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CHAPTER XIV .

THE GROWTH OF THE LATIN STATES:  1118-1144

The death of the childless king Baldwin I of Jerusalem on April 2, 1118, while returning from a campaign in Egypt brought to an end the rule of the direct line of the house of Boulogne. Their vigorous policies, both in the domestic and foreign fields, had greatly benefited the infant kingdom of Jerusalem. On his death the leading men of the kingdom assembled to select a successor. Among them were patriarch Arnulf, the archbishops, bishops, and other prelates of the church together with various lay leaders including Joscelin, lord of Tiberias, to choose his successor. Some, apparently swayed by the late king's request that they select his brother Eustace if he should come to Jerusalem, urged that they wait for his arrival and not interfere with the ancient law of hereditary succession. But others, fearful that an interregnum would imperil the safety of the kingdom, opposed this view and urged the immediate selection of a king. Joscelin, already apprised of the patriarch’s support, sided with the latter group and argued that Baldwin’s kinsman, Baldwin of Le Bourg, who had recently repaired from his state, the county of Edessa, to visit the holy places and to confer with the king, be made the new ruler. The assembly, unaware that Joscelin hoped by this move to succeed later to the county of Edessa and recalling the harsh treatment accorded to him by Baldwin of Le Bourg, believed in his sincerity and accordingly elected Baldwin of Le Bourg to the kingship. Perhaps the alternate suggestion of the late ruler to the effect that Baldwin of Le Bourg be made his successor if Eustace were unavailable also recommended Joscelin’s pleas to them. The claim of the new sovereign to his throne was uncontested, since Eustace, who had reluctantly accepted the offer of a group of nobles to assume the kingship and had, indeed, proceeded as far as Apulia in quest of it, now abandoned it rather than provoke civil strife. Accordingly, Baldwin II was consecrated king of Jerusalem on April 14, 1118.

The new ruler, despite his advanced years, was well suited for his new role, because of his abundant experience in war and government and pronounced sense of duty. Events were soon to prove the need of all these political and military assets, for the Moslems, after long years of disunity, were now slowly beginning to unite once more. Desiring to come to terms with one of his chief antagonists, Baldwin dispatched envoys to Tughtigin, the emir of Damascus, with terms of truce. Tughtigin replied that he would accept them on condition that Baldwin relinquish his share of the revenues of a number of territories east of the Jordan. Upon the king’s refusal and threat to wage war on him, the emir advanced upon Tiberias and its environs and pillaged them in May 1118. Meanwhile, al-Afdal, the ruler of Egypt, invaded the kingdom in the summer of 1118 and encamped before Ascalon. Tughtigin thereupon repaired to Ascalon, assumed command of the Egyptian forces, and received from the garrison’s commander a promise of complete cooperation, in accordance with the instructions of his government. The kingdom, now threatened by Damascus and Ascalon on the northeast and southwest respectively, presently had to meet a new danger on the northwest, for a number of the enemy’s warfleet had sailed from Ascalon to the important naval base at Tyre, apparently with the consent and approval of the Moslem commanders there.

Baldwin, foreseeing these moves, had summoned troops from the principality of Antioch and the county of Tripoli and had assembled his own warriors in the plain of the Philistines. He now camped very close to the Egyptian lines. A military stalemate of two or three months ensued with neither side daring to attack, whereupon Tughtigin elected to withdraw and return to Damascus, and the remainder of his forces retired to Egypt. Similarly the Frankish forces departed and returned to their respective lands. Apparently in retaliation for Tughtigin’s invasion of the kingdom, the Franks now invaded and pillaged the Damascus country. Tughtigin dispatched his son Taj-al-Muluk Bori against them, whereupon the invaders retired to a neighboring mountain. In defiance of his father’s order, Taj-al-Muluk Bori met them in battle and suffered a crushing defeat. Pursuing the policy of the offensive, the Franks then struck at Aleppo and ravaged the surrounding country. Tughtigin promised aid to the Aleppans, but was defeated by Joscelin.

Despite the Frankish counter-attack, Tughtigin pursued his plans, and, having joined forces with Il-Ghazi, the sultan of Aleppo, successfully sought the latter’s help against the southern Franks, who continued to ravage the Hauran. But these plans were soon shelved in favor of agreements that Il-Ghazi should marshal his troops at Mardin and join Tughtigin in a campaign against Antioch in the summer of 1119. The change of plans resulted from the threat to Aleppo arising from the capture of Azaz, an important stronghold belonging to Il-Ghazi, in late 1118 by the united efforts of Roger, the ruler of Antioch, and Leon, an Armenian chieftain in Cilicia, and also from the seizure of Buza’ah by the Franks.

In accordance with these agreements, Il-Ghazi, after a pause before Edessa (Urfa), crossed the Euphrates at the beginning of June 1119 and invaded the Tell Bashir (Turbessel) country. Apprised of his impending danger, Roger appealed to Joscelin, Pons, the count of Tripoli, and Baldwin for help. Baldwin hastily mustered an army and joined forces with Pons. Meanwhile, Roger, chafing under the delay, left Antioch and encamped before the stronghold of Artah. Then, after waiting several days for the arrival of the king and the count, he spurned the views of the patriarch, followed the advice of some of the local nobles, who were anxious to have his army protect their lands, and ordered his army to advance. At length on June 20 he took up an untenable position at al-Balat between two mountains located near Darb Sarmada north of al-Atharib in the mistaken belief that the difficulty of the terrain would thwart the enemy. Il-Ghazi, meantime, was awaiting the arrival of Tughtigin at Buza’ah, a town situated northeast of Aleppo, to draw up a plan of campaign, but his emirs, weary of delays, demanded immediate action. Il-Ghazi consented. The Moslem forces broke camp on June 27 and took op a position under cover of darkness near the unsuspecting Franks, who believed that the attack would be launched by way of al-Atharib or Zardana. When dawn broke, the Moslems closed in on the Latins from three sides. A rout and butchery of the Franks ensued, which came to be known as the “field of blood”, Roger himself was slain, seventy of his knights were captured, and their leaders were taken to Aleppo for ransom. This annihilation of the Norman chivalry effected a permanent decrease of Norman in­fluence in Syria as against Provencal and east-central French.

Fortunately for the Franks, Il-Ghazi did not clinch his triumph over them, but contented himself with plundering operations in the principality of Antioch. Instead of striking at the now well-nigh defenseless city of Antioch, manned by the Frankish clergy and citizens under the direction of the patriarch Bernard of Valence, Il-Ghazi advanced on the far lesser prizes of al-Atharib and Zardana and captured them. Then, after reorganizing the administration of Aleppo, he returned to Mardin. Meanwhile, Baldwin had hastened on to Antioch, and, establishing his domination over it, had repaired its shattered defenses with the help of Roger’s widow. The cavalry and infantry forces were reconstituted, and the widows of the fallen were married to the survivors, Baldwin also called upon the Edessan Franks for aid in the coming battles with the foe.

Il-Ghazi’s capture of Zardana aroused Baldwin and Pons. Accordingly, they immediately departed from Antioch to search out the enemy. Directing their march toward the Rugia valley, they presently encamped on a hill near Danith (Tall Danith) where Roger had won a victory in 1115. Meanwhile Il-Ghazi, informed of the Frankish plans, summoned his chiefs and prepared for a pre­dawn attack on the Franks, bat the latter passed a sleepless night in preparation for the contest. An inconclusive battle was fought on the following day, August 14, Il-Ghazi together with Tughtigin fled from the field; the former repaired to Mardin to gather fresh forces. The Franks retired as well, Baldwin returning to Antioch.

The indecisive character of the second battle of Danith is indicated by the fact, illustrative of Moslem weakness, that Baldwin was able to reconquer during the autumn of 1119 the Moslem strongholds of Zur, Kafar Rum, Kafartab, Sarmin, and Ma'arrat-Misrin. But al-Atharib and Zardana did not fall into Frankish control, and the continued Moslem mastery of these bastions meant the end, at least for the time being, of the threat to Aleppo’s security. The death of Roger and the decimation of the north Frankish soldiery were advantages of the first importance to the Moslems.

The political vacuum created in the principality of Antioch endangered the very existence of the north Frankish political establishment. Accordingly, the lay and clerical leaders of Antioch gave Baldwin carte blanche to govern the principality. Continuing with the policies he inaugurated between the death of Roger and the second battle of Danith, Baldwin bestowed the goods of the fallen warriors on their children, provided the widows with new spouses of equal rank, and reequipped the several fortresses. More important still, he became the ruler of Antioch, for the Antiochenes now entrusted their state to his care with the understanding that he would grant it to Bohemond II, Bohemond I’s son, when he attained his majority. The king’s ensuing rule, which continued until the arrival of Bohemond II in 1126, indicated that he was as careful of the principality as if it had been his own country. Baldwin shortly thereafter completed his stabilization of the north Frankish possessions and that of the county of Edessa, in particular, by calling Joscelin from Tiberias, and, following his swearing of an oath of fealty, investing him with the county of Edessa in late August or early September 1119 and charging him with t the task of opposing the Moslem incursions. Baldwin’s decision was a wise one, as Matthew of Edessa observes, for Joscelin was a chief renowned among the Franks for his shining valor, recent examples of which he had displayed in vigorous although unsuccessful attacks on the Hauran and Ascalon districts in the late winter, spring, and summer of 1119.

The new ruler of Edessa, continuing his policy of the offensive, twice successfully invaded the Wadi Butnan and the Syrian bank of the Euphrates. He then advanced on Manbij, Naqirah, and the eastern part of the province of Aleppo. But, upon his arrival at Ravendan in pursuit of a body of Turks who had crossed the Euphrates, a battle ensued in which he suffered defeat and sus­tained the loss of many of his warriors.

Apparently encouraged by the reverse administered to Joscelin, Il-Ghazi and his nephew Belek now launched twin blows at the Franks. The former invaded the principality of Antioch but suf­fered defeat. The latter assembled a large army, advanced on and encamped before Edessa for four days, and ravaged the entire countryside. Departing in May 1120, he passed by Saruj and stealthily crossed the Euphrates on May 26 and proceeded from Tell Bashir to Kesoun. Joscelin hastened from Raban, a stronghold in the northern part of the county of Edessa, to Kesoun and Behesni, where he raised an army. Setting out in pursuit of the Turks, he fell on them and killed a thousand warriors. Il-Ghazi thereupon fell back and, turning towards the principality of Antioch, encamped near Azaz. Then, following a single day’s pause before Antioch and a few days’ halt in the territory of Rugia, he retired toward Qinnasrin. The lack of booty, together with persistent Frankish attacks, led to growing discontent in his army and increasing desertions. Fortunately for Il-Ghazi, Tughtigin arrived with reinforcements in the nick of time. Meanwhile the Franks, in response to an appeal from Antioch for aid, marched out in June from Jerusalem to do battle under Baldwin’s banner and effected a juncture with Joscelin’s forces in Antioch, Despite the lack of food and water and constant harassing attacks by the Moslems, they maintained their ranks and reached Ma'arrat-Misrin safely. Aware of the superiority of the Frankish cavalry horses and the inferiority of their own and, in consequence, fearful of a sudden and victorious Frankish attack, the Moslem commanders withdrew their troops to Aleppo; thereupon the Franks returned to Antioch. An armistice providing for the undisturbed possession of Ma’arrat-Misrin, Kafartab, and Albara by the Franks until March 1121 was arranged shortly thereafter. But this considerable gain by the Franks was partly offset by Il-Ghazi’s destruction of Zardana in June 1120 to prevent its capture by the Franks.

Apparently believing that he was not obligated to observe Baldwin’s truce with Il-Ghazi, Joscelin ravaged Naqirah and al-Ahass in January 1121 on the pretext that the governor of Manbij had seized one of his prisoners and had ignored his protests. Proceeding thence, he devastated the Wadi and then repaired to Tell Bashir to obtain new troops for further raids. The Edessan chieftain’s harsh treatment of his captives evoked indignant protests from the governor of Aleppo to Baldwin, but the latter replied that he had no authority over him. Joscelin then led a successful expedition against the Moslems located in the territory of Siffin to the south of the Euphrates, attacked the town of Buza’ah, located northeast of Aleppo near the Wadi Bujnan, and succeeded in burning a part of its walls. In return for a money payment on the part of the besieged, Joscelin raised the siege and returned to his own county.

Shortly thereafter with the expiration of the truce between Baldwin and the Moslems, the Franks resumed the offensive (April-June 1121). After a successful raid upon the Shaizar country, which terminated in a short truce, the Antiochene Franks, with Joscelin presumably one of their number, unleashed two such un­remitting attacks on the Moslem stronghold of al-Atharib at the beginning of May and so gravely threatened Aleppo that Il-Ghazi ordered his son Sulaiman, the governor of al-Atharib, to make peace with the Franks. Joscelin, one of the chief negotiators, required the Turks to relinquish their claims to Sarmin, al-Jazr, Lailun, and the northern part of the province. In addition, all the environs of Aleppo were divided equally between the Franks and the Moslems. Il-Ghazi accepted the Frankish demand that he surrender al-Atharib, but the garrison stoutly refused to carry out his promise and hence it remained in Moslem hands, Baldwin presently left Jerusalem and ratified the new treaty.

Meanwhile, Tughtigin, believing that Baldwin’s dual role as king of Jerusalem and bailli of Antioch prevented him from ruling both states effectively, invaded the kingdom of Jerusalem and devastated the lands about Tiberias. When Baldwin quickly mobilized his forces and advanced to meet him, Tughtigin retired to his own country. Thereupon, Baldwin advanced southward and invested and captured Jarash, a fortress constructed by Tughtigin the preceding year. Following its capture, the Franks razed it (July 1121) because of the prohibitive cost and difficulty of maintenance.

The signal victories gained by the Franks over Il-Ghazi and Tughtigin continued throughout the summer of 1121 and were augmented by the revolt of Sulaiman against his father. Taking advantage of the opportunity thus presented to them, the Franks invested, captured, and fortified Zardana (August-September) and, advancing on Aleppo, inflicted a serious defeat on the defenders. Baldwin then besieged and captured the citadels of Khunasirah (Khanasir), Burj Sibna, Naqirah, and al-Ahass. Sulaiman in alarm sent an envoy to Baldwin and proposed peace, but the parleys broke down over Baldwin’s insistence that al-Atharib be surrendered to him. The king then besieged al-Atharib but returned to Antioch after only three days. Il-Ghazi and Sulaiman presently composed their differences (November 1121), and the former effected a temporary peace with the Franks, whereby he once more surrendered the territories which they had held when they were the masters of al-Atharib and Zardana.

Despite the signal defeats inflicted upon him by the Franks, Il-Ghazi resumed the offensive. Taking advantage of Baldwin’s absence — Pons’ reluctance to recognize Baldwin as his overlord required the king’s presence in Tripoli to exact his submission — he returned to Syria at the end of June 1122 accompanied by Belek. Il-Ghazi besieged some of the Frankish fortresses, among them Zardana, on July 27. Upon receipt of the news from Zardana’s lord, Baldwin summoned Joscelin to his aid. The two chieftains, in company with the Antiochene leaders, marched against II-Ghazi. The Moslems withdrew, whereupon Baldwin returned to Antioch. The Moslems then resumed the siege, but again withdrew in simulated flight on the approach of Baldwin. When the king refused to be tricked by their maneuver, Il-Ghazi, who had in the meantime been struck down by apoplexy, retired from Zardana with the other Moslem leaders in September. Before they reached Aleppo, however, the stricken leader died, November 3, 1122. Meanwhile Baldwin had returned to Antioch.

The military advantages and opportunities presented to the Franks by the illness of their redoubtable adversary, Il-Ghazi, were presently negatived by the capture of the Frankish hammer, Joscelin. Upon his return from Zardana, Belek laid siege to Edessa, but, finding the resistance too stout, retired. The Franks, apparently fearing that Belek would return, sent some of their number to Bira (Birejik) to report Belek’s activities to Joscelin. That leader, who had taken as his second wife Marta of Salerno, the sister of Roger of Antioch, and had received Azaz as a dowry, was spending the night at Bira with its lord Galeran of le Puiset, who had been granted it by Baldwin in 1117. Urged on by Galeran, who was alarmed by Belek’s presence in his territory, Joscelin with a hundred knights sought to surprise the Artukid. Belek, however, learned of their plan and, preferring an ambush to a pitched battle, stationed his forces at a marshy spot near Saruj. The Frankish cavalry traversing this area were soon hopelessly mired, whereupon the Moslems, launching a merciless hail of arrows, captured Joscelin, Galeran, and twenty-five to sixty knights on September 13, 1122. After vainly demanding the surrender of Edessa, Belek imprisoned his two noble captives together with the other Frankish prisoners in the fortress of Kharput northeast of Edessa. Belek’s good fortune was soon increased, for Il-Ghazi bequeathed his estates as well as the care of his sons Sulaiman and Timurtash to his nephew.

In the face of the several disasters which had overtaken the north Syrian Franks, Baldwin undertook a vigorous counter-offensive against the Moslems in the autumn of 1122 and launched an attack on the Aleppan territories near Tall Qabbasin north of the town of al-Bab (Bab Buzacah) in October. The Moslems garrisoned at Buza’ah hastened forth, but suffered a total defeat at the hands of the Franks. Then, apprised of Il-Ghazi’s death, Bald­win ravaged the valley of Buza’ah, reduced to submission and collected tribute from the citizenry of al-Bab, and laid siege to Balis. Upon the approach of Belek’s forces, Baldwin returned to the valley of Buza’ah and invested Bir. That town capitulated and Baldwin took its garrison to Antioch.

The precarious condition of the leaderless county of Edessa also occupied Baldwin’s attention. Assuming the rule of the county, he repaired at once to Edessa and placed the city under the command of a garrison commanded by Geoffrey the Monk, lord of Marash, until the fate of Joscelin should be ascertained. The fortresses of Tell Bashir and Edessa placed themselves under the king’s supervision and through his efforts were kept in a good state of defense. These effective administrative and military measures were complemented by Baldwin’s peace treaty with Sulaiman ibn-al-Jabbar of Aleppo on April 9, 1123, which provided for the surrender of the stronghold of al-Atharib to the Franks. Yet Baldwin’s task of administration of both Edessa and Antioch was now a crushing burden, as Grousset points out.

But an even more signal Moslem triumph and Prankish defeat followed Joscelin’s capture, for Baldwin himself became a Saracen prisoner in April 1123. Having assembled an army to attack Belek, who was then besieging the castle of Gargar, and to effect the release of Joscelin and Galeran, Baldwin advanced toward Raban on April 8. Belek was already engaged in plundering operations in this very area. The rival forces were unaware of each other’s presence. The king encamped at Shenchrig, whereupon Belek, informed of the enemy’s nearness, arranged an ambush and then hurled his forces at the surprised Franks and effected the capture of Baldwin and his nephew on April 18. After obtaining the surrender of Gargar from Baldwin, Belek imprisoned his captives in Kharput, where Joscelin and Galeran were already imprisoned,

The royal prisoners presently began to plot escape and succeeded in enlisting the support of a number of Armenians living around the prison. These, in turn, communicated with their compatriots in Edessa. Soon fifty soldiers disguised as merchants departed from Edessa and, proceeding to Kharput, gained admission to the inner gates of the castle (May 1123). Using as a pretext an insult which they claimed had been imposed upon them, the conspirators approached the leader of the guardians of the castle gates. Then, having drawn knives from their garments and killed him, the rescuers seized spears and made short work of the Turkish garrison which now sallied forth. Baldwin as well as the other captives were liberated. But before the rescuers and rescued could effect an escape, a large Turkish force approached Kharput and invested it on all sides. The besieged Franks decided that Joscelin should seek help, and the Edessan leader agreed. Accompanied by three servants, he left Kharput, successfully crossed the enemy lines and the Euphrates, and then with a friendly Armenian peasant acting as a guide at length reached Tell Bashir.

Joscelin now undertook the task of rescuing his overlord. After dispatching messengers to the Byzantine emperor and the several Armenian chieftains, he departed in August 1123 and proceeded, by way of Kesoun and Antioch, to Jerusalem to rally help for the release of Baldwin. His fervent appeal for help had an instanta­neous response, for the feudality rose as one man to meet the dreadful challenge hurled at them by the exultant Belek. Joscelin then proceeded to Tripoli. Soon a combined force of warriors from Jerusalem, Tripoli, and Antioch advanced toward Tell Bashir. There they learned the disquieting news that Baldwin and the fortress of Kharput had again fallen into Belek’s hands on Septem­ber 16. Informed of the release of his prisoners and Joscelin’s escape on August 6, Belek abandoned the siege of Kafartab which he had recently begun and returned to Kharput. After fruitless dickering with Baldwin to secure a peaceful surrender, Belek stormed and captured the fortress and then reimprisoned Baldwin, his nephew, and Galeran at Harran.

The Frankish rescuing force accordingly decided to abandon the project of rescuing Baldwin and his fellows, but determined to harm the enemy at the time of the passage of the Frankish contingents by Aleppo. Meanwhile, Joscelin, following his appeal for help in Jerusalem, began his return trip to Tell Bashir, but learned en route of Belek’s recovery of Kharput. He then attacked Buza’ah, al-Bab, and Aleppo. The main body of the Franks, upon their arrival at Aleppo, scored some successes over the defenders, but a dearth of food supplies forced them to depart, In consequence, they, together with Joscelin, returned to their respective bailiwicks in October.

Equally indecisive results attended the ensuing Franco-Moslem warfare in north Syria during the autumn of 1123 and the early months of 1124. Apparently believing that the best defense of his own territories and those of the now leaderless principality of Antioch lay in offense, Joscelin attacked Belek’s dominions. Belek retaliated shortly thereafter when, with the forces of Tughtigin and Aksungur al-Bursuki, the regent (Turkish, atabeg) of Mosul, as his allies, he advanced upon and invested Azaz in the early winter of 1124, but was defeated by a relieving force of Franks. Better luck attended his next sally in April when he defeated a Frankish force at Mashhala. Yet Frankish pressure seemingly was not without effect, for, perhaps as a precautionary measure, he transferred Baldwin and the other captives from Harran to Aleppo during late February or early March 1124.

Meanwhile, important events had occurred in the kingdom of Jerusalem during Baldwin’s captivity. Upon learning of the king’s imprisonment, the feudality together with the patriarch Gormond of Picquigny, who had succeeded Arnulf of Chocques in 1118, and the prelates agreed unanimously that the constable of the kingdom, Eustace Gamier, should act as regent until Baldwin’s release. Foreign affairs soon came to occupy the constable’s attention, for the Ascalon Moslems, having heard of Baldwin’s captivity, attacked the kingdom by land and sea in mid-May 1123. The Franks effectively repulsed the Moslem land forces near Jaffa on May 29, whereupon the Moslem naval squadron which was closely investing Jaffa returned to Ascalon. This victory, together with the selection of the able William of Bures, the lord of Tiberias, to replace Eustace Garnier after his death on June 15, augured well for the kingdom, but still the danger of new and perhaps more menacing attacks had not been averted. Fortunately for William of Bures, help was near at hand. A strong Venetian naval force under the command of the doge of Venice, which had set out for the Holy Land in the late autumn of 1122 in response to an appeal from Baldwin and which was now at Corfu, learned of the threat to the kingdom through messengers and now proceeded post-haste towards Ascalon. The ensuing naval battle between the Venetians and the Moslems ended in a smashing Moslem rout.

The fresh accretions of strength from Europe inspired hope in the ranks of the leaders of the kingdom that additional prizes might be wrested from the Moslems. Accordingly, William of Bures and the other chieftains initiated conferences with the Venetians in late December 1123. The bitter quarrel which followed between the advocates of an attack upon Tyre and the proponents of an assault upon Ascalon was at length resolved by a resort to lots. Tyre was chosen. Thereupon, a treaty was drawn up providing for grants to the Venetians of one third of the city of Tyre, if it were captured, a quarter in Jerusalem, various judicial privileges in Tyre, and freedom of trade without tolls in all parts of the kingdom. Preparations for the siege were now undertaken, and the allies began their investment by land and sea on February 16.

Utilizing to the utmost their strategic location, massive fortifications, and abundant food supplies, the Tyrians for a time successfully repulsed the fierce attacks of the besiegers, but the arrival of fresh Frankish forces coupled with the steady dwindling of their provisions at length compelled the defenders to appeal to their lords, Tughtigin of Damascus and the caliph of Egypt, for assistance. Tughtigin’s ready compliance with an assisting force proved unavailing, however, for the Franks devised a counter-strategy so effective that Tughtigin decided to withdraw. Meanwhile, the Venetian doge, having investigated and proved false rumors that an Egyptian fleet was about to succor Tyre, redoubled his attacks upon the city. At last relieved of fears that Tughtigin would intervene decisively, the Frankish armies pressed forward with unrelenting assaults against the now frenzied defenders. At length Tughtigin, having vainly appealed to the Egyptian Moslems for aid, made peace overtures to the allies. An agreement for surrender was finally reached, with the proviso that the Tyrians be allowed to remain or depart as they desired with no molestation of their homes and possessions. The victors took possession on July 7, 1124, the terms of surrender were executed, and, in accordance with the treaty, two parts were assigned to the king and one to the Venetians.

With Baldwin and Galeran once more firmly in his grasp, Belek ceased to fear effective Frankish attack, and hence turned his attention again to the perennial internecine Moslem warfare. Resolving to settle accounts with Hassan, the governor of Manbij, he entrusted the command of an army corps to his cousin Timurtash in April 1124 with orders to proceed to Manbij and to invite Hassan to participate in an attack on Tell Bashir. If Hassan agreed, then Timurtash was to seize him. Timurtash accepted the command and entered Manbij, but was met with a formal refusal by Isa, Hassan’s brother. Timurtash accordingly arrested Hassan and imprisoned him in the fortress of Palu. Isa, in retaliation, wrote to Joscelin and offered to surrender Manbij to him if he would drive away Belek’s troops. Fearful that Belek would be a more dangerous neighbor than Hassan, Joscelin traveled to Jerusalem, Tripoli, and all the other Frankish areas, raised an army, and advanced on Manbij. Shortly thereafter a battle followed with Belek. A complete Frankish defeat ensued and Joscelin himself fled to Tell Bashir on the following day, May 6. Belek thereupon executed all the prisoners taken in the battle and then advanced on Manbij to resume the siege, planning to leave the conduct of the investment in the hands of Timurtash and to proceed himself to the rescue of Tyre which was then being besieged by the Franks. But all his designs came to naught when he was killed immediately thereafter on May 6 by an arrow discharged by the besieged. Timurtash now succeeded Belek in the rule of Aleppo — the dead chieftain had been so enraged by his cousin Sulaiman’s surrender of al-Atharib in 1123 that he had come to regard him as incapable of effective leadership and had, accordingly, invested and captured Aleppo in June 1123 —and presently transferred Belek’s several noble captives, including Baldwin and Galeran, to Shaizar.

The signal good fortune for the several crusading states and Edessa, in particular, stemming from Belek’s death was soon heralded by fresh attacks upon the Moslems. Joscelin’s lieutenant ravaged the canton of Shabakhtan in May 1124. Umar al-Khass, Timurtash’s subordinate, met the Franks in battle near Marj Aksas and succeeded in killing most of them including their leader. In compensation for his services, Timurtash rewarded him with the civil and military rule of Aleppo.

The reverse suffered by the Moslem cause by the death of Belek in May was now intensified by Timurtash’s rash decision to release Baldwin, who agreed on June 24 to surrender Azaz and to pay a very large ransom in return for his freedom. In addition, he promised to make war on Dubais, the Arab chieftain of Hilla and Iraq and the mortal enemy of Timurtash. Joscelin and the queen of Jerusalem negotiated with Timurtash concerning Baldwin’s release and surrendered to him as hostages Joscelin [II], Joscelin’s son, and Baldwin’s young daughter Yvette together with fifteen other persons. Baldwin was released shortly thereafter on August 29. Count Galeran and the king’s nephew, however, remained in Timurtash’s hands and were presently executed.

Immediately thereafter, on September 6, Baldwin broke his agreement to surrender Azaz, alleging that the patriarch had forbidden him to do so. Then, to make matters worse for Timurtash, Joscelin and Baldwin entered into negotiations with Dubais, and, informed by him of the sympathy of the Aleppan population, agreed not only to attack Aleppo but also, following its capture, to cede it to him with the proviso that the authority over the property and population of Aleppo be reserved to the Franks. Dubais thereupon advanced upon Marj Dabiq and routed the forces of Timurtash. Despite Baldwin’s treaty-breaking, Timurtash continued his negotiations with him concerning the Frankish and Moslem hostages. He prepared, however, for any eventuality by a visit to Mardin, where he requested the assistance of his brother Sulaiman and recruited troops.

The Franco-Aleppan agreements were definitely sundered in late September when Baldwin marched to Artah and threatened Aleppo, arriving before the latter city on October 6. Meanwhile, Joscelin and Dubais, proceeding from Tell Bashir, invaded the valley of Buza’ah and conducted widespread devastations of the crops. They soon effected a junction with Baldwin before Aleppo. The Frankish chieftains and their followers, together with their Moslem allies, namely Dubais and his son Sadaqah and lesser leaders with their forces, numbering no less than two hundred Frankish and one hundred Moslem tents, now established a close investment of Aleppo. The ensuing siege was marked by a bitter struggle. The besieged leaders, failing in their negotiations to end hostilities, sorely pressed because of the paucity of their forces, and suffering together with the citizens from famine, decided at length to send envoys to Timurtash, who was at Mardin, to obtain his assistance. Intent on the occupation of Maiyafariqin, the bequest of his recently deceased brother, Sulaiman, who was the former ruler of that city, and preoccupied with negotiations with Aksungur al-Bursuki of Mosul for an anti-Frankish coalition, Timurtash ignored the envoys’ pleas for assistance and continually temporized with them. At length, angered by their complaints and by the receipt of a letter from Aleppo which seemed to him to disguise the seriousness of the situation to the end of causing him to succor Aleppo with too small a rescuing force, he ordered them to be imprisoned. But they escaped and presently sought Aksungur’s aid. He complied with the appeal, and having urged the rulers of Damascus and Homs to aid him, raised an army and advanced on Aleppo, arriving after nightfall on January 29, 1125. Dubais urged his Frankish allies to give him an army to prevent Aksungur from crossing the Euphrates until the Franks had captured Aleppo. This sensible advice went unheeded, and, as a result, Aksungur succeeded in raising the siege when the inhabitants were on the point of surrender. On his approach Baldwin and his several allies retired from Aleppo, deeming it wiser to retreat than to risk battle with the numerically superior enemy. Aksungur pursued the retreating Franks as far as al-Atharib and cut off stragglers and plundered their baggage. The Franks, however, succeeded in with­drawing without great loss. Loath to risk a defeat at the hands of the enemy by a determined pursuit, Aksungur retired to Aleppo. As the new ruler of that city, he retained the hostages surrendered by Baldwin at the time of his release. Meanwhile, the Frankish forces reached Antioch, where they separated. Baldwin returned to Jerusalem, reaching it on April 3, 1125, following an absence of nearly three years. Dubais contented himself with ravaging Mosul and Aksungur’s other territories.

Pursuing his recent victory over the Franks, Aksungur, having formed an alliance with Tughtigin, advanced into Syria and besieged and captured the Frankish stronghold of Kafartab. His next intended prize, Zardana, succeeded in repelling his attacks. Then, together with Tughtigin, he advanced on Joscelin’s fortress of Azaz with a picked force and invested it fiercely. Capitulation seemed certain. Help was soon forthcoming, however, for Baldwin, having learned that Aksungur had returned to Aleppo, repaired at once to Antioch and assembled a large force with the active assistance of Joscelin, Pons, and Mahuis, the count of Duluk. The united force then proceeded by way of Cyrrhus to Azaz. Learning of the Frankish advance, Aksungur returned to Azaz and re­established the investment.

The ensuing battle of June 11, 1125, ended with a signal Frankish victory, despite initial setbacks. Baldwin shrewdly resorted to the strategy of withdrawal toward al-Atharib in order to cause the investing Moslem forces to abandon their siege and to pursue the retreating Franks into an ambush, Aksungur fell into the trap. The Franks halted their retreat, and, falling on their pursuers, annihilated them, harrying the survivors as far as the gates of Aleppo.

Baldwin, who now apparently sought a modus vivendi with the Saracens, paid his ransom to Aksungur and the latter, in turn, released Yvette and Joscelin II. A truce agreement providing for the division of the revenues of Jabal as-Summaq and other contested areas between the Franks and the Moslems was also made. Aksungur then departed for Aleppo and, having left his son there, repaired to Mosul to assemble a new army and renew the war.

This favorable turn in Frankish fortunes was further marked in the autumn of 1125 by new and successful assaults on the economic resources and military bastions of the Moslems. In October Baldwin constructed a castle on a mountain six miles distant from Beirut as a means of extracting tribute from the local Saracens. Then, following the expiration of his recent truce with Tughtigin, Baldwin made a successful raid into the Damascus area. Thereafter, he turned his forces southward and advanced on the city of Ascalon, the garrison of which had recently been strengthened by the Egyptian Moslems. The king administered a sharp rebuff to the defenders.

Continuing his unceasing attacks on the foe, Baldwin prepared an expedition against Tughtigin and led his army out from Tiberias across the Jordan on January 13, 1126. The Franks at length joined battle in the Marj as-Suffar on January 25 with the troops of Tughtigin and his son, who had advanced out of Damascus on the preceding day after calling on their fellow emirs for assistance. The contest ended in a Moslem defeat. Tughtigin retired to Damascus and Baldwin then returned to Jerusalem, capturing two towers on his homeward journey.

The county of Tripoli and the county of Edessa also made their contributions to Frankish expansion in 1126. At the request of Pons, Baldwin hastened to Rafaniyah, a dependent town in the hills west of Homs, and aided him in its investment for eighteen days in March, Shams-al-Khawass, its governor, sought the assistance of Aksungur, but the former’s son, who was now entrusted with the active defense of the city, was of another mind and surrendered the stronghold to the Franks on March 31. The Franks then invaded and ravaged the territory of Homs in May. Aksungur immediately assembled a new army and advanced to Raqqa at the end of May and continued his march without pause to Naqirah. Apparently desiring a buffer state for the more distant Frankish domains, Joscelin proposed a division of the territories included in the area between Azaz and Aleppo, but the continuation of the existing state of war in all the other territories. Aksungur con­curred and an agreement was drawn up on this basis.

Aksungur now sent his son Izz-ad-Din Masud to the rescue of Homs and the latter succeeded in dislodging the Franks. Upon his son’s return from Homs, Aksungur left him in Aleppo and, after relieving Babek, the governor of Aleppo, of his duties, replaced him with the eunuch Kafor and then departed for al-Atharib on July 1. Babek, acting on Aksungur’s orders, meanwhile repaired to Hisn ad-Dair with an army corps and miners and presently became master of it by capitulation. Babek’s victorious forces then proceeded to ravage crops and pillage the peasantry and at length launched an attack on the Frankish stronghold of al-Atharib. Although two of the outer bastions fell to them, the Moslems were unable to capture the town.

Apprehensive of this threatening surge of Moslem power, Baldwin advanced from Jerusalem with his entire army, united his forces with those of Joscelin, and, having encamped before Artah and Imm, a town thirty-three miles west of Aleppo, sent a messenger to Aksungur with an offer to surrender Rafaniyah if he would withdraw from the country. Recalling his defeat at Azaz and fearing a similar disaster, Aksungur decided not to and concluded a truce, the terms of which were that the siege of al-Atharib should be raised and that its commander should depart with its troops and possessions. But the Franks broke their agreement, stating that they would abide by it only if the territories granted to Aksungur in the agreement of the preceding year were abandoned completely by the Moslems. He refused and remained for some time at Aleppo exchanging messages with the Franks without reaching an agreement. Then he departed early in August for Qinnasrin and Sarmin, while his army proceeded toward al-Fuah and Danith. Meanwhile, the Franks encamped near the reservoir of Ma’arrat-Misrin until August 6. Then, being short of provisions, they returned to their own territories.

Resuming the attack, Aksungur, together with the atabeg Tughtigin, who had joined him at Qinnasrin, proceeded to Aleppo. There Tughtigin became ill, and, after leaving instructions with Aksungur, had himself carried on a litter to Damascus. Aksungur now entrusted the government to his son Izz-ad-Din Masud and then returned to Mosul in November 1126. There, on Friday, November 26, he met death at the hands of assassins of the Batinite sect.

This signal good fortune for the Franks was soon followed by others, for Izz-ad-Din Masud soon fell to quarreling with Tugh­tigin and the anti-Frankish cooperation of Damascus and Aleppo ended. Izz-ad-Din Masud presently died of poison and the ensuing contest in Aleppo among the several claimants for the purple revived the chronic disunity among the Moslems. At length Badr-ad-Daulah Sulaiman ibn-al-Jabbarm the Artukid nephew of Il-Ghazi who had inherited Aleppo but had been ousted by Belek some years before, gained control of the city and proceeded to arrest the followers of his ejected rival Kutlug Abeh, whose excesses had led the Aleppans to recall the Artukid line. Informed of the happenings in Aleppo, Joscelin advanced upon that city in October 1127, presumably in the hope of taking advantage of the anarchy and thereby becoming the master of Aleppo, but soon departed in return for a cash payment.

Meanwhile a serious quarrel had temporarily broken the unity of the Franks which had stood them in such good stead in their struggle against Aksungur. Bohemond II, the son of Bohemond I, sailed from Apulia, in September 1126, for the Holy Land and arrived at the port of St. Simeon in October or November. He had come in response to the invitation extended to him by the citizenry of Antioch during Baldwin’s captivity as well as that offered later by Baldwin himself. Baldwin, who had been Antioch’s regent ever since Roger’s death in 1119, now, in accordance with the promise which Roger had made to Tancred on his deathbed that he would surrender the government of the principality to Bohemond or his heirs, turned over to him Antioch and all Cilicia. Having obtained recognition of his supremacy from Joscelin and Pons, Bohemond II then proceeded to Antioch with a body of troops and presently married Baldwin’s second daughter, Alice, in the closing days of September 1127.

Soon enmity developed between Joscelin and Bohemond and at length led to open hostilities. Joscelin summoned Turkish forces to his banner and with their aid ravaged the principality of Antioch during the summer of 1127 and compelled the Antiochenes to recognize his rule. Bohemond was absent at the time, engaged in war with the Turks in another theater. When rumors of this quarrel reached Baldwin, he was greatly disturbed. Realizing that this new division in the ranks of the Franks might afford the Moslems an excellent opportunity to harass them, and desiring peaceful relations between his cousin and his son-in-law, he speedily journeyed to Antioch to effect a reconciliation. Joscelin was ready to accept mediation. He was now so dangerously ill that he vowed he would become reconciled with Bohemond II, render him satisfaction, and pay him rightful homage, if his life should be spared and his health should be restored. The patriarch of Antioch now offered his good offices, and Baldwin soon ended the altercation between his vassals. Perhaps making doubly certain of Joscelin’s sincerity, the patriarch ordered that all the churches be closed, church bells be silenced, and prayers be discontinued until Joscelin surrendered all his booty to Bohemond II. Joscelin swore fealty to his erstwhile foe and remained true to his pledge thereafter. The king then returned to Jerusalem.

The tide of Moslem reaction, which Il-Ghazi, Belek, and Aksungur had led with only partial success because of the continued internecine quarrels prevailing among the various Moslem factions, now surged ahead under the able leadership of a new chieftain, Zengi. His rise to power began in April 1127 when the sultan conferred on him the function of commissioner in Iraq and the principalities of Mosul and Aleppo in recognition of his manifest military abilities. Zengi’s significance lay not only in the fact that he determined from the first to become the master of all Moslem Syria, but, more significantly, in his policy of deliberately refraining from serious attack on the Latin states and concentrating his assaults on his Moslem rivals. His program of the status quo in respect to the Franks was of course designed to give him a free hand in his endeavors to best his Moslem foes and did give a badly needed breathing spell to the Christians. But when his consolidation was completed, the respite proved to be illusory, for the effect of the consolidation was to create an effective dam to the spreading Frankish tide and to cause the loss of the county of Edessa.

Having quickly established his rule over Mosul in September 1127, Zengi soon obtained control of Nisibin, Sinjar, and Harran from his Moslem rivals. Shortly thereafter he dispatched an envoy to Joscelin with a request for a short truce. Joscelin agreed. The remainder of Moslem Syria and the important prize of Aleppo soon fell under Zengi’s sway, for his troops occupied Aleppo in January 1128, and he himself seized Manbij and Buza’ah in June 1129. The Sultan recognized his de facto control of Syria and whetted his ambitions for still further conquests when he conferred on him, shortly after the death of Tughtigin, in February 1128, a royal diploma granting to him all Syria and adjacent countries. Rushed with his military and diplomatic triumphs, Zengi, having successfully summoned Taj-al-Muluk Bori, Tughtigin’s son and the new ruler of Damascus, to a jihad against the Franks, treacherously betrayed his new ally and imprisoned his son Sevinj in Aleppo. Then, with the connivance of his fellow conspirator, Kir-Khan, the ruler of Homs, he captured Hamah in September and conferred the rule of that city on Kir-Khan. But Kir-Khan soon suffered deposition from his new post at Zengi’s hands. Not until the autumn of 1129 when Moslem Homs successfully resisted Zengi’s investment did the expanding power of the new leader of the Moslem world receive a check.

Meanwhile the Franks, unaware of the import of Zengi’s maneuvers, were concentrating their attention upon Damascus. Baldwin and the other leaders sent Hugh of Payens, the first master of the Knights of the Temple, to Europe in 1128 to obtain help. Considerable success attended his efforts, for he returned to Palestine in 1129 with many companies of noblemen and Fulk, the count of Anjou.

Virtually simultaneous developments in Damascus itself perhaps quickened the tempo of the Frankish planning operations and hastened the attack. The vizier of Damascus, with the approval and connivance of a local sect of Assassins and their leader Ismail, wrote the Franks and offered to surrender Damascus to them in exchange for Tyre. They agreed. However, the plot was discovered and the vizier, many of his henchmen, and the Assassins were executed on September 4, 1129. Ismail, fearing that he, too, would fall victim to Damascus’ reprisals, wrote to the Latins and offered to surrender Banyas to them in exchange for asylum. They concurred and the long-planned expedition began.

The attacking forces advanced on Banyas, and, having received its surrender from Ismail, proceeded to Damascus and encamped nearby at the end of November 1129. Battle was joined in the Marj as-Suffar, some miles southwest of Damascus, and the Moslems scored a great triumph over the Franks. This disaster was soon followed by another, for winter rains and fog now set in and made military operations impossible. Accordingly, the Franks abandoned their project and returned home on December 5 with their rearguard closely pressed by the enemy. Although failure had attended the expedition proper, yet the not unimportant town of Banyas was now a Frankish possession.

The favorable military trends for the Moslems in the closing weeks of 1129 were soon complemented by political ones as well, for the fortunes of the principality of Antioch were imperiled by the death of its valiant ruler, Bohemond II, at the hands of Danishmendid troops in February 1130 during the course of a campaign in Cilicia, and by the machinations of his widow Alice, daughter of Baldwin. Bereft of their young leader, the Antiochenes held a council and then called on Baldwin for assistance. The king, fearful for the safety of Antioch in this crisis, complied. Meanwhile, Alice was scheming, despite the solid opposition of her chief men and the entire population, to obtain the rule of Antioch for herself and to disinherit her daughter, Constance, the legal heir. In order to effect her plan, she called upon Zengi for assistance. Unluckily for her, the messenger was captured by the Franks, and, upon being interrogated by Baldwin, confessed the plot. Baldwin hastened to Antioch, but Alice forbade him entrance to the city. However, a number of lay and clerical leaders disobeyed her commands and by a prearranged plan permitted Fulk and Joscelin to enter. Thereupon Baldwin entered Antioch and at length secured Alice’s reluctant capitulation. He decreed that she be forcibly expelled from Antioch and that the rule of Antioch and its dependencies be entrusted to Joscelin and the principal men of the city, who should administer them for Constance until her marriage. Her husband would then become lord of Antioch. Then, tempering his wrath, he granted to Alice the coast cities of Latakia and Jabala, which her late husband had deeded as a dowry to her at the time of her marriage. The king then returned to Jerusalem.

Encouraged by the manifest disaffection in the ranks of the Latins, Zengi invaded the principality of Antioch in the spring of 1130 and laid siege to al-Atharib. When the Franks, including Baldwin, advanced to the relief of the beleaguered city, Zengi’s officers advised him to retreat, but he scorned their advice. A battle followed, and the Moslems were victorious. Zengi then advanced on the fortress of Harim on the outskirts of Antioch but was persuaded by the inhabitants to abandon his siege in return for half of the revenues of the district. A truce was concluded, and he returned to his own territories. The ending of Zengi’s campaign of 1130 marked the beginning of a considerable respite from major warfare with him for the Franks, for his energies were consumed in war with a league of rivals in the latter part of 1130, in struggles with the revived caliphate in the period 1131-1133, and in a war with the Kurds in 1134.

Fortunate it was for the Franks that the early 1130’s marked a lull in the Moslem offensive, for 1131 marked the passing of those veritable shields and bucklers of the crusading states, Baldwin and Joscelin. Baldwin died on August 21 in Jerusalem after committing the rule of the kingdom to his eldest daughter Melisend, his son-in-law Fulk, and his two-year-old grandson Baldwin. Fulk, who became the fourth ruler of the kingdom on the following September 14, had come out to the Holy Land in the spring of 1129 in response to an invitation from Baldwin to marry Melisend. A mature man of thirty-eight with a background and training befitting him for his new duties, he had had much experience as a military and political chieftain in France in his role of count of Touraine, Maine, and Anjou, as Baldwin’s lieutenant from 1129 to 1131, and as the ruler of the cities of Tyre and Acre which he received at the time of his marriage to Melisend.

Less lucky was the county of Edessa. Joscelin continued his vigorous yet politic rule in the north during 1130 and 1131, invading the northern Aleppan country and battling successfully with Sevar, Zengi’s representative in Aleppo, and suffering, in retaliation, Sevar’s attacks on al-Atharib’s suburbs. Perhaps seeking the sultan’s support against Zengi, Joscelin refused asylum to his erstwhile ally, Dubais, when that worthy fell afoul of the sultan’s displeasure. But injuries incurred in 1130 during the course of a siege of a Moslem castle at length had their cumulative effect and he died shortly after Baldwin. Joscelin II, markedly inferior to his illustrious sire, succeeded to the rule of the county of Edessa. This was a disaster, indeed, for a state facing the steadily waxing ambition of Zengi.

Fresh troubles in Antioch occupied much of Fulk’s attention during the first year of his rule, Alice revived her claim to Antioch and enlisted as her supporters Pons and Joscelin II. But other nobles, resentful of Alice’s aspirations, appealed to Fulk. Much perturbed, the king hastened north by land as far as Beirut, but was obliged to continue his journey by sea because of Pons’ refusal to allow him to pass through the county of Tripoli. At length he reached St. Simeon and was met by influential leaders of Antioch who now gave him the command of the principality and city of Antioch. Pons, however, refused to capitulate and strengthened his fortresses, Chastel-Rouge and Arzghan. Fulk thereupon raised an army and, meeting Pons in a bitterly contested battle at Chastel-Rouge in the summer of 1132, gained the victory and put him and his followers to flight. King and count were at length reconciled, but Fulk, aware of the general fear that sedition might appear once more, agreed to tarry in Antioch and assumed the role of bailli. He busied himself with affairs of state, with the advice and consent of the chief nobles, and then placed Reginald Masoier in charge of the principality as constable.

The new entente between the kingdom of Jerusalem and the county of Tripoli was soon tested, for the long dormant Damascus and Tripolitan frontiers awoke to activity in the closing weeks of 1132. Shams-al-Muluk Ismail, the son and successor of Taj-al-Muluk Bori in the role of Damascus, upon learning that the Franks of Beirut had seized the goods of various Damascene merchants in violation of their treaty with Damascus, tried vainly to obtain satisfaction for them. Then, seeking revenge, he secretly made military preparations, and, leading out his troops against Banyas, captured the town on December 21 before Fulk was able to succor it.

Although the fall of Banyas spread much fear among the Franks, still more alarming news came from Tripoli at the same time to the effect that a Turkoman force had invaded Tripoli and had defeated Pons in battle. Pons and his companions retired to Barin which the Turkomans promptly invested. Then, fleeing to Tripoli, he summoned help from the other Frankish chiefs; a gratifying re­sponse followed. Perhaps his most valuable ally was Fulk, who at the moment was marching north to assist Antioch against new Moslem incursions. Learning at Sidon of Pons’ plight from his wife Cecilia, he abandoned his northern campaign and went to his vassal’s rescue. When Pons believed that he was strong enough to take the field, he advanced upon Barin again and raised the siege. The ensuing battle was indecisive, for the Franks retired to Rafaniyah in good order after considerable battle losses, and the Turkomans likewise withdrew.

Fulk now resumed his advance, reached Antioch, and presently captured the nearby fortress of Qusair from the Moslems. In­formed that Moslem troops commanded by Sevar had concentrated at Qinnasrin and were planning to use it as a base of operations, he led out his forces from Antioch and encamped near the fortress of Harim. After waiting vainly several days for the enemy to move, Fulk suddenly attacked and soundly whipped the surprised Sara­cens. Then, having imposed a truce upon them (January 1133) he returned to Antioch with much booty.

Fulk’s favor with both the masses and classes of Antioch was now greater than ever before. Shortly before his return to Jeru­salem, the Antiochene nobility, seeking a more stable government for their principality, requested him to obtain a husband for Constance, who was still a minor. With their approval he selected Raymond, son of the count of Poitou, and a mission was according­ly sent to him, with the greatest possible secrecy.

Although the victory of Qinnasrin relieved pressure on the Aleppan front, the Damascus front once more became very menacing for the Franks. Encouraged by his capture of Banyas and learning that the caliph of Baghdad was planning to besiege Zengi in Mosul, Shams-al-Muluk Ismail now turned his attention to his Moslem rivals and obtained Hamah by surrender from Zengi’s commander on August 6, 1133. Presently he obliged Moslem Shaizar to become tributary to him. Then, having returned to Damascus in September 1133, he advanced on Tyron, a Moslem stronghold near Sidon, and captured it in No­vember from its commander Dahhak, who had pursued anti-Moslem as well as anti-Frankish tactics. Disturbed by Shams-al-Muluk Ismail’s waxing power, the Franks invaded the Hauran in 1134, whereupon Shams-al-Muluk Ismail, having ascertained the enemy’s superior power, invaded the country around Acre, Tiberias, and Tyre in a counter-stroke designed to make them withdraw. Success rewarded his efforts, and the Franks retired from the Hauran in October 1134 after securing a temporary peace from him in September. But before he could effect his program in Moslem as well as in Latin Syria, he was murdered on January 30, 1135. He was succeeded by his brother, Shihab-ad-Din Mahmud, in the rule of Damascus.

Meanwhile, Zengi, at long last free from major involvements with his Moslem enemies, now returned to his goal of the mastery of Moslem and Frankish Syria. Quickly taking advantage of the political embarrassments of Damascus resulting from the assassination of its ruler, he advanced upon that city and began its investment in the late winter of 1135. But the Damascenes, commanded by their mamluk Muln-ad-Din Unur (or Onor), so stoutly resisted him and so coldly rebuffed his demand for their surrender that he made peace with the mamluk and withdrew on March 16. Although Zengi’s dream of mastery over Damascus had not been realized, his other program of gaining the mastery of the Frankish and Moslem fortresses which still threatened Aleppo went ahead unchecked. Inflicting major defeats on the principality of Antioch, he easily captured al-Atharib in the course of a whirlwind campaign on April 17, 1135, and Zardana, Tall Aghdi, Ma'arrat-an-Numan, Ma'arrat-Misrin, and Kafartab shortly thereafter. The Moslem stronghold of Shaizar presently capitulated to him, and then, after a brief feint against the Frankish citadel of Barin, he advanced on unwary Moslem Homs and devastated its environs. Hearing that Frankish forces under the command of Pons were now engaged in Qinnasrin, Zengi advanced upon that city and by skillful maneuvering forced them to withdraw. Thereupon he returned to Homs, and after unsuccessful attacks upon it in the opening days of August, repaired immediately thereafter to Mosul and thence to Baghdad.

Zengi was absent from the Syrian scene during the next year, his energies being consumed in squabbles between the caliph and the sultan, with a consequent personal postponement of his long-run program. But the program itself did not suffer, for his able lieutenant Sevar continued to defend his master’s interests. He assailed Homs so vigorously in the autumn of 1135 that the sons of its ruler, Kir-Khan, recognizing their own weakness and Sevar’s might, surrendered Homs to Shihab-ad-Din Mahmud. Thereupon, Sevar, nothing daunted, invaded the Damascus country and obtained a peace treaty from Shihab-ad-Din Mahmud. The troublesome Damascus front was at long last pacified. Even more important triumphs soon followed, for Sevar, thoroughly cognizant of Frankish weaknesses, invaded the principality of Antioch in April 1136, and, after pillaging a hundred villages, reached the coast and, surprising the unwary defenders of Latakia, devastated the city and obtained many prisoners and much booty. So badly shaken was the Frankish power that no reprisal could be made. In the words of a Moslem contemporary, “Such a calamity as this has never befallen the northern Franks”.

Why had Moslem arms under Zengi and Sevar gained such signal triumphs, comparable only to the Saracen victory at Harran in 1104, and why had their Frankish enemies failed to capitalize on the victory of Qinnasrin? The answer may be found in the dissensions rampant in the ruling circles of Antioch, in the failure of Antioch’s two major neighbors to do much more than mark time and remain on the defensive during the rise of Zengi, and in the flaccid policies pursued by Fulk in respect to the north Syrian areas. Despite the exile imposed upon her by her father, Alice returned to Antioch in 1135 and, ignoring her daughter Constance, assumed the active rule of the principality with the approval of her sister Melisend, Fulk’s wife, who persuaded her spouse not to interfere. No longer inhibited by the restraining influence of her kinsfolk, Alice sought the support of the Byzantine emperor John by offering Constance’s hand to his son Manuel. John assented. Then, to make matters worse, Ralph, the crafty patriarch of Antioch, in order to obtain Alice’s support against his clerical enemies, convinced her  that  the mission which had recently requested Raymond of Poitiers to repair to Antioch desired to have him marry her. Great was her wrath when Raymond married Constance, in accordance with his oath of fealty to Ralph and an agreement made with him upon his arrival in the latter half of 1136. Alice, sadly disillusioned, withdrew from Antioch and opposed Raymond with relentless fury. Ralph, believing that his position was now secure, behaved presumptuously and arrogantly toward Raymond, who now retaliated by aligning himself with Ralph’s foes. The political and religious schisms wracking An­tioch made it an easy prey for Sevar.

Almost equally conducive to Sevar’s strategy of the offensive was the time-serving, defensive policy pursued by the county of Edessa and the kingdom of Jerusalem. Neither state sought to capitalize on the victory over Sevar which they had scored at Qinnasrim. Sevar attacked Zardana and Harim in 1134 and boldly invaded the districts of Ma'arrat-an-Numan and Ma'arrat-Misrin and then returned to Aleppo laden with booty. There was no organized reprisal on the part of Edessa. The kingdom of Jerusalem, under Fulk’s leadership, pursued its new southern policy of guarding its immediate interests and, following the unsuccessful Damascus campaign of 1134, contented itself with the construction in 1136 of a fortress at Bait Jibrin on the southern frontier as a means of checking the constant forays of the nearby garrison of Ascalon. This was a development of the policy inaugurated in 1133 of building Chastel-Arnoul near Bait Nuba to guard the Jaffa-Jerusalem road for the pilgrims against recurrent attacks from Ascalon.

The full storm of the Moslem revanche broke in the opening months of 1137. Doubtless spurred on by Sevar’s triumphant march to the sea, Beza-Uch, the commander of the Damascus forces, invaded the county of Tripoli in March 1137 and routed the forces of the Tripolitan Franks in a bitterly fought battle. Pons, presently betrayed by the Syrians living on Mount Lebanon, fell into enemy hands, and was put to death on March 25. Then, after capturing the castle of Ibn-al-Ahmar and a rich booty, Beza-Uch returned to Damascus. Meanwhile, Raymond II, Pons’ son and heir to the county, having rallied his forces, struck savagely in retaliation at the Syrians on Mount Lebanon, capturing, torturing, and executing many of their leaders.

Thereupon, Zengi, having obtained an armistice from and having established a friendly agreement with Shihab-ad-Din Mahmud, once more repaired to Syria, arriving in June 1137. He at once dispatched his chief negotiator, Salah-ad-Din, to the Damascene fortress of Homs with instructions to obtain its surrender by negotiation from its commander, Muin-ad-Din Unur. When negotiations failed, Zengi himself began the investment of the city. Failing after several weeks of fruitless alternate military action and threats to achieve his aim and learning that the defenders were about to be aided by the Franks — this latter consideration indicates that the Latins were at long last under standing balance-of-power politics — he departed on July 11 and began the siege of the nearby Frankish stronghold of Barin in the county of Tripoli. Raymond II besought and obtained Fulk’s support. But when Fulk arrived in Tripoli, he learned the dis­heartening news that the principality of Antioch was now being invaded by the emperor John Comnenus and that the Antiochenes were seeking his aid. Fulk immediately held a council; the decision was that Barin should be helped first and then Antioch. Accordingly, the Franks advanced upon Zengi, whereupon the latter abandoned the siege of Barin, fell upon the Franks, and decimated their infantry. Raymond II and some of his knights were captured. Fulk recognized the futility of further resistance and retired into the fortress with the loss of all the baggage intended for the succoring of Barin. The Moslems again resumed the siege of Barin, whereupon the imprisoned Franks appealed to Antioch, Jerusalem, and Edessa for aid. A levée en masse followed. Jerusalem, Antioch, and Edessa answered the appeal. Grave indeed as was the plight of the kingdom of Jerusalem, it now became still more serious, for Beza-Uch took advantage of its defenseless state and attacked and plundered the unfortified city of Nablus with impunity. Meanwhile Zengi pressed his attack unremittingly. But, learning of the approach of the armies of Edessa and Jerusalem and fearing the loss of his prize, he offered peace terms providing for the surrender of Barin and a safe-conduct for the besieged. The Franks, unaware of the approach of the relief forces, accepted the offer and marched out safely only to meet the Frankish columns which presently arrived, too late.

Meanwhile, the sadly harried principality of Antioch had to meet new menaces from the north. Emperor John, continuing the policies of his father Alexius, had laid claim to Antioch with all the adjacent provinces. The immediate cause of the revival of these claims was the receipt of the news that the Antiochenes had betrothed Constance to Raymond of Poitiers instead of John's son Manuel. Another motive for this action was his desire to recover the Cilician towns taken by Leon the Roupenid. John, therefore, assembled an army and conquered Leon’s states. At length he reached Antioch and began investing it on August 29. Apprised of the developments at Antioch, Raymond of Poitiers hastened home from Barin and took personal charge of the defense. John pressed his attack so fiercely that at length Raymond sought peace and sent emissaries to the emperor. An agreement was drawn up with Fulk’s approval in September 1137 providing that Raymond would become John’s vassal with Antioch as his fief, and would surrender Antioch to him if John should recover Aleppo, Shaizar, Hamah, and Homs, and would grant them as fiefs to Raymond. Raymond, together with Raymond II of Tripoli and Joscelin, tendered their oaths of fealty to the emperor, and the latter, having promised to campaign against the Moslems in 1138 to recover the designated towns, returned to Cilicia to spend the winter.

The markedly anti-Moslem hue of the newly established Graeco-Antiochene entente became clearly visible in the latter part of February 1138 when Raymond of Antioch arrested several Moslem merchants and Aleppan travelers in Antioch. Then, in alliance with John, the Antiochene Franks began military operations on March 31 and advanced due east on Buzaah, capturing it on April 9. Allied expeditions were now dispatched from Buzaah in all directions and scoured even the trans-Euphratean country­side in early April. Zengi, apprised at Homs, which he was then besieging, of the recent events, sent reinforcements under Sevar’s command to Aleppo, whereupon the allies advanced west on Aleppo and reached it on April 14, five days after Sevar’s reinforcements arrived. The brief siege ended on April 20 with the allies withdrawing to the west and south. Several easy triumphs were now gained by the allies with the capture of al-Atharib following its abandonment by its garrison on April 21 and the capture of Kafartab following a short struggle. Believing that the independent emir of Shaizar would be less resolute in its defense than Zengi himself, the allies advanced on Shaizar and reached it on April 28. The ensuing siege of twenty-four days was futile because of the formidable character of the defense, the slothfulness and lackadai­sical attitudes of Joscelin II and Raymond of Antioch, and the menacing activities of Zengi. Disgusted with his vassals’ non-cooperation, disturbed by Zengi’s preparations to march on Shaizar in force with large contingents and by his divisive propaganda in the ranks of the besiegers, and fearful, in the face of a Moslem invasion of Cilicia, for the safety of that important Byzantine province, the emperor recognized the uselessness of further effort. Accordingly, he accepted a bribe from the emir of Shaizar and some of its citizens and announced his intention of withdrawal to Antioch. Unaware of John’s plans, Raymond and Joscelin belatedly protested his decision but to no avail. The allies withdrew from Shaizar on May 21 .

Upon his arrival in Antioch the emperor demanded the cession of the citadel of Antioch, free access to the city proper, and the use of its military equipment on the part of his troops, alleging that these grants were essential for the conquest of Aleppo. The Franks feared that the acceptance of these demands would involve the loss of Antioch to the Greeks and accordingly requested a delay, ostensibly to consider the matter with the nobles. John assented. Thereupon Joscelin sent agents provocateurs into the streets to inform the populace of the emperor’s demands and to rouse them to arms. Presently Antioch was convulsed by angry crowds. Joscelin then rushed into the emperor’s presence, stating that he had been pursued by a mob of angry citizens seeking his life as a base traitor. The ruse succeeded. When the fury of the populace mounted and members of the emperor’s own retinue fell victim to their wrath, John, apprehensive for his own safety, withdrew his demands and agreed to withdraw from Antioch. The leaders silenced the mobs, and the Greeks left the city on the following day. Shortly thereafter, envoys dispatched from Antioch appeased the emperor with honeyed words designed to establish Raymond’s innocence and the mob’s responsibility for the recent disturbances. Although he was not deceived by these maneuvers, John did not want to break with the Franks, and, inconsequence, accepted the explanation. He then returned to Cilicia and eventually to Constantinople.

Meanwhile, Zengi, despite the blight placed upon his hopes of becoming the roaster of Frankish Syria, prudently continued to pursue his first goal, dominion over Moslem Syria, the sine qua non for the ousting of the Franks. He contented himself with the recovery of Kafarfab, which the Graeco-Frankish allies abandoned on May 21 during their retreat from Shaizar, and harassed the retiring Greeks with cavalry forces upon their refusal to cede Apamea to him. Seeking the more immediately important Moslem prizes, he returned once more to Homs and demanded its surrender from Shihab-ad-Din Mahmu. An exchange of correspondence followed, and soon Shihab-ad-Din Mahmud agreed and received Barin, Lakmah, and al-Hisn ash-Sharqi in exchange. The political arrangements were now cemented by marriage alliances between the families of the erstwhile rivals in June. Zengi, recognizing her influence at Damascus and hoping thereby to become its master, espoused Shihab-ad-Din Mahmud’s mother and betrothed his daughter to Shihab-ad-Din Mahmud.

With the consolidation of his Moslem rear now secured, Zengi once more turned his attention to the Franks. He captured and destroyed Arqah in the summer of 1138, seized Buza’ah on September 27, and mastered al-Atharib on October 10. Despite the economic and population losses attendant upon the severe earthquakes which visited Aleppo and al-Atharib and their environs from October 20 until the following summer, despite the questionable success of his lieutenant Sevar against the Franks in the first half of 1139, and despite his own renewed time- and resource-consuming conflict with his Artukid rivals, the year which followed Zengi’s Arqah-Buza’ah-al-Atharib campaign may nevertheless be regarded as one of continued ascendancy on Zengi’s part, for Frankish power had been sapped by the loss of the Cilician towns to the Greeks, and Latin initiative had been dulled by the realization of the difficulties attendant upon the capture of Aleppo.

An even greater opportunity for aggrandizement seemingly presented itself to Zengi in the assassination of Shihab-ad-Din Mahmud on June 22, 1139. Muin-ad-Din Unur now took command of the situation and invited the slain man’s brother, Jamal-ad-Din Muhammad, the ruler of Baalbek, to assume the rule of the city. The latter accepted the invitation. Meanwhile, Muin-ad-Din Unur expelled another brother and claimant, Bahram-Shah, who thereupon repaired to Aleppo to enlist Zengi’s aid, He was assisted in his quest by his mother, Zengi´’s wife, who urged her spouse to avenge her dead son. Determined to find in this incident an occasion whereby he could dominate the country, Zengi quickly responded by marching on Damascus. Finding the Damascenes on guard and determined to repel him, he changed his plans and began an investment of Baalbek, which Muin-ad-Din Unur had recently received as a fief from Jamal-ad-Din Muhammad on August 20. The entente of the preceding summer was no more and Zengi’s ambitions were apparent to all.

Undaunted by this crisis, Muin-ad-Din Unur resumed the negotiations with the Franks for an alliance which he had unsuccessfully carried on in 1133 and 1138. Appealing for their assistance against a common foe, he dispatched envoys to Fulk with a promise of the cession of Banyas as soon as Zengi had been driven from Damascus. Recognizing the cogency of Muin-ad-Din Unur’s arguments and attracted by his promise of Banyas, which was now controlled by an emir friendly to Zengi, the Frankish leaders agreed to his proposal.

Meanwhile, Zengi’s military progress continued for a time un­abated with the capture of Baalbek in October and with the routing of Muin-ad-Din Unur’s contingents on the outskirts of Damascus in December. Yet final victory eluded his grasp, Jamal-ad-Din Muhammad at first entertained favorably his offer of Baalbek and Homs in exchange for Damascus, but changed his mind when his advisers pointed out Zengi’s untrustworthiness. Even Jamal-ad-Din Muhammad’s death on March 29, 1140, with all its potentialities for governmental paralysis in Damascus, proved to be only a temporary gain for him, for Muin-ad-Din Unur and other Damascene leaders kept tight control of affairs and appointed the dead man’s son Mujir-ad-Din Abak to fill the vacant post. Hoping to capitalize on the supposed discords between the Damascene leaders, Zengi now attacked Damascus, but was met by stubborn and united resistance. Even the Franks eluded him. Learning of the recently contracted Franco-Damascene alliance and seeking to battle the Franks before they united with the Damascenes, he abandoned his siege of Damascus on May 4 and advanced into the Hauran to attack the Franks. When they failed to appear he returned to the Damascus country on May 25 and laid waste the countryside. Apprised of the Frankish advance on Tiberias to join the Damascene forces and loath to meet two hostile armies, Zengi retired to the north to Baalbek and remained there during the Franco-Damascene siege of Banyas.

Meanwhile, the Franks and Damascenes, having united their forces, proceeded to invest Banyas closely in May. The besieged, despairing of Zengi’s aid and unable to stem the allies’ determined assault, at length accepted the offer of surrender tendered by Muin-ad-Din Unur and the Franks and capitulated on June 12, 1140. Muin-ad-Din Unur received the captured city and turned it over to the Franks. After choosing Adam, the archdeacon of Acre, and Rainier of Brus as the new bishop and ruler respectively of Banyas, the Franks repaired to Jerusalem.

The formidable Franco-Damascene alliance had done its work well. It had saved Damascus from possible capture, had effected the reduction of an important stronghold of Zengi’s, had sharply checked the growing unification of the Moslems under Zengi’s leadership, and now served, together with Zengi’s fear of a new Byzantine invasion, to expel him from the Syrian area. After one more plundering operation in the Hauran and a sally against Damascus on June 22, 1140, he retired from Syria and spent the next few years in war against his several Moslem rivals.

The withdrawal of Zengi from Syria, the pacific and pro-Frankish policies pursued by Muin-ad-Din Unur of Damascus, the continuance of the isolationist, southern policy of Fulk, the quiescence of the Ascalon Moslems, and the arrival in the seat of political power of a new generation content to rest on the laurels gained for it by the hard-fighting leaders of the First Crusade and their immediate successors in the Holy Land and to seek a modus vivendi with its Moslem neighbors gave to the history of the Frankish crusading states from 1140 to 1144 a character quite different from that of the preceding two decades, permitting the historian to narrate their fortunes largely independently of each other. With the passing of the offense, preserving the status quo became more and more the rule.

Perhaps the best example of the new viewpoint is to be found in the kingdom of Jerusalem. With its northern and eastern frontiers at long last quiet, with little likelihood of Byzantine intervention following Raymond’s successful defiance of John’s claims on Antioch in the autumn of 1142, and with his own successful avoidance of John’s expressed desire to proceed to Jerusalem to visit the holy places and be permitted to lend aid against the Moslems, Fulk turned his attention to the potentially troublesome southern frontier, and resuming his policies of the middle 1130’s, built a number of castles, including that of Blanche Garde eight miles from Ascalon. Fulk died on November 10, 1143, and was succeeded by his son Baldwin III, a boy of thirteen years. Because of his youth his mother, Melisend, assumed the royal power as regent. The early years of her regency were marked by mature wisdom, skillful rule, and a conscious following of Fulk’s policies, in which she was aided by the capable patriarch William of Messines (1130-1147). She was, however, unable to impose the royal authority on Raymond and Joscelin, so disunity in the north was to be in sharp contrast to tranquility in the south.

The county of Tripoli received an important accretion of strength with the arrival of the Knights Hospitaller. Raymond II bade them welcome and, having granted them the important stronghold of Hisn al-Akrad, as well as Rafaniyah if they could recapture it, stated that any peace he might make with the Saracens would be subject to the approval of the Hospitallers. Fulk, too, had welcomed them and had allotted them Bait Jibrin as a stronghold protecting the pilgrim road from Jaffa to Jerusalem.

Not nearly as peaceful and uneventful was the experience of the principality of Antioch, Although Zengiis withdrawal from Syria terminated major clashes between Franks and Moslems, still petty warfare continued. Turkoman invasions of the principality were avenged by Latin incursions into the Aleppan country in 1140. Frankish pillaging of Sarmin and Kafartab in 1141 provoked retaliations about January 1142 by Sevar and Lajah, a Damascene emir who had taken service with Sevar. Sevar continued the offensive with an invasion of Antioch in April 1142; Raymond replied with an unsuccessful assault on Buza’ah in April 1143. But a truce quickly followed, for the more pressing and menacing problem of the Byzantines was now at hand.

Four years after his departure from Antioch in 1138 John revived his claims on the north Syrian Franks and laid plans to establish a principality comprising Adalia (Antalya), Cyprus, and Antioch for his son Manuel. Accordingly, he returned with a large army, invaded the county of Edessa, and encamped before Tell Bashir. Joscelin, wholly unprepared, speedily capitulated and, accepting John’s demand for hostages, surrendered his daughter Isabella. Thereupon the emperor advanced on Antioch and encamped in its environs on September 25, 1142. Raymond flatly refused his peremptory demand that Antioch together with its citadel and fortifications be surrendered to him, alleging in extenuation of his repudiation of his agreement of September 1137 that his promises were invalid because the Frankish nobles contended that he had no legal power to make such covenants. Aware that the temper of the Antiochenes and the approach of winter made impossible the capture of the city, John withdrew and after a brief foray against Tripoli repaired to Cilicia, planning to return in the spring of 1143.

Although John’s accidental death during the course of a hunt in Cilicia in April 1143 led to a change of rulers in Byzantium —his son Manuel succeeded him— the mutual hostility of Frank and Greek continued. Raymond’s invasion of Cilicia in 1143 was met by a Byzantine invasion of Antioch in 1144, and Raymond was at length beaten and forced to visit Constantinople in person and become Manuel’s vassal. The reign of John Comnenus (1118-1143) had almost exactly coincided with those of Baldwin II and Fulk, and we may pause in our narrative long enough to assess some of its results. The son of Alexius I had, as we have seen, made good his father's failure to intervene in person in Frankish affairs, had restored Byzantine control of Cilicia by his victorious campaign of 1137-1138, and had retrieved the northern Anatolian territory lost in the 1120’s to the Danishmendids. His internal administration and European policies had been notably successful. Nevertheless, his apparent accomplishments in Asia were hollow and valueless. What use to the real purposes of the Byzantine empire were the nominal suzerainty over Antioch, the possession of devastated countrysides and isolated towns in northern and west central Anatolia, the military promenade in Syria. No effective occupation could resist the steady Turkoman encroachment on the agricultural areas; no military sweep could restore the commercial prosperity of the towns or assure the security of the roads between them; no form of allegiance could reconcile the conflicting interests of Norman and Byzantine and Armenian, or the passionate mutual hatred of Latin and Greek and Syrian Christians. The cost of John’s eastern expeditions was disproportionately high when matched against the small ephemeral results, while for the Franks he was both a moderate restraint on Zengi and a difficult political problem. But he had dealt with them firmly and fairly, and had given no legitimate ground for accusations on the part of Frankish Christians; his death, though welcomed by them, was to prove a disaster to their cause.

The fourth and most exposed of the Latin states, the county of Edessa, just as the other three, pursued an isolationist policy in the early 1140’s. But here the dangers of this policy were accentuated by the slothfulness and indifference of the ruler in vital matters of security. Joscelin abandoned his father’s policy of maintaining permanent residence in the city of Edessa and established his residence in the castle of Tell Bashir, which provided greater opportunities for leisure and pleasure. Since Edessa’s inhabitants were for the most part traders unfamiliar with arms, the defense of the city depended on mercenaries. But even these follies do not complete the dismal tale, for Joscelin and Raymond were openly hostile to each other and felt no responsibility for the welfare of each other’s dominions.

Meanwhile, Zengi concluded his quarrels with his Moslem rivals and made a peace treaty with the chief of them, the sultan, in 1143. Then, with his attention at long last undivided, he resumed his war with the Franks and invaded the county of Edessa. Having attacked and captured several castles, he then secured them by garrisoning with his own troops. A number of Frankish merchants and their soldier escorts presently became his captives in October.

Joscelin led most of his army towards the Euphrates to cut Zengi off from Aleppo, whereupon the residents of Harran informed Zengi of Edessa’s plight. Indeed, Harran’s governor urged him to seize it. This information, together with a report of the dissensions rampant between prince and count, crystallized his plans. After mustering a large cavalry and infantry force, Zengi advanced on Edessa in a circuitous fashion in order to allay the suspicions of the Franks and with the support of numerous Moslem chieftains laid close siege to the city on November 28, 1144.

Joscelin dispatched messengers to Raymond of Antioch and queen Melisend and besought their aid. Raymond, who was preoccupied with his quarrels with the new Byzantine emperor, Manuel, refused, but Melisend at once dispatched a relief force, which arrived, however, too late to assist the defenders. Meanwhile, the outnumbered defenders put up a stout resistance and boldly spurned Zengi’s peace proposals and demands for their surrender. But it was to no avail. The Moslem chieftain pressed on unceasingly and at length captured Edessa in late December 1144. Zengi presently followed up his triumph over Edessa by a victorious sweep through the trans-Euphratean part of the county of Edessa.

The price of political disunity had been heavy. The generation of the 1140’s, no more prescient of future disaster than that of the 1930’s, had played the isolationist game and had lost. The Moslem revanche, now in its crescendo, had scored its first signal triumph. It is important to understand the course of this development and the nature of Zengi’s success in its Moslem setting, to which we turn in the next chapter.