Baldwin IV
| Baldwin IV | |
|---|---|
Medieval depiction of Baldwin's coronation
|
|
| King of Jerusalem | |
| Reign | 11 July 1174 – 1185 |
| Coronation | 15 July 1174 |
| Predecessor | Amalric I |
| Successor | Baldwin V |
| Born | early summer of 1161 Kingdom of Jerusalem |
| Died | 16 March 1185 (aged 24) Kingdom of Jerusalem |
| Burial | Church of the Holy Sepulchre |
| House | House of Anjou |
| Father | Amalric I of Jerusalem |
| Mother | Agnes of Courtenay |
Baldwin IV (1161 – 16 March 1185), called the Leper, reigned as King of Jerusalem from 1174 until his death. He was the son of Amalric I of Jerusalem and his first wife, Agnes of Courtenay.
Baldwin spent his youth in his father's court in Jerusalem, having little contact with his mother, Agnes of Courtenay, Countess of Jaffa and Ascalon, and later Lady of Sidon, whom his father had been forced to divorce. Baldwin IV was educated by the historian William of Tyre (later Archbishop of Tyre and Chancellor of the kingdom), who made a disturbing discovery about the prince: he and his friends were playing one day, attempting to injure each other by driving their fingernails into each other's arms, but Baldwin felt no pain. William immediately recognized this as a sign of serious illness, but it was not conclusively identified as leprosy until a few years later; the onset of puberty accelerated his disease, in its most serious lepromatous form.
Baldwin's father died in 1174 and the boy was crowned at the age of 13, on 15 July that year. In his minority the kingdom was ruled by two successive regents, first Miles of Plancy, though unofficially, and then Raymond III of Tripoli, his father's cousin. In 1175, Raymond III, the acting king of Jerusalem, made a treaty with Saladin.
As a leper, Baldwin was not expected to reign long or produce an heir, and courtiers and lords positioned themselves for influence over Baldwin's heirs, his sister Sibylla and his half-sister Isabella. Sibylla was being raised by her great-aunt Ioveta in the convent of Bethany, while Isabella was at the court of her mother, the dowager queen Maria Comnena, in Nablus.
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