People/Latin Crusaders and Crusader states

c. 1058–1118 · Count of Edessa and King of Jerusalem (1100–1118)

Baldwin I

Other names · Baldwin I of Jerusalem · Baudouin de Boulogne

Founder of the County of Edessa and first king of Jerusalem, who extended Latin rule as a kingdom.

Baldwin I
Verified biography·Jean Colombe, Passages d’outremer / Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

BIOGRAPHICAL DOSSIER

Life and historical role

01

Life and political setting

Baldwin was a younger son of the comital house of Boulogne and was initially prepared for an ecclesiastical career. During the First Crusade he separated from the main army and moved through Cilicia toward Edessa. After the death of the Armenian ruler Thoros in 1098, Baldwin established the first Latin principality of the expedition at Edessa.

02

Role in the Crusades

Following Godfrey's death, Baldwin went to Jerusalem and was crowned king in 1100. The capture of coastal centres including Arsuf, Caesarea, Acre, Beirut and Sidon widened the kingdom's access to maritime supply and Italian naval assistance. Victories and reverses against Fatimid armies around Ramla marked the early defence of the new monarchy.

Method note

Biographical information is linked to the sources shown on the page and to the connected event records. Disputed dates are given as approximate, gaps are not filled by conjecture, and later literary or visual depictions are not treated as contemporary portraits.

CONTEXTUAL READING

Related cases

September–October 1097 · Tarsus, Mopsuestia and Cilicia

Detachments leave the main army in Cilicia

In September 1097, after Ereğli, Tancred and Baldwin of Boulogne left the main army and entered Cilicia. Their campaign for Tarsus, Adana and Mopsuestia produced alliances with local Armenian powers but also open rivalry between the two Latin leaders.

Open record →10 March 1098 · Edessa

Foundation of the County of Edessa

Invited and adopted by the Armenian ruler Thoros, Baldwin of Boulogne came to Edessa in February 1098. After Thoros was killed in an uprising, Baldwin took over on 10 March 1098 and founded the County of Edessa, the first crusader state in the East.

Open record →25 December 1100 · Bethlehem

Baldwin I becomes king of Jerusalem

After Godfrey of Bouillon's death in 1100, his brother Baldwin came from Edessa to Jerusalem and took over the government. Crowned by Patriarch Daimbert at Bethlehem on 25 December 1100, he became the first Latin king of Jerusalem.

Open record →May 1101 – May 1104 · Caesarea – Acre

Capture of Caesarea and Acre

With the support of the Genoese fleet, Baldwin I took Arsuf and Caesarea in 1101 and Acre in 1104. These conquests gave the Kingdom of Jerusalem secure harbours on the Mediterranean and began the commercial privileges of the Italian maritime cities in the kingdom.

Open record →7 September 1101 · Ramla

First Battle of Ramla

On 7 September 1101 an army sent by the Fatimid vizier al-Afdal met the much smaller force of Baldwin I near Ramla. Despite heavy losses, Baldwin's cavalry charge scattered the Fatimid army and the southern approach to the Kingdom of Jerusalem was held.

Open record →17 May 1102 · Ramla

Second Battle of Ramla

In May 1102 Baldwin I, mistaking a new Fatimid army near Ramla for a small force, attacked with about two hundred knights and suffered a heavy defeat. The king escaped, but many nobles remaining from the 1101 crusade were killed or captured.

Open record →27 August 1105 · Ramla

Third Battle of Ramla

On 27 August 1105 near Ramla, Baldwin I defeated the combined force of a Fatimid army and Turkish archers from Damascus. The victory effectively ended the era of major Egyptian land campaigns against the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Open record →12 July 1109 · Tripoli

Capture of Tripoli and foundation of the county

The siege of Tripoli begun by Raymond of Saint-Gilles in 1102 ended with the city's surrender on 12 July 1109, after his son Bertrand arrived with a Genoese fleet. The County of Tripoli was founded as the fourth and last major Latin state in the East.

Open record →