Baldwin II

known as Baldwin of Bourg

died August 1131, Jerusalem

King of Jerusalem (1118–31).

A French nobleman, he joined the First Crusade and was made count of Edessa by his cousin Baldwin I in 1100. Captured by Seljuq Turks in 1104, he was ransomed four years later and reclaimed Edessa from the regent by force. He became king of Jerusalem in 1118 on the death of Baldwin I. He was held hostage by the Turks 1123–24. He later expanded his kingdom and attacked Damascus with the aid of the Knights of Malta and the Templars. He arranged the marriage of his daughter Melisend to Fulk V of Anjou and made them his successors.

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▪ count of Flanders

byname  Baldwin The Bald,  French  Baudouin Le Chauve,  Dutch  Boudewijn De Kale 

died 918

 second ruler of Flanders, who, from his stronghold at Bruges (Brugge), maintained, as his father Baldwin I before him, a vigorous defense of his lands against the incursions of the Norsemen. On his mother's side a descendant of Charlemagne, he strengthened the dynastic importance of his family by marrying Aelfthryth, daughter of Alfred the Great, of Wessex, Eng.

▪ king of Jerusalem

byname  Baldwin of Bourcq , French  Baudouin du Bourcq 

died August 1131, Jerusalem

      count of Edessa (1100–18), king of Jerusalem (1118–31), and Crusade leader whose support of the religious-military orders founded during his reign enabled him to expand his kingdom and to withstand Muslim attacks.

      A son of Hugh, count of Réthel, in the Ardennes region of France, he held the castle of Bourcq as a feudal domain and was at first referred to as Baldwin of Bourcq. He accompanied his cousins Godfrey of Bouillon and Baldwin of Boulogne (later King Baldwin I of Jerusalem) to Palestine with the First Crusade (1096). In 1100 he was named count of Edessa (now Urfa, Turkey) by Baldwin I when the latter became king of Jerusalem. The Seljuq Turks (Seljuq) moved against Edessa in 1104, capturing Baldwin on May 7. Ransomed in 1108, he fought his way into Edessa to reclaim his principality from the regent, Tancred (Tancred of Hauteville), and later recovered most of the lost territory.

      On April 14, 1118, Baldwin was crowned king of Jerusalem. Though captured by the Turks and held hostage from 1123 until 1124, in subsequent years he succeeded in expanding his territory and directing attacks against Muslim Damascus with the aid of the Hospitallers and the Templars (Templar), Crusading religious-military orders. Having had only daughters with his Armenian wife, Morfia, Baldwin gave his daughter Melisende in marriage to Fulk V (Fulk), count of Anjou and Maine, in 1129 and named them as his successors.

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