1130–1163 · King of Jerusalem (1143–1163)
Baldwin III
Son of Fulk and Melisende and king of Jerusalem; he took part in the Second Crusade's siege of Damascus, won the power struggle with his mother, and in 1153 took Ascalon, securing the kingdom's southern frontier.
BIOGRAPHICAL DOSSIER
Life and historical role
Life and political setting
Baldwin was thirteen when his father Fulk died in 1143 and was crowned together with his mother Melisende. When his mother would not relinquish government even after he came of age, a conflict split the kingdom; in 1152 Baldwin besieged his mother in Jerusalem and took sole power.
Role in the Crusades
In 1148, following the decision taken at the Council of Acre, he besieged Damascus with Louis VII and Conrad III; the siege failed within days. In 1153, after a long siege, he took Fatimid Ascalon. After Nur al-Din took Damascus in 1154 he fought Zengid power in the north, and by marrying Theodora, niece of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I, he formed an alliance with Byzantium.
Historical significance and source problems
Baldwin III died childless at Beirut in February 1163 and was succeeded by his brother Amalric I. William of Tyre praises him as a learned and capable king; Ibn al-Qalanisi describes events from the perspective of Damascus.
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.