The queen was an ambitious woman who likely saw Baldwin as an obstacle to her own children. At the age of six Baldwin gained a stepmother, Maria Komnene, with whom he was not close. He also seldom saw his sister, Sibylla, who was raised in the Convent of Saint Lazarus by their grandaunt Ioveta. Baldwin grew up without a mother, who soon married the nobleman Hugh of Ibelin and only saw Baldwin on public occasions. Amalric succeeded in having his and Agnes's children, Sibylla and Baldwin, declared legitimate despite the annulment. The High Court forced Amalric to agree to an annulment of his marriage on the grounds of consanguinity in order to be accepted as king. Amalric was his heir, but the nobles of the kingdom were strongly opposed to Amalric's wife, Agnes they were likely threatened by the prospect of her increased influence. The king was then young and recently married, so a nephew's accession seemed unlikely, but he died childless in 1163. Baldwin's godfather was his paternal uncle, King Baldwin III, who joked that his christening present was the Kingdom of Jerusalem. His parents were Amalric, then the count of Jaffa and Ascalon, and Agnes of Courtenay. In early 1185, he arranged for Raymond to rule as regent for Sibylla's son and died before 16 May.īaldwin was born in mid-1161. Baldwin failed to have Sibylla's marriage to Guy annulled and Guy's fief of Ascalon confiscated. He disinherited Guy and had Sibylla's son, Baldwin V, crowned co-king before having himself taken in a litter to lift Saladin's siege of Kerak. Baldwin again repelled Saladin in 1182, but leprosy rendered him blind and unable to walk or use his hands in 1183. The internal discord that followed forced Baldwin to remain king, as only he was capable of uniting the quarreling nobility. Guy was opposed by a large fraction of the nobility, and soon permanently impaired his relationship with Baldwin.
In 1180, in order to forestall a coup by Count Raymond III of Tripoli and Prince Bohemond III of Antioch, Baldwin had Sibylla marry Guy of Lusignan. He hoped to abdicate when his sister, Sibylla, married William of Montferrat in 1176, but William died the next year. The young king mastered horse riding despite gradually losing sensation in his extremities and was able to fight in battles until his last years. Saladin in turn attacked Baldwin's kingdom in 1177, but the king and the nobleman Raynald of Châtillon repelled him at Montgisard, earning Baldwin fame. As soon as he assumed government, Baldwin planned an invasion of Egypt, which fell through due to his vassals' uncooperativeness. Count Raymond III of Tripoli ruled the kingdom in Baldwin's name until the king reached the age of majority in 1176. Thereafter his hands and face became increasingly disfigured. Choosing competent advisers, Baldwin ruled a thriving Christian realm and succeeded in protecting it from the Egyptian Muslim ruler Saladin.īaldwin developed the first symptoms of his leprosy as a child but was only diagnosed after his accession on the death of his father, King Amalric. He was admired by his contemporaries and later historians for his willpower and dedication to the Latin kingdom in the face of debilitating leprosy, which eventually left him blind and unable to use either his hands or his feet. Baldwin IV ( French: Baudouin 1161–1185), called the Leper King, was King of Jerusalem from 1174 until his death in 1185.
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