BALDWIN IV, King of Jerusalem. — Son of Amalric, King of Jerusalem (1162–73), grandson of Baldwin III, born in 1160. At the death of his father (11 July 1163) he was thirteen years old and had been afflicted with leprosy since childhood, hence his nickname “the Leper.” His tutor was the chronicler William, first archdeacon of Tyre, later his chancellor and subsequently archbishop of Tyre, 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 of Plancy, who was soon assassinated, and of Raymond II, count of Tripoli. B. could not prevent the growing, ever more menacing power of Saladin, especially because of his illness, which steadily worsened and caused his premature death on 16 March 1185 at the age of twenty-five. Foreseeing the imminent loss of the Latin states in the East, he sent Heraclius, patriarch of Jerusalem, and the grand masters of the Templars and Hospitallers to the West, but they
found little interest in effectively aiding the Holy Land.