Individual

Go to List of Family Names Go to List of People    < Previous Next >

Birth:          1092 
Death:          13 Nov 1143 Acre, Palestine
Burial:         Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulk,_King_of_Jerusalem
Fulk (Latin: Fulco, French: Foulque or Foulques; c. 1089/92 – 13 November 1143), 
also known as Fulk the Younger, was the Count of Anjou (as Fulk V) from 1109 to 
1129 and the King of Jerusalem from 1131 to his death. During his reign, the Kingdom 
of Jerusalem reached its largest territorial extent.
[edit]

Count of Anjou[edit]

Fulk was born at Angers, between 1089 and 1092, the son of Count Fulk IV of Anjou 
and Bertrade de Montfort. In 1092, Bertrade deserted her husband and bigamously 
married King Philip I of France.

He became count of Anjou upon his father's death in 1109. In the next year, he 
married Ermengarde of Maine, cementing Angevin control over the County of Maine.

He was originally an opponent of King Henry I of England and a supporter of King 
Louis VI of France, but in 1118 or 1119 he had allied with Henry when he arranged for 
his daughter Matilda to marry Henry's son and heir, William Adelin. Fulk went on 
crusade in 1119 or 1120, and became attached to the Knights Templar (Orderic 
Vitalis). He returned, late in 1121, after which he began to subsidize the Templars, 
maintaining two knights in the Holy Land for a year. Much later, Henry arranged for his 
daughter Matilda to marry Fulk's son Geoffrey of Anjou, which she did in 1127 or 1128.

Crusader and King[edit]

By 1127 Fulk was preparing to return to Anjou when he received an embassy from 
King Baldwin II of Jerusalem. Baldwin II had no male heirs but had already designated 
his daughter Melisende to succeed him. Baldwin II wanted to safeguard his daughter's 
inheritance by marrying her to a powerful lord. Fulk was a wealthy crusader and 
experienced military commander, and a widower. His experience in the field would 
prove invaluable in a frontier state always in the grip of war.

However, Fulk held out for better terms than mere consort of the Queen; he wanted to 
be king alongside Melisende. Baldwin II, reflecting on Fulk's fortune and military 
exploits, acquiesced. Fulk abdicated his county seat of Anjou to his son Geoffrey and 
left for Jerusalem, where he married Melisende on 2 June 1129. Later Baldwin II 
bolstered Melisende's position in the kingdom by making her sole guardian of her son 
by Fulk, Baldwin III, born in 1130.

Fulk and Melisende became joint rulers of Jerusalem in 1131 with Baldwin II's death. 
From the start Fulk assumed sole control of the government, excluding Melisende 
altogether. He favored fellow countrymen from Anjou to the native nobility. The other 
crusader states to the north feared that Fulk would attempt to impose the suzerainty of 
Jerusalem over them, as Baldwin II had done; but as Fulk was far less powerful than 
his deceased father-in-law, the northern states rejected his authority. Melisende's 
sister Alice of Antioch, exiled from the Principality by Baldwin II, took control of 
Antioch once more after the death of her father. She allied with Pons of Tripoli and 
Joscelin II of Edessa to prevent Fulk from marching north in 1132; Fulk and Pons 
fought a brief battle before peace was made and Alice was exiled again.

In Jerusalem as well, Fulk was resented by the second generation of Jerusalem 
Christians who had grown up there since the First Crusade. These "natives" focused 
on Melisende's cousin, the popular Hugh II of Le Puiset, count of Jaffa, who was 
devotedly loyal to the Queen. Fulk saw Hugh as a rival, and it did not help matters 
when Hugh's own stepson accused him of disloyalty. In 1134, in order to expose 
Hugh, Fulk accused him of infidelity with Melisende. Hugh rebelled in protest. Hugh 
secured himself to Jaffa, and allied himself with the Muslims of Ascalon. He was able 
to defeat the army set against him by Fulk, but this situation could not hold. The 
Patriarch interceded in the conflict, perhaps at the behest of Melisende. Fulk agreed 
to peace and Hugh was exiled from the kingdom for three years, a lenient sentence.

However, an assassination attempt was made against Hugh. Fulk, or his supporters, 
were commonly believed responsible, though direct proof never surfaced. The scandal 
was all that was needed for the queen's party to take over the government in what 
amounted to a palace coup. Author and historian Bernard Hamilton wrote that Fulk's 
supporters "went in terror of their lives" in the palace. Contemporary author and 
historian William of Tyre wrote of Fulk "he never attempted to take the initiative, even 
in trivial matters, without (Melisende's) consent". The result was that Melisende held 
direct and unquestioned control over the government from 1136 onwards. Sometime 
before 1136 Fulk reconciled with his wife, and a second son, Amalric was born.
Securing the borders[edit]

Jerusalem's northern border was of great concern. Fulk had been appointed regent of 
the Principality of Antioch by Baldwin II. As regent he had Raymund of Poitou marry 
the infant Constance of Antioch, daughter of Bohemund II and Alice of Antioch, and 
niece to Melisende. However, the greatest concern during Fulk's reign was the rise of 
Atabeg Zengi of Mosul.

In 1137 Fulk was defeated in battle near Baarin but allied with Mu'in ad-Din Unur, the 
vizier of Damascus. Damascus was also threatened by Zengi. Fulk captured the fort of 
Banias, to the north of Lake Tiberias and thus secured the northern frontier.

Fulk also strengthened the kingdom's southern border. His butler Paganus built the 
fortress of Kerak to the east of the Dead Sea, and to help give the kingdom access to 
the Red Sea, Fulk had Blanchegarde, Ibelin, and other forts built in the south-west to 
overpower the Egyptian fortress at Ascalon. This city was a base from which the 
Egyptian Fatimids launched frequent raids on the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Fulk 
sought to neutralise this threat.

In 1137 and 1142, Byzantine emperor John II Comnenus arrived in Syria attempting to 
impose Byzantine control over the crusader states. John's intention of making a 
pilgrimage, accompanied by his impressive army, to Jerusalem alarmed Fulk, who wrote 
to John pointing out that his kingdom was poor and could not support the passage of 
a large army. This lukewarm response dissuaded John from carrying through his 
intention, and he postponed his pilgrimage. John died before he could make good his 
proposed journey to Jerusalem.[2]

Death[edit]

In 1143, while the king and queen were on holiday in Acre, Fulk was killed in a 
hunting accident.[3] His horse stumbled, fell, and Fulk's skull was crushed by the 
saddle, "and his brains gushed forth from both ears and nostrils", as William of Tyre 
describes. He was carried back to Acre, where he lay unconscious for three days 
before he died. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. 
Though their marriage started in conflict, Melisende mourned for him privately as well 
as publicly. Fulk was survived by his son Geoffrey of Anjou by his first wife, and 
Baldwin III and Amalric I by Melisende.

Legacy[edit]

Depictions[edit]

According to William, Fulk was "a ruddy man, like David... faithful and gentle, affable 
and kind... an experienced warrior full of patience and wisdom in military affairs." His 
chief fault was an inability to remember names and faces.

William of Tyre described Fulk as a capable soldier and able politician, but observed 
that Fulk did not adequately attend to the defense of the crusader states to the north. 
Ibn al-Qalanisi (who calls him al-Kund Anjur, an Arabic rendering of "Count of Anjou") 
says that "he was not sound in his judgment nor was he successful in his 
administration." The Zengids continued their march on the crusader states, 
culminating in the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144, which led to the Second 
Crusade (see Siege of Edessa).

Family[edit]

In 1110, Fulk married Ermengarde of Maine (died 1126), the daughter of Elias I of 
Maine. Their four children were:
1.Geoffrey V of Anjou (1113–1151, father of Henry II of England.
2.Sibylla of Anjou (1112–1165, Bethlehem), married in 1123 William Clito (div. 1124), 
married in 1134 Thierry, Count of Flanders.
3.Matilda d'Anjou (1111–1154, Fontevrault), married William Adelin; after his death in 
the White Ship disaster of 1120, she became a nun and later Abbess of Fontevrault.
4.Elias II of Maine (died 1151)

His second wife was Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem
1.Baldwin III of Jerusalem
2.Amalric I of Jerusalem

Parents
____ Fulk (Foulques) IV "Rechin" (1043 - 14 Apr 1109)
DE MONTFORT Bertrade (1060 - 14 Feb 1117)

Siblings
____ Fulk (Foulques) V "le Jeune" (1092 - 13 Nov 1143)

Marriage To OF MANS (DU MAINE) Ermendgarde (Erembourge) (Ermentrude) (1096 - 1126)
    m. 1109 

Notes
his 2d

Parents
DE BEAUGENCY Helias (Helie) (Elias) (1080 - 11 Jul 1110)
DE CHATEAU-DE-LOIRE Matilda (ABT 1065 - Mar 1099)

Children by OF MANS (DU MAINE) Ermendgarde (Erembourge) (Ermentrude) 1096 - 1126
D'ANJOU Sybil (Sibilla) (ABT 1112 - 1165)
PLANTAGENET Geoffrey V "Le Bon" (24 Aug 1113 - 7 Sep 1151)

Produced by Fzip 1.7 6/20/2017