weight to his requests. The ninth Grandmaster of the Knights Templar, Arnold of Torroja, was one. Arnold was in his 70s at the time, and was known as a great mediator, having conducted successful negotiations with Saladin and with the Knights Hospitaller, who were becoming more powerful and popular and whom the Templars considered rivals.

In fact, that rival, Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller Roger de Moulins, also went along. They had buried their differences in meetings with King Baldwin IV and Pope Lucius III. Roger had urged Baldwin and others to continue warring on Saladin. He also went along to establish the Hospitaller Order in England, France, and Germany.

Heraclius also took with him some significant tokens of his authority to speak on behalf of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He took the keys to the city of Jerusalem and to the Holy Sepulchre and to the Tower of David, a palace complex.

The first stop was Italy. While there, Arnold fell ill. He died in Verona on 30 September, 1184. (He was succeeded by Gerard of Ridefort as grandmaster, but Ridefort did not join Heraclius.)

In England they had several meetings with King Henry II (depicted above by a 20th century artist, Stephen Reid). Heraclius consecrated the Temple Church built by the Templars in 1185, as well as the new Hospitaller priory and hospital at Clerkenwell. Henry agreed to go with the group to France to have further meetings with King Philip II. The two kings agreed to send money and soldiers to the Holy land. Heraclius had been hoping to have one of the kings or a prince to go as well. Henry had actually vowed to go on Crusade years earlier after the death of Thomas Becket, but had never gone. Heraclius reminded him of his broken vow and criticized him for it.

Heraclius returned to Jerusalem in late 1185, finding Baldwin IV dead and his nephew in place as Baldwin V. The boy was five, so a regent was needed. Heraclius never found another husband for Sibylla, but the issue was resolved by Sibylla herself in a way that no one liked but could not fight.

I'd like to take a side turn now to the rivalry between the Hospitallers and Templars and talk about the resolution between them. See you tomorrow.

Amalric

Queen Melisende and Fulk of Anjou had a second son, Amalric, born in 1136. When his grandfather, King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, was on his deathbed in 1131, he conferred the kingdom on Melisende, Fulk, and the elder son, Baldwin III. Fulk tried to cut Melisende out of authority, but she had enough regard from the local nobles that he had to offer peace and cooperation. It is possible that she, in turn, accepted reconciliation because she only had one son, whereas Fulk had adult children from an earlier marriage and might have tried to put them in the line of succession.

Amalric is seen as the result of that reconciliation, a "spare" to follow the "heir."

Fulk died in 1143, and Melisende became co-ruler with her son, the 15-year-old Baldwin. Years later, when she and Baldwin continued to be at odds, she named the 15-year-old Amalric the Count of Jaffa, giving him power and making him beholden to her.

A year later, in 1152, Baldwin took the bold move of besieging his mother and her most loyal advisors in the Tower of David. Baldwin was successful. He managed to depose his mother and return Jaffa to Baldwin's own control. Two years later, in 1154, Baldwin gave his younger brother Jaffa and Ascalon.

Melisende was retired to Nablus, 30 miles  north of Jerusalem: sufficient territory to give her an income, but no fortifications that she could hide behind if she tried to stir up trouble for Baldwin.

Amalric married Agnes of Courtenay in 1157, the daughter of Melisende's second cousin. William of Tyre wrote that the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fulcher of Angoulême, objected because the couple were too closely related. A later chronicle of the lineages of the Crusader families states that the marriage was inappropriate in another way: Agnes, recently widowed, had been about to marry another, Hugh of Ibelin, but Amalric married her instead. A more recent historian claims Agnes was already married to Hugh, and Amalric kidnapped her to marry her, making them bigamous.

Amalric, like Baldwin, kept good relations with the Byzantine Empire, especially through Manuel I Comnenos (Baldwin was married to Manuel's niece, Theodora). They had no children, and so when Baldwin was nearing death, he named Amalric as his heir.

Tomorrow I want to take a look at Agnes of Courtenay, her life, her marriage to Amalric, and what happened when Amalric wanted to be King of Jerusalem. It didn't work out in Agnes' favor.

The Tower of David

Yesterday's post mentioned that the first queen of Jerusalem, Melisende, was besieged in the Tower of David by her son, Baldwin III, who objected to the kingdom being divided between them and wanted the whole place to himself.

The original tower—a palace complex, actually—was begun in the 2nd century BCE by the Hasmonean dynasty. King Herod in 37-34BCE expanded it greatly with three large towers, which he named Phasael, Mariamne, and Hippicus (respectively after his deceased brother, his executed wife, and a friend). Josephus wrote that the place was so lavish and grand that “[It] exceeds all my ability to describe it.”

As the largest administrative complex in Jerusalem, it was desirable and useful property. After Herod's death in 6CE, the Romans chose it for their procurators. Pontius Pilate would have lived and worked there. When the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70CE, the towers were left standing and the place was used to house Roman soldiers.

In the 4th century CE, when Christianity became the official religion of Rome, the complex became home to a community of monks. At this time it was not named after David. That was an error that came later.

Byzantine Christians in the 5th century, who believed it was the site of King David's palace, named one of the towers the Tower of David, based on a reference in Solomon's Song of Songs: "Thy neck is like the tower of David built for an armory."

After the Siege of Jerusalem, Muslim rulers took over the citadel in 637. They fortified it sufficiently that it held up to the assault by the First Crusade. It was handed over to the Crusaders, however, once the Muslims inside were granted safe passage. Only a generation after Melisende took refuge there, Saladin recaptured the city of Jerusalem and the citadel in 1187.

The Tower of David was destroyed several times in the roughly 2000 years since a structure was first established on the site. It is now a museum, and its present form is due to the rebuilding by a Mamluk sultan, Al-Nasir Muhammad. Like the destruction and rebuilding of the Tower of David, Al-Nasir also had his ups and downs, becoming Sultan of Egypt, then losing the position, only to regain it, and lose it again, then to regain it, ... but I guess we can wait until next time to see how that happened.