Joscelin III (c. 1139 – after 1190) was the titular
count of Edessa
The County of Edessa (Latin: ''Comitatus Edessanus'') was a 12th-century Crusader state in Upper Mesopotamia. Its seat was the city of Edessa (modern Şanlıurfa, Turkey).
In the late Byzantine period, Edessa became the centre of intellectua ...
, who during his lifetime managed to amass enough land to establish a
lordship in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Early life
Joscelin III was the son of
Joscelin II and
Beatrice of Saone. He inherited the claim to the
County of Edessa
The County of Edessa (Latin: ''Comitatus Edessanus'') was a 12th-century Crusader state in Upper Mesopotamia. Its seat was the city of Edessa (modern Şanlıurfa, Turkey).
In the late Byzantine period, Edessa became the centre of intellec ...
from his father, Joscelin II. The county had been captured in 1144 and its remnants (including the
Lordship of Turbessel) conquered or sold years earlier.
Joscelin lived in the
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Crusader Kingdom, was one of the Crusader states established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1 ...
and managed to gather enough land around
Acre
The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...
to set up
his own lordship.
Royal Guardian
His sister,
Agnes, had been the first wife of
King Amalric before he succeeded to the throne, and was the mother of
Baldwin IV
Baldwin IV (1161–1185), known as the Leper King, was the king of Jerusalem from 1174 until his death in 1185. He was admired by historians and his contemporaries for his dedication to the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the face of his debilitating ...
and
Sibylla. In 1164 Joscelin was taken captive by
Nur ad-Din Zengi
Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd Zengī (; February 1118 – 15 May 1174), commonly known as Nur ad-Din (lit. 'Light of the Faith' in Arabic), was a Turkoman member of the Zengid dynasty, who ruled the Syrian province () of the Seljuk Empire. He reigne ...
at the
Battle of Harim
The Battle of Harim (Harenc) was fought on 12 August 1164 at Harim, Syria, between the forces of Nur ad-Din, and a combined army from the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, the Byzantine Empire, and Armenia. Nur ad-Din won a crus ...
. He remained a prisoner until 1176 when Agnes paid his ransom of 50,000 dinars, probably with support from the royal treasury. His nephew Baldwin then made him
seneschal of Jerusalem
There were six major officers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem: the constable, the marshal, the seneschal, the chamberlain (which were known as the "Grand Offices"), the butler and the chancellor. At certain times there were also bailiffs, viscounts ...
. He faced some rivalry from the king's paternal kindred, led by
Raymond III, Count of Tripoli
Raymond III (1140 – September/October 1187) was count of Tripoli from 1152 to 1187. He was a minor when Nizari Assassins murdered his father, Count Raymond II of Tripoli. His cousin, King Baldwin III of Jerusalem, who was staying ...
.

In 1180 Joscelin went as an ambassador to the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
. After the betrothal of Baldwin's half-sister
Isabella
Isabella may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Isabella (surname), including a list of people
Places
United States
* Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpo ...
to
Humphrey IV of Toron
Humphrey IV of Toron ( 1166 – 1198) was a leading baron in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He inherited the Lordship of Toron from his grandfather, Humphrey II, in 1179. He was also heir to the Lordship of Oultrejourdan through his mother, Step ...
that year, the
Toron
Toron, now Tibnin or Tebnine in southern Lebanon, was a major Crusader castle, built in the Lebanon mountains on the road from Tyre to Damascus. The castle was the centre of the Lordship of Toron, a seigneury within the Kingdom of Jerusa ...
estates passed to the crown in exchange for a money fief. Baldwin IV granted part of them,
Chastel Neuf, to Joscelin, and awarded Agnes an income from the
usufruct
Usufruct () is a limited real right (or ''in rem'' right) found in civil law and mixed jurisdictions that unites the two property interests of ''usus'' and ''fructus'':
* ''Usus'' (''use'', as in usage of or access to) is the right to use or en ...
, or produce, of Toron. Agnes died in late 1184, a few months before her son.
In 1185, Joscelin became guardian of his young great-nephew,
Baldwin V, while Raymond III was regent. Raymond feared that, if he were the child's personal guardian, he would be blamed if he died in his care, because he had a claim to the throne himself. Joscelin, as the king's maternal grandmother's brother, had no claim, but rather had strong family interests in keeping him alive. Additional support came with the arrival of Baldwin's paternal grandfather,
William V of Montferrat
William V of Montferrat (occ./piem. ''Guilhem'', it. ''Guglielmo'') ( 1115 – 1191) also known regnally as William III of Montferrat while also referred to as William the Old or William the Elder, in order to distinguish him from his eldest ...
, from Italy. However, Baldwin seems to have been sickly, and died at Acre in 1186. Joscelin and William escorted his coffin to Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Raymond went to Nablus to attempt a coup with
Balian of Ibelin
Balian of Ibelin (; ), also known as Barisan the Younger, was a Crusades, crusader noble of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. He was Vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem#Lordship of Ibelin, Lord of Ibelin from 1170 to 1193. As the ...
to install Isabella as queen. This failed, and Sibylla was crowned, also crowning her second husband,
Guy of Lusignan
Guy of Lusignan ( 1150 – 18 July 1194) was King of Jerusalem, first as husband and co-ruler of Queen Sibylla from 1186 to 1190 then as disputed ruler from 1190 to 1192. He was also Lord of Cyprus from 1192 to 1194.
A French Poitevin kni ...
.
In 1186, Guy and Sibylla granted Chastel Neuf and Toron, with other territory, to Joscelin. He, in turn, gave them as the dowry of his elder daughter,
Beatrice, whom he betrothed to Guy's younger brother, William of Valence. Her younger sister, Agnes, was to marry one of Guy's nephews, but if Beatrice died while still a minor, William was to marry Agnes instead.
At the
Battle of Hattin
The Battle of Hattin took place on 4 July 1187, between the Crusader states of the Levant and the forces of the Ayyubid sultan Saladin. It is also known as the Battle of the Horns of Hattin, due to the shape of the nearby extinct volcano of ...
in 1187, Joscelin commanded the rearguard with Balian of Ibelin. Both escaped the disastrous defeat and fled to
Tyre. All his estates were captured by Saladin. Joscelin joined in the
siege of Acre in the
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt led by King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. F ...
. He last witnessed a charter on 25 October 1190, after Sibylla's death. There is a strong likelihood that he died during the siege. A month later, Isabella, who was now claiming the crown from Guy, restored Humphrey of Toron's claim to Chastel Neuf and Toron (should they be reconquered) when she accepted the annulment of their marriage. If Joscelin was still alive, he made no recorded objection. However, this seems to have ended the prospect of his daughters' Lusignan marriages. He was definitely dead by October 1200.
Joscelin's ''seigneurie'' was acquired by the
Teutonic Knights
The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to t ...
, in 1220.
[Strehlke, 1869, pp]
43
44, No. 53; pp
47
49, Nos. 58-59; Cited in Röhricht, 1893, RRH, p
248
No. 934; Cited Frankel, 1988, p. 259
Marriage and children
After his release from captivity in 1176, Joscelin married
Agnes of Milly
Agnes of Milly was a noblewoman in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the wife of Joscelin III of Courtenay.
Background
Agnes was the daughter of Henry of Milly, also called "The Buffalo", the brother of Philip of Milly, and Agnes Grenier, the d ...
, third daughter of
Henry "the Buffalo" of Milly, Lord of
Petra
Petra (; "Rock"), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu (Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: or , *''Raqēmō''), is an ancient city and archaeological site in southern Jordan. Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit systems, P ...
, (and a sister of
Stephanie of Milly and
Helvis de Milly (fr)); by whom he had two daughters:
#
Beatrix de Courtenay
Beatrix de Courtenay (died after 1245) was a Titular Countess of Edessa and Countess consort of Henneberg as the wife of Otto von Botenlauben. She was the eldest daughter of Agnes of Milly and Joscelin III, Count of Edessa, who sold Chastel Ne ...
(d. aft. 1245), betrothed to William of Valence, brother of Guy of Lusignan, in 1186, but married
Otto von Botenlauben
Otto von Botenlauben or Botenlouben (1177, Henneberg – before 1245, near Bad Kissingen), the Count of Henneberg from 1206, was a German minnesinger, Crusader and monastic founder.
Otto von Botenlauben was the fourth son of Count Poppo VI ...
# Agnes de Courtenay, betrothed to a nephew of Guy of Lusignan in 1186, but married, by 1200, William of Amandolea, a Norman from
Calabria
Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...
, who became
Lord of Scandeleon
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*Nielen, Marie-Adelaïde (ed.), ''
Lignages d'Outremer
The ''Lignages d'Outremer'' ("Lineages of Outremer") describe the pedigrees of the most important Crusades, Crusader families.
A first version was written in 1270 and is available in two manuscripts of the 14th century. A later version was produce ...
''. Paris, 2003.
*
*
*
*
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joscelin 03 of Edessa
1190s deaths
1st house of Courtenay
Counts of Edessa
1130s births
Ambassadors to the Byzantine Empire
Christians of the Third Crusade
Seneschals of Jerusalem