Joscelin I, Count of Edessa

Joscelin I of Edessa
Joscelin I, Count of Edessa by François-Édouard Picot (1843)
Count of Edessa
Reign	1118 - 1131
Predecessor	Baldwin of Bourcq
Successor	Joscelin II
Prince of Galilee
Reign	1112 - 1119
Predecessor	Tancred of Hauteville
Successor	William I of Bures
Born	Between 1070 and 1075
Died	1131 Kaysun
Spouse	Beatrice of Armenia Maria of Salerno
Issue	Joscelin II of Edessa
Father	Joscelin I of Courtenay
Mother	Elizabeth of Montlhéry

Joscelin of Courtenay (or Joscelin I) (died 1131), Prince of Galilee and Lord of Turbessel (1115–1131) and Count of Edessa (1119–1131), ruled over the County of Edessa during its zenith, from 1118 to 1131. He maintained the large and unstable borders through his martial prowess.

He was the son of Joscelin I, Lord of Courtenay, born in 1034, and wife Isabella (or Elizabeth), daughter of Guy I of Montlhéry. He arrived in the Holy Land during the Crusade of 1101 after the First Crusade, and entered first into the service of his cousin Count Baldwin II of Rethel (in the army of Godfrey of Bouillon), who invested him with the lordship of Turbessel, and later in the army of Stephen of Blois. In 1104 he was captured at the Battle of Harran. By 1113, he had carved out a semi-autonomous state around Turbessel to the west of the Euphrates, where the land was prosperous, while Baldwin II controlled the territory east of the Euphrates around Edessa itself, which was depopulated and continually harassed by the Turks. That year, Baldwin dispossessed him of Turbessel, and Joscelin travelled to Jerusalem, where he was given the title of Prince of Galilee.

In 1118, Baldwin II succeeded Baldwin I as king of Jerusalem. Despite their former hostility, Joscelin fully endorsed Baldwin II, over the candidacy of Baldwin I's brother Eustace III of Boulogne. Joscelin was rewarded with the County of Edessa.