Baldwin of Ibelin,also known asBaldwin II of Ramla(French:Baudouin d'Ibelin,early 1130s – c. 1187 or 1186/1188), was an important noble of theKingdom of Jerusalemin the 12th century and waslord of Ramlafrom 1169-1186. He was the second son ofBarisan of Ibelin,and was the younger brother ofHugh of Ibelinand older brother ofBalian of Ibelin.He first appears in the historical record as a witness to charters in 1148.
Baldwin of Ibelin | |
|---|---|
| Lord of Ramla | |
| Reign | 1169 – 1186 |
| Predecessor | Hugh of Ibelin |
| Born | early 1130s |
| Died | c. 1187 or 1186/1188 |
| Noble family | House of Ibelin |
| Spouse(s) | Richilde de Bethsan Isabelle or Elizabeth Gothman Marie, daughter of Renier |
| Issue | Thomas Stephanie Eschive d'Ibelin |
| Father | Barisan of Ibelin |
| Mother | Helvis of Ramla |
In 1156, he may have planned to kill Ahmad ib. Muhammad ibn Qudama ofJamma'in.Ahmad's sermons had been gaining support throughout the region but after being warned of the threat against his life, he fled to Damascus, followed by other members of theHanbaligroup.[1]
After the death of his eldest brother Hugh (third husband ofAgnes of Courtenay) in 1169, thecastle of Ibelinpassed to Baldwin, who remained Lord ofMirabelandRamlaand passed Ibelin to his younger brother Balian. He introduced theLusignanfamily to court in 1174, in the person ofAmalric of Lusignan,who had married his daughterEschiva.Baldwin and Balian supportedRaymond III of TripolioverMiles of Plancyas regent forKing Baldwin IVin 1174, and in 1177 the brothers were present at theBattle of Montgisard.
It is suspected that, after the death of his second wife Isabella, in 1177, he became Raymond of Tripoli's favoured candidate to marry the widowed PrincessSibylla of Jerusalem.His brother Balian had recently married her stepmother, Dowager QueenMaria Comnena.TheChronicle ofErnoul,orOld FrenchContinuation ofWilliam of Tyre,partly written by a former squire of Balian, but thirteenth-century in its current form, claims that Baldwin and Sibylla had been in love and exchanged letters during Baldwin's captivity, but this is highly questionable.
Baldwin was captured inbattle at Marj Uyunin 1179, along withOdo de St Amand,Grand Master of theTemplars,and Raymond of Tripoli's stepson, Hugh of Tiberias. Baldwin was ransomed byByzantine emperorManuel I Comnenus,and later in 1180 he visitedConstantinople.Supposedly, the emperor sat him in a chair and covered him up to his head in the gold coins that were to be used as his ransom money. During his stay in Constantinople, the emperor died. Baldwin was in Jerusalem at the time of Sibylla's wedding in 1180. Raymond of Tripoli seems to have been planning a coup to marry Sibylla to Baldwin, but the king needed to marry her to a non-native, in order gain support for another crusade from the west. She was married toGuy of Lusignan,younger brother of Baldwin of Ibelin's son-in-law Amalric. That same year, the king betrothed his younger half-sisterIsabella of Jerusalem,Balian's stepdaughter, toHumphrey IV of Toron,to further reduce the Ibelins' influence.
In 1183 he supported Raymond against Guy, who was by now regent for the ailing Baldwin IV. Lord Baldwin was among the barons who advised the king to crown Sibylla's sonBaldwin Vin 1183, while Baldwin IV was still alive; this was an attempt to prevent Guy from succeeding as king. Baldwin V became sole king while still a child in 1185, and when the young king died in 1186, Sibylla was crowned queen with Guy as her consort. The Ibelins and Raymond favoured the accession of Isabella, but Humphrey refused to be crowned and cause a civil war, and instead swore allegiance to Sibylla and Guy. All the other barons of the kingdom paid homage to Guy as well, except for Raymond and Baldwin. Baldwin placed his young son Thomas under the care of his brother Balian, and exiled himself to thePrincipality of Antioch,where he was welcomed with great fanfare.
Baldwin considered Guy "a madman and a fool", and refused to pay homage because his father had not paid homage to Guy's father (i.e., regarding Guy as an upstart incomer, where Baldwin was a native baron). He refused to return to Jerusalem to assist Guy againstSaladin,and probably died in his self-imposed exile in 1187.
Family
editBaldwin of Ibelin married three times. His wives were:
1. Richilde de Bethsan, before or in 1157, divorced and annulled 1174. They had three children:
- Thomas d'Ibelin (before 1175 – in or c. 1188),Lord of Ramla,unmarried and without issue
- Stephanie (or Etiennette) d'Ibelin, married Amand, Viscount of Nablus
- Eschive d'Ibelin(c. 1160 –Cyprusin Winter, 1196/1197), marriedAmalric of Lusignanbefore October 29, 1175; Queen-consort of Cyprus (1194-1196), mother ofHugh I of Cyprus.(After her death, Amalric married Isabella of Jerusalem and became King of Jerusalem.)
2. Isabelle or Elizabeth Goman, (widow ofHugh Grenier,Lord of Caesarea), married 1175, d. 1177 or 1178, no surviving issue.
3. Marie, daughter of Renier,Constable of Tripoli,m. after April, 1180, d. after 1228, no surviving issue.
AnotherBaldwin of Ibelinwas the son of this Baldwin's nephewJohn of Ibelin, the Old Lord of Beirut.
References
edit- ^"Spatial distribution of Christian and Muslim settlements in Samaria",Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem,Cambridge University Press, pp. 234–252, 1998-02-26,doi:10.1017/cbo9780511585340.020,ISBN978-0-521-55401-5
Sources
edit- William of Tyre,A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea.E. A. Babcock and A. C. Krey, trans. Columbia University Press, 1943.
- Peter W. Edbury,The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade: Sources in Translation.Ashgate, 1996.
- Peter W. Edbury,John of Ibelin and the Kingdom of Jerusalem.Boydell Press, 1997.
- Bernard Hamilton,The Leper King and his Heirs.Cambridge University Press, 2000.
- H. E. Mayer, "Carving Up Crusaders: The Early Ibelins and Ramlas", inOutremer: Studies in the history of the Crusading Kingdom of Jerusalem presented toJoshua Prawer.Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi Institute, 1982.
- Steven Runciman,A History of the Crusades, vol. II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem.Cambridge University Press, 1952.