William II Jordan ( ca, Guillem Jordà; oc, Guilhèm Jordan) (died 1109) was the

count of Berga The counts of Berga were the feudal lords of Berga, one of the Catalan counties created out of Besalú in 988 for a younger son of Oliba Cabreta. The viscounts of Berga ruled the city in name during the rule of the counts of Besalú from the earl ...

beginning in 1094, the

count of Cerdanya The County of Cerdanya ( ca, Comtat de Cerdanya, ; la, Comitatus Ceritaniae; es, Condado de Cerdaña, french: Comté de Cerdagne) was one of the Catalan counties formed in the last decades of the 8th century by the Franks in the ''Marca Hispanica' ...

beginning in 1095, and

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

of the

County of Tripoli The County of Tripoli (1102–1289) was the last of the Crusader states. It was founded in the Levant in the modern-day region of Tripoli, northern Lebanon and parts of western Syria which supported an indigenous population of Christians, Druze ...

beginning in 1105. He was the son of Count

William I of Cerdanya William I Raymond ( ca, Guillem Ramon; oc, Guilhem Ramon) (1068–1095) was the count of Cerdanya and Count of Berga, Berga from the year of his birth till that of his death, giving up Berga a year earlier to his son William-Jordan. He was th ...

and Sança, daughter of Count

Ramon Berenguer I of Barcelona Ramon Berenguer I (1023–1076), called the Old ( ca, el Vell, french: le Vieux), was Count of Barcelona in 1035–1076. He promulgated the earliest versions of a written code of Catalan law, the Usages of Barcelona. Born in 1024, he succee ...

. William accompanied the army of Raymond IV of Toulouse, one of the leaders of the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic ru ...

, to the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

. Raymond died in the east in 1105, leaving his young son

Alfonso-Jordan Alfonso Jordan, also spelled Alfons Jordan or Alphonse Jourdain (1103–1148), was the Count of Tripoli (1105–09), Count of Rouergue (1109–48) and Count of Toulouse, Margrave of Provence and Duke of Narbonne (1112–48). Life Alfonso was th ...

as lord of Mons Peregrinus and Tortosa (of Syria) and nominal Count of Tripoli (which had not yet been captured by the crusaders). Since Alfonso-Jordan was still a child, Raymond's soldiers chose William-Jordan as regent. Meanwhile in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, Raymond's elder son

Bertrand Bertrand may refer to: Places * Bertrand, Missouri, US * Bertrand, Nebraska, US * Bertrand, New Brunswick, Canada * Bertrand Township, Michigan, US * Bertrand, Michigan * Bertrand, Virginia, US * Bertrand Creek, state of Washington * Saint-Bertr ...

was ruling in his absence. After Raymond's death the barons of Toulouse chose Alfonso to replace Bertrand, who, now overthrown, travelled to the east, arriving at Mons Peregrinus in 1108 to claim it for himself. There, he quarrelled with William over the inheritance of the Raymond's lordship, and over the regency of still-unconquered Tripoli. William allied himself with Prince Tancred of Galilee, at the time regent of the

Principality of Antioch The Principality of Antioch was one of the crusader states created during the First Crusade which included parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria. The principality was much smaller than the County of Edessa or the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It extende ...

, while Bertrand asked King Baldwin I of Jerusalem to intervene. Baldwin I, Baldwin of Bourcq, and Joscelin I of Edessa, Joscelin of Courtenay allied with Bertrand and William and Tancred were forced to compromise. Tancred was forced to give up his claim to the County of Edessa (but was allowed to keep Antioch); William and Bertrand divided Tripoli between them, recognizing Tancred and Baldwin I as their respective overlords. With the dispute settled, the crusader armies marched on Tripoli and Siege of Tripoli, besieged it, with assistance from the Genoa, Genoese fleet. On July 12, 1109 they captured the city. A short time later William died of an arrow wound sustained during the siege, and the county passed to Bertrand alone. , - , -

References

Christians of the First Crusade Counts 1109 deaths Year of birth unknown {{Spain-noble-stub