Fulk of Jerusalem

Fulk of Anjou (, or ''Foulques''; – 13 November 1143), also known as Fulk the Younger, was the king of Jerusalem from 1131 until 1143 as the husband and co-ruler of Queen Melisende. Previously, he was the count of Anjou as Fulk V from 1109 to 1129. He had also been the count of Maine from 1110 to 1126 alongside his first wife, Countess Erembourg. His direct descendants were the rulers of the Angevin Empire and the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Early life

Fulk was born at Angers, between 1089 and 1092, the son of Count Fulk IV of Anjou and Bertrade de Montfort. In 1092, Bertrade deserted her husband, and bigamously married King Philip I of France. Fulk was thus raised at least partly at the French court. By 1106 Fulk's father had been forced to yield control of the county to his eldest son, Fulk's half-brother Geoffrey IV. But Geoffrey was killed that year by a crossbow bolt outside the castle of Candé, in theory returning his father to power and making Fulk the next in the line of succession. The chronicler Orderic Vitalis claims that the young Fulk was forced to do homage for Anjou to Philip I of France and was subsequently captured and held prisoner for a year by Duke William IX of Aquitaine. The earliest version of the '' Chronicles of the Deeds of the Counts of Anjou'' (''Chronica de gestis consulum Andegavorum)'' may have been written in response to this crisis.

Count of Anjou

In 1109, Fulk's father died and Fulk V succeeded to the county of Anjou, ending the three-year crisis. In 1110 he married Countess Erembourg of Maine, cementing Angevin control over the County of Maine. In 1113, Erembourg gave birth to their son, the future Geoffrey V of Anjou.

Fulk was originally an opponent of King Henry I of England and a supporter of King Louis VI of France, but in 1119 he allied with Henry when he arranged for his daughter Matilda of Anjou to marry Henry's son William Adelin.

In 1119, possibly inspired by the news of the defeat of crusader forces at the Battle of the Field of Blood, and at a time when Pope Callixtus II was nearby in France, Fulk decided to take the cross as a crusader. During his visit to Jerusalem in 1120, he became associated with Knights Templar, possibly even joining them as a ''confrater''. He became the first European prince to patronize the Templars, giving them an annual income of 30 pounds in the money of Anjou. He promised to maintain one hundred knights in the Holy Land for a year.

Marriage to Melisende of Jerusalem

By the 1120s, concern was growing about the succession to King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Queen Morphia of Melitene, who had only daughters, the eldest being Melisende. Many factors argued in favor of Fulk's candidacy: he had visited Jerusalem and supported the kingdom and the Templars; his son Geoffrey had come of age in 1126; and his wife Erembourg died in the same year. The assassination of Count Charles the Good of Flanders in 1127, who had likewise visited Jerusalem in his youth and was a popular contender, made Fulk the obvious choice.

In 1127, Baldwin dispatched an embassy to Fulk led by two noblemen, William of Bures, prince of Galilee and Guy Brisebarre, and the Master and co-founder of the Knights Templar Hugh of Payns. The embassy was tasked with finding a husband for Melisende and raising an army for an attack on Damascus. After consulting with his barons, Baldwin had decided to offer Melisende's hand in marriage to Fulk, with the promises that they should be married within 50 days of Fulk's arrival in the Latin East and that Fulk could expect the hold the kingdom after Baldwin's death. In Spring 1128, the embassy reached Anjou. Hans Eberhard Mayer has reconstructed the extensive negotiations that must have taken place between Fulk and the ambassadors, which he believes led Baldwin II to treat both Fulk and Melisende as the "heir of the king" (''heres regni'') to forestall any challenge to their succession. By 31 May, Fulk seems to have accepted their offer, for he took the cross on that day in Le Mans. He spent the next year setting his affairs in order, transferring lordship over Anjou and Maine to his son Geoffrey, who had married Matilda, daughter of King Henry I of England. Fulk apparently did not relinquish the title of "count of Anjou", perhaps as insurance in case the Jerusalem plan did not succeed. In about March 1129, Fulk departed for Jerusalem accompanied by a number of crusaders recruited from Anjou and the surrounding region. They arrived in the East in May of that year and Fulk and Melisende were married on the Feast of Pentecost, 2 June 1129. As Melisende's dowry, Baldwin II presented Fulk with the cities of Acre and Tyre. That winter, Fulk and the army recruited Europe by Hugh of Payns attacked Damascus.

King of Jerusalem

Baldwin II of Jerusalem died on 21 August 1131. The coronation of Fulk and Melisende took place on 14 September, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It was the first time that a ruler of Jerusalem had been crowned in this way. On the occasion of his coronation, the Egyptian ruler Kutayfat sent Fulk an ivory object described as "the ivory tau". Fulk subsequently sent the ivory tau back to his palace at Angers with instructions that it should be used to ceremonially receive counts of Anjou.

From the start Fulk assumed sole control of the government, excluding Melisende altogether. He favoured fellow countrymen from Anjou to the native nobility. The other Crusader states to the north feared that Fulk would attempt to impose the suzerainty of Jerusalem over them, as Baldwin II had done.

As Fulk was far less powerful than his deceased father-in-law, the northern states rejected his authority. Melisende's sister Alice of Antioch, exiled from the Principality by Baldwin II, took control of Antioch once more after the death of her father. In 1132, she allied with Pons of Tripoli and Joscelin II of Edessa to prevent Fulk from marching north. Fulk and Pons fought a brief battle before peace was made and Alice was exiled again.

In Jerusalem as well, Fulk was resented by the second generation of Jerusalem Christians who had grown up there since the First Crusade. These natives focused on Melisende's cousin, the popular Hugh II of Le Puiset, count of Jaffa, who was devotedly loyal to Melisende. Fulk saw Hugh as a rival, and it did not help matters when Hugh's own stepson accused him of disloyalty.

In 1134, in order to expose Hugh, Fulk accused him of infidelity with Melisende. Hugh rebelled in protest. Hugh secured himself to Jaffa and allied himself with the Muslims of Ascalon. He was able to defeat the army set against him by Fulk, but this situation could not hold. The patriarch Willam of Malines interceded in the conflict, perhaps at the behest of Melisende. Fulk agreed to peace and Hugh was exiled from the kingdom for three years, a lenient sentence.

However, an assassination attempt was made against Hugh, resulting in him being stabbed by a Breton knight. Fulk, or possibly his supporters were suspected to be responsible. The ordeal revealed the church's support for Melisende, which is associated with her rise to prominence. Author Historian Bernard Hamilton wrote “...as the patriarch’s intervention showed, the full support of the church."

Contemporary author and historian William of Tyre wrote of Fulk: "He never attempted to take the initiative, even in trivial matters, without (Melisende's) consent." The result was that Melisende held direct and unquestioned control over the government from 1136 onwards. Sometime before 1136, Fulk reconciled with his wife, and a second son, Amalric, was born.

Securing the borders

Jerusalem's northern border was of great concern. Fulk had been appointed regent of the Principality of Antioch by Baldwin II. As regent, he had Raymond of Poitou marry the infant princess Constance of Antioch, his and Melisende's niece. However, the greatest concern during Fulk's reign was the rise of Zengi, atabeg of Mosul.

In 1137, Fulk was defeated in battle near Baarin, at the castle of Montferrand. In order to recover, he allied with Mu'in ad-Din Unur, the vizier of Damascus. Damascus was also threatened by Zengi. Fulk captured the fort of Banias, to the north of Lake Tiberias and thus secured the northern frontier.

Fulk also strengthened the kingdom's southern border. His butler Paganus built the fortress of Kerak to the east of the Dead Sea. To help give the kingdom access to the Red Sea, Fulk had Blanchegarde, Ibelin, and other forts built in the south-west to overpower the Egyptian fortress at Ascalon. This city was a base from which the Egyptian Fatimids launched frequent raids on the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Fulk sought to neutralise this threat.

Byzantine emperor John II Comnenus traveled to Syria in 1137 and 1142 while attempting to impose Byzantine control over the crusader states. John's intention of making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, accompanied by his impressive army, alarmed Fulk, who wrote to John pointing out that his kingdom was poor and could not support the passage of a large army. This lukewarm response dissuaded John from carrying through his intention, and he postponed his pilgrimage. John died before he could make good his proposed journey to Jerusalem.

Death

In 1143, while the king and queen were in Acre, Israel, Fulk was killed in a hunting accident. His horse, startled by a hare, stumbled and fell. The saddle landed on Fulk's head, "and his brains gushed forth from both ears and nostrils", as William of Tyre describes.The king and queen traveled far from Acre to visit springs in the suburbs. While riding, their servants startled a hare and chased it. The king joined the pursuit but his horse stumbled, throwing him headfirst to the ground. He died four days later on November 13, 1143. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

A marble panel from his tomb (or Baldwin III's) is in the Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem. The panel includes rosettes, one of which has a cross pattée in its center.

Legacy

Depictions

According to William of Tyre, Fulk was "a ruddy man, like David... faithful and gentle, affable, kind and compassionate, unusual traits in people of that complexion... an experienced warrior full of patience and wisdom in military affairs." His chief fault was an inability to remember names and faces.William of Tyre, et al. ''A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea''. Vol. 1, Columbia University Press, 1943.He was known for his faithfulness, gentleness, and kindness, traits uncommon for his background. He was remarkably generous in his piety and charity. Before becoming the kingdom's leader, he was a powerful prince and a seasoned warrior, admired for his patience and wisdom in military matters.

Fulk is described as a capable soldier and able politician but observed that Fulk did not adequately attend to the defense of the crusader states to the north. Ibn al-Qalanisi, who calls him ''al-Kund Anjur'', an Arabic rendering of "Count of Anjou", says that "he was not sound in his judgment nor was he successful in his administration." The Zengids continued their march on the crusader states, culminating in the fall of the county after the Siege of Edessa in 1144, which led to the Second Crusade.

Family

In 1110, Fulk married Erembourg of Maine (died 1126), the daughter of Elias I of Maine. They had:
# Geoffrey V of Anjou (1113–1151), father of Henry II of England.
# Sibylla of Anjou (1112–1165, Bethlehem), married in 1123 William Clito (div. 1124), married in 1134 Thierry, Count of Flanders.
# Matilda of Anjou (c.1111–1154, Fontevrault), married William Adelin; after his death on the '' White Ship'' disaster of 1120, she became a nun and later Abbess of Fontevrault
# Elias II of Maine (died 1151)

His second wife was Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem. They married in 1129 and had two children:
# Baldwin III of Jerusalem
# Amalric of Jerusalem

References

Sources

* Orderic Vitalis
* Robert of Torigny
* William of Tyre
* Baker, Derek (ed.) (1978). ''Medieval Women'', the Ecclesiastical History Society.
* Gibb, H.A.R. (trans.) (1932). ''The Damascus Chronicle of the Crusades'', London: Luzac & Co.
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* Payne, Robert (1984). ''The Dream and the Tomb''.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fulk of Jerusalem
11th-century births
Year of birth uncertain
1143 deaths
12th-century monarchs of Jerusalem
Kings of Jerusalem
Regents of Antioch
Jure uxoris counts
Jure uxoris kings
Counts of Anjou
Deaths by horse-riding accident
People from Angers
12th-century French nobility
Burials at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
12th-century regents
Monarchs who abdicated
Remarried jure uxoris officeholders