BALDOVINO II, RE DI GERUSALEMME

BALDWIN II, king of Jerusalem. — Son of Hugh, Count of Rethel, he took the cross and set out in the army of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1096. He was named by his uncle Baldwin as successor to the principality of Edessa in 1100, which he had to defend against various Saracen attacks. From 1104 until 1109 he was a prisoner of the Persians. At the time of the death of Baldwin I (on 2 Apr. 1118), Baldwin II was in Jerusalem. Thanks to the intervention of Patriarch Arnulf, Baldwin was elected king of Jerusalem and crowned on 14 Apr. 1118 (Easter Sunday) in the church of Bethlehem together with his consort, daughter of an Armenian prince of Melitene. Despite his advanced age, Baldwin defended his kingdom with great energy amid the vicissitudes of continual battles. He defeated al-Ghazi of Maridin and Tugtakin of Damascus near Danith (14 Aug. 1119); he fostered the foundation of the Order of the Templars (in 1119), and in 1124, with the aid of the Venetian fleet, he captured the important city of Tyre (Tyrus). In 1125 he defeated the Saracens near Azaz and in 1126 near Damascus. Under his rule the kingdom of Jerusalem reached its greatest extent. After a long career marked by almost continuous warfare, Baldwin died a religious death on 21 Aug. 1131 in Jerusalem.