Baldwin IV, King of Jerusalem

BALDOVINO IV, king of GERUSALEMME. - Son of Amalrico, king of Jerusalem (1162-73), nephew of Baldovino III, b. in 1160. At the death of his father (11 July 1163) he was 13 years old and had suffered from leprosy since childhood, hence his epithet “the leper.” His tutor was the chronicler Guglielmo, first archdeacon of Tiro, then his chancellor and later archbishop of Tiro, appointed by B. on 15 July 1173. B. IV was crowned by the patriarch in the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, but remained under the guardianship of Milon di Plancy, who was soon assassinated, and of Raimondo II, count of Tripoli. B. was unable to prevent the growth of the increasingly threatening power of Saladino, especially because of his illness, which became ever more severe and caused his premature death on 16 March 1185, at the age of 25. Foreseeing the imminent loss of the Latin States in the East, he sent Emacho, patriarch of Jerusalem, and the grand masters of the Templars and Hospitallers to the West; however, they no longer found much interest in providing effective aid to the Holy Land. Lucchesio Spätling