Raymond de Poitiers

Life and political setting

Raymond came from the ducal house of Aquitaine and became prince of Antioch by marrying the heiress Constance. His government had to operate between the Byzantine claim to overlordship in Antioch and the growing pressure of the Zengid state centred at Aleppo. Relations with both local Latin nobles and visiting western rulers were politically important.

Career during the Crusading era

During the Second Crusade Raymond asked Louis VII to support operations toward Aleppo, but the French king declined. On 28 June 1149 Raymond fought Nur al-Din near Inab with an outnumbered force and was killed. His severed head was sent as a sign of victory, while the defeat sharply weakened the eastern frontier of Antioch.

Documented activity: a chronological record

On 1138, Raymond de Poitiers appears in the atlas record “Byzantine emperor enters Antioch” at Antioch and northern Syria. The event is documented through Cambridge History of War, ‘Crusaders and settlers in the East, 1096–1291’, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, ‘Haçlılar’, Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘Crusades’. On 28–29 June 1149, Raymond de Poitiers appears in the atlas record “Battle of Inab” at Inab / Afrin. The event is documented through İbnü’l-Esîr, Usâme b. Münkız, Willermus Tyrensis.

Allies, opponents and geographical range

Raymond de Poitiers appears in the same records as II. Ioannes Komnenos, Nur al-Din Zengi, Ali b. Vefâ. Co-occurrence does not always indicate alliance: the connection may involve command, dynastic rivalry, captivity, negotiation or direct conflict.

The principal geographical range represented in the atlas is Antioch and northern Syria; Inab / Afrin. These places record not only presence but also the supply lines, diplomatic contacts and limits of authority relevant to the biography.

Results of recorded decisions

The “Byzantine emperor enters Antioch” dossier records the consequences of this episode and identifies the source problems that limit a definitive reconstruction. Use this record as a starting point for comparing narrative sources, military practice, captivity, negotiation and the legal treatment of war.

The “Battle of Inab” dossier records the consequences of this episode and identifies the source problems that limit a definitive reconstruction. Use this record as a starting point for comparing narrative sources, military practice, captivity, negotiation and the legal treatment of war.

Sources and historiography

Latin chronicles and dynastic narratives make the person's role visible, while charters, treaties, letters and Arabic, Greek, Armenian or Syriac accounts provide independent controls. Later heroic portraits are evidence for memory and reception, not contemporary biography.

Names and titles vary between languages; variant spellings and titles should be searched together in catalogues and texts. Approximate dates remain marked as such, and later literary or visual fame is separated from contemporary testimony.