Raymond III of Tripoli
Encyclopedia
Raymond III of Tripoli was Count of Tripoli
from 1152 to 1187 and Prince of Galilee and Tiberias
in right of his wife Eschiva.
(Raymond I of Tripoli). He succeeded his father Raymond II
, who had been killed by the Hashshashin
, in 1152, when he was twelve. His mother, princess Hodierna of Jerusalem
, daughter of King Baldwin II
, ruled as regent until Raymond came of age three years later. He was also known as Raymond the Younger to distinguish him from his father.
In 1160, Byzantine emperor Manuel Comnenus was seeking a wife from the crusader states
. The two candidates presented to him were Raymond's sister Melisende
, and Princess Maria of Antioch
. At first, Melisende was chosen, and Raymond collected an enormous dowry
, while negotiations continued for over a year (during this time he prepared a fleet of 12 galleys to escort Melisende). However, Manuel's ambassadors heard the rumours that Melisende (and Raymond himself) might have been fathered by someone other than Raymond II, and the marriage was called off; Manuel married Maria instead. Raymond, feeling slighted for both himself and his sister, responded by converting the galleys into men-of-war to plunder the Byzantine island of Cyprus
. Melisende later entered a convent, where she died fairly young.
In 1164 Raymond and Bohemund III of Antioch
marched out to relieve Harim
, which was under siege by Nur ad-Din Zengi. The crusader army was defeated in the ensuing battle on August 12; Raymond, Bohemund, Joscelin III of Edessa
, Hugh VIII of Lusignan
, and others were taken captive and imprisoned in Aleppo
. Raymond remained in prison until 1173, when he was ransomed for 80,000 pieces of gold. During his captivity, King Amalric I of Jerusalem
ruled as regent of the county, and dutifully returned it to Raymond once he was released.
, who was still too young to rule on his own and furthermore was suffering from leprosy
. Miles of Plancy
, "seneschal of the kingdom
", claimed the regency
. But Raymond soon arrived and, as the closest male relative of King Amalric, demanded to be named bailli
(also "bailiff" or "regent
"). Raymond was a first cousin of Amalric. In this he was supported by the major barons of the kingdom, including Humphrey II of Toron
, Balian of Ibelin
, and Reginald of Sidon
. Soon Miles was assassinated in Acre and Raymond was invested as bailli.
Raymond also married Eschiva of Bures, Princess of Galilee
and the widow of Walter of Saint-Omer of Tiberias, which allowed him to gain control over much of the northern part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
, especially the fortress at Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee
. As regent, he appointed William of Tyre
chancellor of Jerusalem
in 1174 and archbishop of Tyre
in 1175. He retired as bailli when Baldwin IV came of age in 1176, having arranged for Baldwin IV's sister Sibylla of Jerusalem
to marry William Longsword of Montferrat
. William died in 1177 while Sibylla was pregnant with the future Baldwin V
.
, now married to Reginald of Sidon
, and to Maria Comnena, the dowager Queen, who had married Balian of Ibelin
in 1177. His daughter by Agnes, Sibylla, was already of age, the mother of a son, and was clearly in a strong position to succeed her brother, but Maria's daughter Isabella
had the support of her stepfather's family, the Ibelin
s.
Raymond's own position amid these tensions was difficult and controversial. As the king's nearest relative in the male line, he had a strong claim to the throne himself. However, although his wife had had several children by her first husband, he had no children of his own to succeed him; this seems to have held him back from advancing himself as king. Instead, he acted as a power-broker, working closely with the Ibelins and attempting to influence the marriages of the princesses. The king, meanwhile, relied considerably on his mother and her brother, Joscelin III of Edessa, who had no claims of their own to advance.
In 1179, Baldwin began planning to marry Sibylla to Hugh III of Burgundy, but by spring 1180 this was still unresolved. Raymond attempted a coup, and began to march on Jerusalem with Bohemund III, to force the king to marry his sister to a local candidate of his own choosing, probably Baldwin of Ibelin
, Balian's older brother. To counter this, the king hastily arranged her marriage to Guy of Lusignan
, younger brother of Amalric
, the constable of the kingdom. A foreign match was essential to bring the possibility of external military aid to the kingdom. With the new French king Philip II
a minor, Guy's status as a vassal of the King and Sibylla's first cousin Henry II of England
- who owed the Pope a penitential pilgrimage - was useful. Raymond returned home without entering the kingdom.
By 1182, Baldwin IV, increasingly incapacitated by his leprosy, named Guy as bailli. Raymond contested this, but when Guy fell out of favour with Baldwin the following year, he was re-appointed bailli and was given possession of Beirut
. Baldwin came to an agreement with Raymond and the Haute Cour
to make Baldwin of Montferrat, Sibylla's son by her first marriage, his heir, before Sibylla and Guy. The child was crowned co-king as Baldwin V in 1183 in a ceremony presided by Raymond. It was agreed that, should the boy die during his minority, the regency would pass to "the most rightful heirs" until his kinsmen - the Kings of England and France and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
- and the Pope
were able to adjudicate between the claims of Sibylla and Isabella. These "most rightful heirs" were not named.
. His paternal grandfather William V of Montferrat and Joscelin escorted his coffin to Jerusalem, but Raymond was absent.
Neither side paid any heed to Baldwin IV's will. After the funeral, Joscelin had Sibylla named as her brother's successor, although she had to agree to divorce Guy, just as her father had divorced her mother, with the guarantee that she would be allowed to choose a new consort. Once crowned, she immediately crowned Guy. Meanwhile, Raymond had gone to Nablus
, home of Balian and Maria, and summoned all those nobles loyal to Princess Isabella and the Ibelins. Raymond wanted instead to have her and her husband Humphrey IV of Toron
crowned. However, Humphrey, whose stepfather Raynald of Châtillon
was an ally of Guy, deserted, and swore allegiance to Guy and Sibylla. Instead of arguing and possibly causing a civil war, Raymond withdrew to Tripoli.
, perhaps hoping to ally with him against their common enemy Guy. At the end of 1186 Saladin, with his army stationed at Raymond's fief of Tiberias, threatened an invasion of the kingdom when Raynald continued to attack Muslim caravans. An embassy, led by Balian of Ibelin, was sent by Guy to negotiate with Raymond, but Saladin's troops ambushed them at the Battle of Cresson
in May 1187. Raymond reluctantly made peace with Guy after this, and Saladin immediately besieged Tiberias, rather than pillage the kingdom as the Crusaders expected. Raymond and Guy combined their forces at Acre but could not agree on a plan of action; Raymond preferred not to meet Saladin in a pitched battle, even though Raymond's wife Eschiva was still in Tiberias. Guy did not agree, and instead the Crusaders marched into a waterless plain, were surrounded by Saladin's army, and were almost completely destroyed at the Battle of Hattin
outside Tiberias. Raymond led the vanguard, but five of Raymond's own knights defected to Saladin's side and told him of the disagreements in the crusader army. The vanguard was surrounded and Raymond led two unsuccessful cavalry charges. The Muslim troops allowed him to pass through in the second charge, and, cut off from the main army, he fled. He was one of the few to escape.
Raymond and the other survivors regrouped in Tyre. He then returned to Tripoli, probably in August.
. He had appointed as his successor his godson Raymond of Antioch
, although this Raymond's father Bohemund III of Antioch
installed his younger son Bohemund IV
as count.
Among Muslim authors, Ibn al-Athir remarked that "Among the Franj of that time, there was no wiser or more courageous man than the lord of Tripoli." Ibn Jubair stated that he had "remarkable intelligence and astuteness."
Regarding his marriage to the widow Eschiva of Bures, William of Tyre wrote that he "loved her and her children as tenderly as though she had borne them all to him." Raymond and Eschiva had no children of their own.
in The Knights of Dark Renown (1969). The children's book Knight Crusader
(1954) by Ronald Welch
is slightly ambivalent, while Susan Peek's Crusader King (2004), a proselytising children's novel about Baldwin IV, is downright hostile towards him, depicting him as the stereotypical
'wicked uncle', plotting against Baldwin, and in Saladin's pay.
A largely fictionalised version of Raymond, renamed the Count of Tiberias in order to avoid first-name confusion with Raynald and geographical confusion with Tripoli in Libya
, is played by Jeremy Irons
in the 2005 movie
Kingdom of Heaven
, scripted by William Monahan
. The Count of Tripoli plays no role in the movie and Raymond/Tiberias is simply 'Marshall' (sic) of Jerusalem, which was in reality a low position in the kingdom. Irons is a good physical match with William of Tyre's description. An earlier draft of the script did mention Raymond by first name, and included his speech before Hattin begging the king not to go to the relief of Tiberias, although it was being held by his wife. His disputes with Raynald, Guy, and the so-called "court party" are depicted broadly in accordance with the historiographical
tradition of M. W. Baldwin and Steven Runciman
: Monahan seems to have been unaware of more recent scholarship; however, he is depicted as not taking part in the battle of Hattin, and leaves the kingdom with the intention of retiring to Cyprus, rather than returning home to die.
Raymond is also a general of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
at the Medieval II: Total War, Crusade Campaign.
County of Tripoli
The County of Tripoli was the last Crusader state founded in the Levant, located in what today are parts of western Syria and northern Lebanon, where exists the modern city of Tripoli. The Crusader state was captured and created by Christian forces in 1109, originally held by Bertrand of Toulouse...
from 1152 to 1187 and Prince of Galilee and Tiberias
Principality of Galilee
The Principality of Galilee was one of the four major seigneuries of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, according to 13th-century commentator John of Ibelin. The direct holdings of the principality were around Tiberias, in Galilee proper, but with all its vassals, the lordship covered all Galilee...
in right of his wife Eschiva.
Early life
Raymond was a great-great-grandson of Raymond IV of ToulouseRaymond IV of Toulouse
Raymond IV of Toulouse , sometimes called Raymond of St Gilles, was Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne, and Margrave of Provence and one of the leaders of the First Crusade. He was a son of Pons of Toulouse and Almodis de La Marche...
(Raymond I of Tripoli). He succeeded his father Raymond II
Raymond II of Tripoli
Raymond II of Tripoli was Count of Tripoli from 1137 to 1152.He was the son of Pons of Tripoli and Cecile of France. In 1137, he married Hodierna of Rethel, daughter of Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem. Later that year, he succeeded his father, after Pons was killed in a battle with the army of...
, who had been killed by the Hashshashin
Hashshashin
The Assassins were an order of Nizari Ismailis, particularly those of Persia that existed from around 1092 to 1265...
, in 1152, when he was twelve. His mother, princess Hodierna of Jerusalem
Hodierna of Tripoli
Hodierna of Jerusalem was a Countess consort of Tripoli. She was the daughter of Baldwin II of Jerusalem and the Armenian noblewoman Morphia. She was countess of Tripoli through her marriage to Raymond II of Tripoli...
, daughter of King Baldwin II
Baldwin II of Jerusalem
Baldwin II of Jerusalem , formerly Baldwin II of Edessa, also called Baldwin of Bourcq, born Baldwin of Rethel was the second count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118, and the third king of Jerusalem from 1118 until his death.-Ancestry:Baldwin was the son of Hugh, count of Rethel, and his wife Melisende,...
, ruled as regent until Raymond came of age three years later. He was also known as Raymond the Younger to distinguish him from his father.
In 1160, Byzantine emperor Manuel Comnenus was seeking a wife from the crusader states
Crusader states
The Crusader states were a number of mostly 12th- and 13th-century feudal states created by Western European crusaders in Asia Minor, Greece and the Holy Land , and during the Northern Crusades in the eastern Baltic area...
. The two candidates presented to him were Raymond's sister Melisende
Melisende of Tripoli
Melisende of Tripoli was the daughter of Hodierna of Tripoli and Raymond II, count of Tripoli.- Biography :Melisende was named for her aunt, Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem. She was a cousin of Kings Baldwin III and Amalric I....
, and Princess Maria of Antioch
Maria of Antioch
Maria of Antioch was a Byzantine empress as the wife of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. She was the daughter of Constance of Antioch and her first husband Raymond of Poitiers...
. At first, Melisende was chosen, and Raymond collected an enormous dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
, while negotiations continued for over a year (during this time he prepared a fleet of 12 galleys to escort Melisende). However, Manuel's ambassadors heard the rumours that Melisende (and Raymond himself) might have been fathered by someone other than Raymond II, and the marriage was called off; Manuel married Maria instead. Raymond, feeling slighted for both himself and his sister, responded by converting the galleys into men-of-war to plunder the Byzantine island of Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
. Melisende later entered a convent, where she died fairly young.
In 1164 Raymond and Bohemund III of Antioch
Bohemund III of Antioch
Bohemond III of Antioch , also known as the Stammerer or the Stutterer, was Prince of Antioch from 1163 to his death. He was a son of Constance of Antioch by her first husband Raymond of Poitiers...
marched out to relieve Harim
Battle of Harim
The Battle of Harim was fought on 12 August 1164 between the forces of Nur ad-Din Zangi and a combined army from the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, the Byzantine Empire and Armenia...
, which was under siege by Nur ad-Din Zengi. The crusader army was defeated in the ensuing battle on August 12; Raymond, Bohemund, Joscelin III of Edessa
Joscelin III of Edessa
Joscelin III of Edessa was the titular Count of Edessa 1159 – after 1190. He was the son of Joscelin II of Edessa and his wife Beatrice...
, Hugh VIII of Lusignan
Hugh VIII of Lusignan
Hugh VIII the Old of Lusignan or Hugh III of La Marche or Hugues VIII le Vieux de Lusignan was the eldest son of Hugh VII and of Sarrasine or Saracena de Lezay. He became Seigneur de Lusignan, Couhé, and Château-Larcher and Count of La Marche on his father's death in 1151...
, and others were taken captive and imprisoned in Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
. Raymond remained in prison until 1173, when he was ransomed for 80,000 pieces of gold. During his captivity, King Amalric I of Jerusalem
Amalric I of Jerusalem
Amalric I of Jerusalem was King of Jerusalem 1163–1174, and Count of Jaffa and Ascalon before his accession. Amalric was the second son of Melisende of Jerusalem and Fulk of Jerusalem...
ruled as regent of the county, and dutifully returned it to Raymond once he was released.
Regent of Jerusalem
In 1174 Amalric died and was succeeded by his son Baldwin IVBaldwin IV of Jerusalem
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem , called the Leper or the Leprous, the son of Amalric I of Jerusalem and his first wife, Agnes of Courtenay, was king of Jerusalem from 1174 to 1185. His full sister was Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem and his nephew through this sister was the child-king Baldwin V...
, who was still too young to rule on his own and furthermore was suffering from leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
. Miles of Plancy
Miles of Plancy
Miles of Plancy , also known as Milon or Milo, was a noble in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.He was born in Champagne and came to the east in the 1160s, where he served King Amalric I, to whom he was distantly related. Amalric made him seneschal of Jerusalem, and in 1167 he participated in...
, "seneschal of the kingdom
Officers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
There were six major officers of the kingdom of Jerusalem: the constable, the marshal, the seneschal, the chamberlain , the butler and the chancellor...
", claimed the regency
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
. But Raymond soon arrived and, as the closest male relative of King Amalric, demanded to be named bailli
Bailli
A bailli was the king’s administrative representative during the ancien régime in northern France, where the bailli was responsible for the application of justice and control of the administration and local finances in his baillage...
(also "bailiff" or "regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
"). Raymond was a first cousin of Amalric. In this he was supported by the major barons of the kingdom, including Humphrey II of Toron
Humphrey II of Toron
Humphrey II of Toron was lord of Toron and constable of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.Humphrey had become lord of Toron sometime before 1140, when he married the daughter of Renier Brus, lord of Banias . Through this marriage Banias was added to Toron...
, Balian of Ibelin
Balian of Ibelin
Balian of Ibelin was an important noble in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century.-Early life:Balian was the youngest son of Barisan of Ibelin, and brother of Hugh and Baldwin. His father, a knight in the County of Jaffa, had been rewarded with the lordship of Ibelin after the...
, and Reginald of Sidon
Reginald of Sidon
Reginald Grenier was Lord of Sidon and an important noble in the late-12th century Kingdom of Jerusalem.-Rise to fame:...
. Soon Miles was assassinated in Acre and Raymond was invested as bailli.
Raymond also married Eschiva of Bures, Princess of Galilee
Principality of Galilee
The Principality of Galilee was one of the four major seigneuries of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, according to 13th-century commentator John of Ibelin. The direct holdings of the principality were around Tiberias, in Galilee proper, but with all its vassals, the lordship covered all Galilee...
and the widow of Walter of Saint-Omer of Tiberias, which allowed him to gain control over much of the northern part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
, especially the fortress at Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee
Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee, also Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias , is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, and it is approximately in circumference, about long, and wide. The lake has a total area of , and a maximum depth of approximately 43 m...
. As regent, he appointed William of Tyre
William of Tyre
William of Tyre was a medieval prelate and chronicler. As archbishop of Tyre, he is sometimes known as William II to distinguish him from a predecessor, William of Malines...
chancellor of Jerusalem
Officers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
There were six major officers of the kingdom of Jerusalem: the constable, the marshal, the seneschal, the chamberlain , the butler and the chancellor...
in 1174 and archbishop of Tyre
Archbishop of Tyre
The Archbishop of Tyre was one of the major suffragans of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem during the Crusades and was established to serve the Roman Catholic members of the diocese....
in 1175. He retired as bailli when Baldwin IV came of age in 1176, having arranged for Baldwin IV's sister Sibylla of Jerusalem
Sibylla of Jerusalem
Sibylla of Jerusalem was the Countess of Jaffa and Ascalon from 1176 and Queen of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1190. She was the eldest daughter of Amalric I of Jerusalem and Agnes of Courtenay, sister of Baldwin IV and half-sister of Isabella I of Jerusalem, and mother of Baldwin V of Jerusalem...
to marry William Longsword of Montferrat
William of Montferrat, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon
William of Montferrat , also called William Longsword , was the Count of Jaffa and Ascalon, the eldest son of William V, Marquess of Montferrat and Judith of Babenberg...
. William died in 1177 while Sibylla was pregnant with the future Baldwin V
Baldwin V of Jerusalem
Baldwin V of Jerusalem was the son of Sibylla of Jerusalem and her first husband, William of Montferrat...
.
Dynastic factions
Amalric I had married twice, to Agnes of CourtenayAgnes of Courtenay
Agnes of Courtenay was the daughter of Joscelin II of Courtenay by his wife Beatrice , and the mother of king Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and queen Sibylla of Jerusalem.-Dynasty:...
, now married to Reginald of Sidon
Reginald of Sidon
Reginald Grenier was Lord of Sidon and an important noble in the late-12th century Kingdom of Jerusalem.-Rise to fame:...
, and to Maria Comnena, the dowager Queen, who had married Balian of Ibelin
Balian of Ibelin
Balian of Ibelin was an important noble in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century.-Early life:Balian was the youngest son of Barisan of Ibelin, and brother of Hugh and Baldwin. His father, a knight in the County of Jaffa, had been rewarded with the lordship of Ibelin after the...
in 1177. His daughter by Agnes, Sibylla, was already of age, the mother of a son, and was clearly in a strong position to succeed her brother, but Maria's daughter Isabella
Isabella of Jerusalem
Isabella I was Queen regnant of Jerusalem from 1190/1192 until her death. By her four marriages, she was successively Lady of Toron, Marchioness of Montferrat, Countess of Champagne and Queen of Cyprus....
had the support of her stepfather's family, the Ibelin
Ibelin
Ibelin was a castle in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century , which gave its name to an important family of nobles.-The castle:...
s.
Raymond's own position amid these tensions was difficult and controversial. As the king's nearest relative in the male line, he had a strong claim to the throne himself. However, although his wife had had several children by her first husband, he had no children of his own to succeed him; this seems to have held him back from advancing himself as king. Instead, he acted as a power-broker, working closely with the Ibelins and attempting to influence the marriages of the princesses. The king, meanwhile, relied considerably on his mother and her brother, Joscelin III of Edessa, who had no claims of their own to advance.
In 1179, Baldwin began planning to marry Sibylla to Hugh III of Burgundy, but by spring 1180 this was still unresolved. Raymond attempted a coup, and began to march on Jerusalem with Bohemund III, to force the king to marry his sister to a local candidate of his own choosing, probably Baldwin of Ibelin
Baldwin of Ibelin
Baldwin of Ibelin, also known as Baldwin III of Ramla , was an important noble of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. He was the second son of Barisan of Ibelin, and was the younger brother of Hugh of Ibelin and older brother of Balian of Ibelin...
, Balian's older brother. To counter this, the king hastily arranged her marriage to Guy of Lusignan
Guy of Lusignan
Guy of Lusignan was a Poitevin knight, son of Hugh VIII of the prominent Lusignan dynasty. He was king of the crusader state of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1192 by right of marriage to Sibylla of Jerusalem, and of Cyprus from 1192 to 1194...
, younger brother of Amalric
Amalric II of Jerusalem
Amalric II of Jerusalem or Amalric I of Cyprus, born Amalric of Lusignan , King of Jerusalem 1197–1205, was an older brother of Guy of Lusignan....
, the constable of the kingdom. A foreign match was essential to bring the possibility of external military aid to the kingdom. With the new French king Philip II
Philip II of France
Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...
a minor, Guy's status as a vassal of the King and Sibylla's first cousin Henry II of England
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
- who owed the Pope a penitential pilgrimage - was useful. Raymond returned home without entering the kingdom.
By 1182, Baldwin IV, increasingly incapacitated by his leprosy, named Guy as bailli. Raymond contested this, but when Guy fell out of favour with Baldwin the following year, he was re-appointed bailli and was given possession of Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
. Baldwin came to an agreement with Raymond and the Haute Cour
Haute Cour of Jerusalem
The Haute Cour was the feudal council of the kingdom of Jerusalem. It was sometimes also called the curia generalis, the curia regis, or, rarely, the parlement.-Composition of the court:...
to make Baldwin of Montferrat, Sibylla's son by her first marriage, his heir, before Sibylla and Guy. The child was crowned co-king as Baldwin V in 1183 in a ceremony presided by Raymond. It was agreed that, should the boy die during his minority, the regency would pass to "the most rightful heirs" until his kinsmen - the Kings of England and France and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...
- and the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
were able to adjudicate between the claims of Sibylla and Isabella. These "most rightful heirs" were not named.
Reign of Baldwin V
Baldwin IV died in spring 1185, and was succeeded by his nephew. Raymond was bailli, but he had passed Baldwin V's personal guardianship to Joscelin III of Edessa, his maternal great-uncle, claiming that he did not wish to attract suspicion if the child, who does not seem to have been robust, were to die. Baldwin V died during the summer of 1186, at AcreAkka
Akka is traditionally a female spirit in Sámi and Finnish mythology.In Sámi mythology, the first akka was Maderakka and her daughters were Sarakka, Uksakka and Juksakka. Some Sámi thought they lived under their kota tents....
. His paternal grandfather William V of Montferrat and Joscelin escorted his coffin to Jerusalem, but Raymond was absent.
Neither side paid any heed to Baldwin IV's will. After the funeral, Joscelin had Sibylla named as her brother's successor, although she had to agree to divorce Guy, just as her father had divorced her mother, with the guarantee that she would be allowed to choose a new consort. Once crowned, she immediately crowned Guy. Meanwhile, Raymond had gone to Nablus
Nablus
Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...
, home of Balian and Maria, and summoned all those nobles loyal to Princess Isabella and the Ibelins. Raymond wanted instead to have her and her husband Humphrey IV of Toron
Humphrey IV of Toron
Humphrey IV of Toron was the lord of Toron, Kerak, and Oultrejordain in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.-Biography:...
crowned. However, Humphrey, whose stepfather Raynald of Châtillon
Raynald of Chatillon
Raynald of Châtillon was a knight who served in the Second Crusade and remained in the Holy Land after its defeat...
was an ally of Guy, deserted, and swore allegiance to Guy and Sibylla. Instead of arguing and possibly causing a civil war, Raymond withdrew to Tripoli.
Battle of Hattin
In Tripoli Raymond made peace with SaladinSaladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
, perhaps hoping to ally with him against their common enemy Guy. At the end of 1186 Saladin, with his army stationed at Raymond's fief of Tiberias, threatened an invasion of the kingdom when Raynald continued to attack Muslim caravans. An embassy, led by Balian of Ibelin, was sent by Guy to negotiate with Raymond, but Saladin's troops ambushed them at the Battle of Cresson
Battle of Cresson
The Battle of Cresson was a small battle fought on May 1, 1187, at the springs of Cresson, or 'Ain Gozeh, near Nazareth. It was a prelude to the decisive defeat of the Kingdom of Jerusalem at the Battle of Hattin two months later.-Background:...
in May 1187. Raymond reluctantly made peace with Guy after this, and Saladin immediately besieged Tiberias, rather than pillage the kingdom as the Crusaders expected. Raymond and Guy combined their forces at Acre but could not agree on a plan of action; Raymond preferred not to meet Saladin in a pitched battle, even though Raymond's wife Eschiva was still in Tiberias. Guy did not agree, and instead the Crusaders marched into a waterless plain, were surrounded by Saladin's army, and were almost completely destroyed at the Battle of Hattin
Battle of Hattin
The Battle of Hattin took place on Saturday, July 4, 1187, between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the forces of the Ayyubid dynasty....
outside Tiberias. Raymond led the vanguard, but five of Raymond's own knights defected to Saladin's side and told him of the disagreements in the crusader army. The vanguard was surrounded and Raymond led two unsuccessful cavalry charges. The Muslim troops allowed him to pass through in the second charge, and, cut off from the main army, he fled. He was one of the few to escape.
Raymond and the other survivors regrouped in Tyre. He then returned to Tripoli, probably in August.
Death
He died in Tripoli around September or October, of pleurisyPleurisy
Pleurisy is an inflammation of the pleura, the lining of the pleural cavity surrounding the lungs. Among other things, infections are the most common cause of pleurisy....
. He had appointed as his successor his godson Raymond of Antioch
Raymond IV of Tripoli
Raymond IV of Tripoli was the count of Tripoli and prince regent of Antioch . He was the son of Bohemond III of Antioch and Orgueilleuse d'Harenc....
, although this Raymond's father Bohemund III of Antioch
Bohemund III of Antioch
Bohemond III of Antioch , also known as the Stammerer or the Stutterer, was Prince of Antioch from 1163 to his death. He was a son of Constance of Antioch by her first husband Raymond of Poitiers...
installed his younger son Bohemund IV
Bohemund IV of Antioch
Bohemond IV of Antioch , also known as the One-Eyed , was ruler of the Principality of Antioch between 1201 and 1205, again between 1208 and 1216, and again from 1219 until his death...
as count.
Contemporary descriptions
William of Tyre described Raymond as:Among Muslim authors, Ibn al-Athir remarked that "Among the Franj of that time, there was no wiser or more courageous man than the lord of Tripoli." Ibn Jubair stated that he had "remarkable intelligence and astuteness."
Regarding his marriage to the widow Eschiva of Bures, William of Tyre wrote that he "loved her and her children as tenderly as though she had borne them all to him." Raymond and Eschiva had no children of their own.
Raymond in fiction, film and game
Raymond appears in a number of novels set in Outremer. He receives sympathetic treatment by Graham ShelbyGraham Shelby
Graham Shelby is a British historical novelist. He worked as a copywriter and book-reviewer before embarking on a series of historical novels, mainly set in the twelfth century.-List of works:...
in The Knights of Dark Renown (1969). The children's book Knight Crusader
Knight Crusader
Knight Crusader is a children's historical novel by Ronald Welch, first published in 1954. It is set primarily in the Crusader states of Outremer in the twelfth century and depicts the Battle of Hattin and the Third Crusade...
(1954) by Ronald Welch
Ronald Welch
Ronald Welch was the pseudonym of British writer Ronald Oliver Felton TD. He took the name from his wartime regiment. He was for many years Headmaster of Okehampton Grammar School in Devon....
is slightly ambivalent, while Susan Peek's Crusader King (2004), a proselytising children's novel about Baldwin IV, is downright hostile towards him, depicting him as the stereotypical
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
'wicked uncle', plotting against Baldwin, and in Saladin's pay.
A largely fictionalised version of Raymond, renamed the Count of Tiberias in order to avoid first-name confusion with Raynald and geographical confusion with Tripoli in Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
, is played by Jeremy Irons
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the...
in the 2005 movie
2005 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
Kingdom of Heaven
Kingdom of Heaven (film)
Kingdom of Heaven is a 2005 epic action film directed by Ridley Scott and written by William Monahan. It stars Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Marton Csokas, Brendan Gleeson, Kevin McKidd, Alexander Siddig, Ghassan Massoud, Edward Norton, Jon Finch, Michael Sheen and Liam...
, scripted by William Monahan
William Monahan
William J. Monahan is an American screenwriter and novelist. His second produced screenplay was The Departed, a film which earned him a WGA award and an Academy award for Best Adapted Screenplay.-Writer and editor:...
. The Count of Tripoli plays no role in the movie and Raymond/Tiberias is simply 'Marshall' (sic) of Jerusalem, which was in reality a low position in the kingdom. Irons is a good physical match with William of Tyre's description. An earlier draft of the script did mention Raymond by first name, and included his speech before Hattin begging the king not to go to the relief of Tiberias, although it was being held by his wife. His disputes with Raynald, Guy, and the so-called "court party" are depicted broadly in accordance with the historiographical
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
tradition of M. W. Baldwin and Steven Runciman
Steven Runciman
The Hon. Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman CH — known as Steven Runciman — was a British historian known for his work on the Middle Ages...
: Monahan seems to have been unaware of more recent scholarship; however, he is depicted as not taking part in the battle of Hattin, and leaves the kingdom with the intention of retiring to Cyprus, rather than returning home to die.
Raymond is also a general of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
at the Medieval II: Total War, Crusade Campaign.
Sources
- M. W. Baldwin, Raymond III of Tripolis and the Fall of Jerusalem (1140–1187). Princeton University PressPrinceton University Press-Further reading:* "". Artforum International, 2005.-External links:* * * * *...
, 1936. - Bernard Hamilton, The Leper King and His Heirs. Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, 2000. - Steven RuncimanSteven RuncimanThe Hon. Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman CH — known as Steven Runciman — was a British historian known for his work on the Middle Ages...
, A History of the Crusades, vol. II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, 1952. - William of TyreWilliam of TyreWilliam of Tyre was a medieval prelate and chronicler. As archbishop of Tyre, he is sometimes known as William II to distinguish him from a predecessor, William of Malines...
, A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea, trans. E.A. Babcock and A.C. Krey. Columbia University PressColumbia University PressColumbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by James D. Jordan and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology,...
, 1943.