Steven Runciman - A History of the Crusades - Vol 2

A HISTORY OF

THE CRUSADES

VOLUME II

THE KINGDOM OFJERUSALEM

BY

STEVEN RUNCIMAN

CAMBRIDGE

UNIVERSITY PRESS

Publishedby the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge

ThePitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP

40West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA

10Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia

Cambridge University Press 1951

Firstpublished in hardback 1951

Firstpublished in paperback by Cambridge University Press 1987

Reprinted1951, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1962, 1968, 1975, 1980, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993,1995

Printedin the United States of America

Libraryof Congress catalog card number: 75-10236

VolumeI: ISBN 0 521 06161 x hardback

ISBN 0 521 34770 x paperback

VolumeII: ISBN 0 521 06162 8 hardback

ISBN 0 521 34771 8 paperback

VolumeIII: ISBN 0 521 06163 6 hardback

ISBN 0 521 34772 6 paperback

Setof three volumes: ISBN 0 521 20554 9 hardback

ISBN 0 521 35997 x paperback

Paperbackeditions for sale in USA only

To

RUTH BOVILL

CONTENTS

List of Plates

List of Maps

Preface

BOOK I

THEESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM

I Outremerand its Neighbours

II TheCrusades of 1101

III TheNorman Princes of Antioch

IV Toulouseand Tripoli

V KingBaldwin I

VI Equilibriumin the North

BOOK II

THE ZENITH

I KingBaldwin II

II TheSecond Generation

III TheClaims of the Emperor

IV TheFall of Edessa

BOOK III

THE SECONDCRUSADE

I TheGathering of the Kings

II ChristianDiscord

III Fiasco

BOOK IV

THE TURN OF THETIDE

I Lifein Outremer

II TheRise of Nur ed-Din

III TheReturn of the Emperor

IV TheLure of Egypt

BOOK V

THE TRIUMPH OFISLAM

I MoslemUnity

II TheHorns of Hattin

Appendix

II TheBattle of Hattin

III GenealogicalTrees

1. The Royal House of Jerusalem,the Counts of Edessa and the Lords of Sidon and Caesarea

2. The Princes of Antioch and theKings of Sicily

3. The Counts of Tripoli and thePrinces of Galilee

4. The Lords of Toron,Oultrejourdain, Nablus and Ramleh

5. The Ortoqid Princes

6. The House of Zengi

LIST OF PLATES

I Templarknights fighting the Saracens (From the 12th century frescoes of Cressac,Charente. Photograph by the Musee des Monuments francais)

II Jerusalemfrom the Mount of Olives (From Syria, Illustrated, Vol. III by Bartlett,Allom, etc., London, 1838)

III Tripoli(From Syria, Illustrated, Vol. I by Bartlett, Purser, etc., London,1836)

IV TheEmperor John Comnenus (From a mosaic in Agia Sophia, Constantinople, reproducedin Whittemore: The Mosaics of Haghia Sophia at Istanbul, Oxford, 1942)

V Damascus(From Syria, Illustrated, Vol. I)

VI Sealsof Baldwin III, King of Jerusalem; Bohemond III, Prince of Antioch; Pons, Countof Tripoli; William of Bures, Prince of Galilee (From designs by Amigo,published in Schlumberger: Sigillographie de lOrient Latin, Paris,1943)

VII TheEmperor Manuel Comnenus and his wife, Maria of Antioch (Codex VaticanusGraecus, 1176)

VIII Aleppo(From Maundrell: A Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, Oxford, 1731)

LIST OF MAPS

1 NorthernSyria in the twelfth century

2 SouthernSyria in the twelfth century

3 TheKingdom of Jerusalem in the twelfth century

4 Jerusalemunder the Latin Kings

5 Egyptin the twelfth century

6 Galilee

PREFACE

In this volume I have attempted to tell thestory of the Frankish states of Outremer from the accession of King Baldwin Ito the reconquest of Jerusalem by Saladin. It is a story that has been toldbefore by European writers, notably with German thoroughness by Rohricht andwith French elegance and ingenuity by Rene Grousset, and, too briefly, inEnglish by W. B. Stevenson. I have covered the same ground and used the sameprincipal sources as these writers, but have ventured to give to the evidencean interpretation that sometimes differs from my predecessors. The narrativecannot always be simple. In particular, the politics of the Moslem world in theearly twelfth century defy a straightforward analysis; but they must beunderstood if we are to understand the establishment of the Crusader states andthe later causes of the recovery of Islam.

The twelfth century experienced none of thegreat racial migrations that characterized the eleventh century and were torecur in the thirteenth, to complicate the story of the later Crusades and thedecline and fall of Outremer. For the moment we can concentrate our mainattention on Outremer itself. But we must always keep in view the widerbackground of western European politics, of the religious wars of the Spanishand Sicilian rulers and of the preoccupation of Byzantium and of the easternCaliphate. The preaching of Saint Bernard, the arrival of the English fleet atLisbon, the palace-intrigues at Constantinople and Baghdad are all episodes inthe drama, though its climax was reached on a bare hill in Galilee.

The main theme in this volume is warfare; andin dwelling on the many campaigns and raids I have followed the example of theold chroniclers, who knew their business; for war was the background to life inOutremer, and the hazards of the battlefield often decided its destiny. But Ihave included in this volume a chapter on the life and organization of theFrankish East. I hope to give an account of its artistic and economicdevelopments in my next volume. Both of those aspects of the Crusading movementreached fuller importance in the thirteenth century.

In the Preface to my first volume I mentionedsome of the great historians whose writings have helped me. Here I must payspecial tribute to the work of John La Monte, whose early death has been acruel blow to Crusading historiography. We owe to him, above all others, ourspecialized knowledge of the governmental system in the Frankish East. I wishalso to acknowledge my debt to Professor Claude Cahen of Strasbourg, whosegreat monograph on Northern Syria and whose various articles are of supreme importanceto our subject.

I owe gratitude to the many friends who havehelped me on my journeys to the East and in particular to the Departments ofAntiquities of Jordan and of Lebanon and to the Iraq Petroleum Company.

My thanks are again due to the Syndics of theCambridge University Press for their kindness and patience.

STEVEN RUNCIMAN

London1952

BOOK I

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM

CHAPTER I

OUTREMER AND ITSNEIGHBOURS

Thou landdevourest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations. EZEKIEL XXXVI, 13

When the Frankish armies entered Jerusalem, theFirst Crusade attained its goal. But if the Holy City were to remain inChristian hands and if the way thither were to be made easy for pilgrims, astable government must be set up there, with reliable defences and surecommunications with Europe. The Crusaders that planned to settle in the Eastwere well aware of their needs. The brief reign of Duke Godfrey saw thebeginnings of a Christian kingdom. But Godfrey, for all his estimablequalities, was a weak, foolish man. Out of jealousy he quarrelled with hiscolleagues; out of genuine piety he yielded far too much power into the handsof the Church. His death and his replacement by his brother Baldwin saved theyoung kingdom. For Baldwin possessed the wisdom, the foresight and thetoughness of a statesman. But the task that lay before him was formidable; andhe had few helpers on whom he could rely. The great warriors of the FirstCrusade had all gone northward or returned to their homes. Of the leading actorsof the movement only the most ineffectual remained in Palestine, Peter theHermit, of whose obscure life there we know nothing, and who himself went backto Europe in 1101. The princes had taken their armies with them. Baldwinhimself, a landless younger son, had not brought to the East any vassals of hisown, but had borrowed men from his brothers. He was now dependent upon ahandful of devout warriors who had vowed before they left Europe to remain inthe Holy Land, and of adventurers, many of them younger sons like himself, whohoped to find estates there and to enrich themselves.