Joscelin II, Count of Edessa
Count of Edessa from 1131 to 1146
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Joscelin II or Joscelyn II, sometimes known as Joscelin the Younger (French: Jocelyn or Josselin; c. 1113 – May 1159) was the fourth and last ruling count of Edessa. He was son of his predecessor, Joscelin I, and Beatrice, daughter of Constantine I of Armenia. Joscelin succeeded his father, Joscelin I, after the latter died from wounds sustained in battle. He initially supported Alice for the regency over her daughter, Constance of Antioch, as part of his opposition to Fulk, King of Jerusalem. Functional relations were restored after Joscelin's allies were defeated at Chastel Rouge. Raymond of Poitiers became the prince of Antioch in 1136.
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| Joscelin II | |
|---|---|
Joscelin and Raymond of Poitiers playing with dice in 1138 | |
| Count of Edessa | |
| Reign | 1131–1150 |
| Predecessor | Joscelin I |
| Successor | Joscelin III (titular count) |
| Born | c. 1113 |
| Died | 1159 (aged 45–46) Citadel of Aleppo, Aleppo |
| Spouse | Beatrice of Saone |
| Issue | Agnes of Courtenay Joscelin III of Edessa Isabella of Courtenay |
| House | Courtenay |
| Father | Joscelin I |
| Mother | Beatrice of Armenia |
| Religion | Catholicism |
Byzantine emperor John II Komnenos intervened in the northern Crusader states starting from 1137, extracting the fealty of Joscelin, Raymond of Poitiers, and Raymond II, Count of Tripoli. Joscelin and Raymond of Poitiers refused to cooperate during John's campaign against Shaizar in 1138, leading to its ultimate failure. Joscelin continued to undermine Raymond, but Raymond achieved overlordship over Joscelin in 1140. When John returned in 1142 he threatened to invade the Principality of Antioch, however he died the next year.
Imad al-Din Zengi renewed his conflict with Joscelin during 1143–1144 and invaded the County of Edessa. He seized Edessa itself, and then captured Saruj before stopping at Birejik, leaving Joscelin with a rump state west of the Euphrates. Joscelin attempted to reclaim Edessa after Zengi died in 1146, and seized the city. He was unable to take the citadel, and Zengi's son Nur ad-Din destroyed his army. Nur ad-Din captured Joscelin in 1150 and Joscelin died imprisoned in 1159.
Early life
Joscelin's father, Joscelin I, had been the Lord of Turbessel as the vassal of his cousin Baldwin of Bourcq, the Count of Edessa. Baldwin captured him and deprived him of his fief in 1113,[1][2] forcing Joscelin to travel to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, where Baldwin I enfeoffed him with the Principality of Galilee.[2][3] There he had Joscelin II alongside his wife Beatrice, the sister to Leo the Armenian.[3][4] At the time of Baldwin I's death in 1118, the elder Joscelin was one of the most influential and respected Jerusalemite nobles.[5] Using his influence, he helped bring Baldwin of Bourcq to the throne, and in exchange the new king enfeoffed him with Edessa.[6]
In 1122, Joscelin I was captured by Belek Ghazi. The next year, he was joined in captivity by Baldwin II of Jerusalem.[7] Joscelin was rescued by fifty Armenian soldiers in May 1123. Joscelin II and Baldwin's daughter Ioveta were traded for Baldwin's release in 1124.[8][9] Joscelin I, Baldwin, and Pons of Tripoli defeated Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi at the Battle of Azaz in 1125. With the loot of the battle Baldwin was able to ransom Joscelin II and Ioveta.[10][11]
Reign
First years
The elder Joscelin was mortally wounded besieging a castle northeast of Aleppo, as part of a larger campaign against Imad al-Din Zengi.[12][13] Upon learning that Emir Gazi of the Danishmendids were besieging the castle of Kaisun, he ordered the younger Joscelin to break the siege.[12] As the Edessene army was small, Young Joscelin refused, and the elder Joscelin opted to be carried on a stretcher by his men and taken to Kaisun.[12] Gazi raised the siege, and the elder Joscelin died shortly after.[12]
The deaths of Joscelin I and Baldwin II around the same time caused a political shift in the crusader states.[14] Fulk, Baldwin’s son-in-law and King of Jerusalem, commanded less influence in the crusader states than Baldwin had.[14] In 1132, Alice of Antioch launched a second bid for the regency of her daughter Constance.[15][16] After her first attempt in 1130, Joscelin I had governed Edessa, but the Antiochene nobles would not install Joscelin II in his father's place.[14] She allied with Joscelin and Pons, neither of whom accepted Fulk's overlordship.[17] An opposing faction of barons requested the king's aid, and Fulk went by sea to Saint Symeon.[18][19] Fulk defeated the rebels at Chastel Rouge and restored order in the principality.[18][19][16]
Sevar, Zengi's lieutenant in Aleppo, prepared to campaign against Antioch in 1133, but Fulk routed his army at Qinnasrin.[20] Sevar's raids continued once Fulk had left, and in 1135 he attacked Turbessel, Aintab, and Azaz in Edessa.[21][22] Timurtash seized Edessene territory further east.[23] Upon receiving the town of Gargar from its lord, Michael, for its defence, Joscelin gave them to Michael's personal enemy, Basil. Fighting broke out between the two and the countryside was raided.[23] Sevar's lieutenant, Afshin, threatened Marash and Kaisun in April 1136.[23] Raymond of Poitiers, the new Prince of Antioch, marched against Leo I of Cilicia to secure his northern flank. Raymond was allied with Baldwin of Marash, who was Joscelin's vassal, but Joscelin was Leo's nephew. Joscelin sided with Leo and they repulsed Raymond's expedition. Fighting continued until 1137.[23]
Relations with Byzantium
In 1137, Fulk intervened again in the County of Tripoli, which was threatened by the Zengi.[24] The army was ambushed in the mountains and while Count Raymond II was captured, Fulk sought refuge in Montferrand.[24] Joscelin, Raymond of Poitiers, and Patriarch William of Jerusalem rushed to Fulk's aid, but when they arrived he had already surrendered Montferrand and 50,000 dinars for his freedom, unaware of the coming relief.[24][25] Raymond attempted to exile Ralph of Domfront, the Patriarch of Antioch and Joscelin allowed Ralph to stay in Edessa, where Archbishop Hugo received Ralph as a spiritual overlord.[26]
The recent Frankish defeats led to an invasion of Antioch by Byzantine emperor John II Komnenos.[27][28] Joscelin, Raymond of Poitiers, and Raymond of Tripoli all swore fealty.[29] John then completed his conquest of Cilicia, at which point Baldwin of Marash came to him and paid homage for military protection.[30] Joscelin's submission is neglected by Byzantine chroniclers, as he ruled the weakest crusader state, but was prescribed in the Treaty of Devol from 1108.[31]
John launched a military campaign alongside Joscelin and Raymond of Poitiers into enemy territory in 1138,[28] occupying Balat and Bizaah.[32][28] The allies came to Aleppo, but lacking water and finding the defences too strong, they passed it.[33] They then captured Atarib and Kafartab, but upon reaching Shaizar, progress ceased.[32][28][29] John besieged the city, but his allies held back. Success here would contribute to Byzantine influence in the region, while Raymond did not want to lose Antioch in exchange for Shaizar, a condition of his submission.[34] Joscelin disliked Raymond and the potential of him being installed in Shaizar and later Aleppo.[35][36] Reportedly, Joscelin and Raymond played dice while John attacked Shaizar.[36] John returned to Antioch and demanded the citadel be handed over to him.[37] In response Joscelin instigated a riot in Antioch, forcing the emperor to withdraw.[35][38]
In 1139, Raymond was finally able to depose Ralph, who died in 1142.[39] Based on the wording of Joscelin's charters, Raymond seems to have been his overlord since around 1140.[40] John returned in 1142 at the head of another large army, but suddenly turned northwards from Cilicia and appeared before Joscelin's seat at Turbessel.[41] Due to the count's actions in 1138, the emperor seems to have distrusted him.[42] Joscelin was surprised and had to hand over one of his daughters as a hostage.[43][44] Raymond refused John's demand for Antioch and the emperor plundered its suburbs before retreating to Cilicia for the winter.[45] Before he could return, he died to a hunting accident in April 1143.[42]
Loss of Edessa
In 1143, Zengi renewed his war against Joscelin, capturing a number of minor castles in Edessa.[46] Joscelin made an alliance with Kara Arslan, causing Zengi to overrun most of Kara Arslan's lands and attempted to cut communications between the two.[47][48] After being promised a fortress north of Gargar, Joscelin marched to aid Kara Arslan with most of his army, and Zengi struck at Edessa.[48] When they arrived on 28 November the city's defences were already manned; upon learning of Zengi's movements Joscelin went to Turbessel with his army, as his force was too small to defeat Zengi and there he could cut off Muslim reinforcements from Aleppo.[49] There, he sought aid from the other crusader rulers, and Queen Melisende of Jerusalem sent a detachment of troops.[50][51] Zengi broke into Edessa on 23 December, before reinforcements could arrive and slaughtered all of the Franks, but spared local Christians.[52]
After capturing Edessa, Zengi seized Saruj and advanced towards Birejik in 1145, but there the Frankish garrison was motivated by the proximity of Joscelin with the queen's army advancing and resisted strongly.[53] Zengi raised the siege on 2 May and returned to Mosul.[53][54] Considering the defence of Birejik untenable, Joscelin surrendered it to the Muslim ruler of Mardin, an enemy of Zengi.[55] Joscelin was left with the half of the county west of the Euphrates.[56] Zengi crushed an Armenian plot to return Edessa to Joscelin in May of 1146, executing the ringleaders.[55][57][58] The atabeg was murdered by one of his slaves on 14 September 1146.[58][57]
Collapse
Joscelin responded to the news by launching a second attempt to reclaim Edessa alongside Baldwin of Marash.[59][60] Joscelin broke into the city on 27 October, taking advantage of the cooperation of the Edessene citizens.[61] However, he was unable to take the citadel due to a lack of siege equipment, and when Zengi's son Nur ad-Din arrived, Joscelin was forced to launch a breakout.[59][62] Joscelin managed to slip out and make his way towards the Euphrates with a number of native Christians, but a battle was fought on 3 November and Joscelin's army was annihilated.[59][60][63]
Baldwin of Marash was killed in the fighting, Joscelin was wounded in the arm by an arrow, and the native Christians were massacred.[59][64][65] In Edessa, the populace was driven into exile, leaving the city desolate.[59] This second siege was significantly more damaging than the first, and was the fatal blow to the county.[66][64] In November or December of 1146, Joscelin defended Azaz against eight days of Zengid assault. Nur ad-Din seized two more fortresses in Edessa before leaving.[67]
Joscelin's difficulties prevented him from joining the Second Crusade, which shifted its focus to Damascus.[68][69] The gap between Syrian and Latin Christians in the county grew under internal divisions and the actions of neighboring Muslim rulers.[70] The count agreed to a temporary peace with Nur ad-Din in 1148, which prevented him from assisting the Principality of Antioch.[71] Raymond of Poitiers and Joscelin's son-in-law Reginald of Marash were killed facing Nur ad-Din at the Battle of Inab on 29 June 1149, leaving Joscelin almost surrounded.[72]
In the aftermath Mesud I, the Seljuk sultan of Rum, invaded the Principality of Antioch before besieging Joscelin at Turbessel.[73] Baldwin III of Jerusalem sent a force of sixty knights to prevent the fall of Azaz. The possibility that the force would go to Turbessel helped convince Mesud to raise the siege, although Joscelin had to give up his hostages.[74] Kara Arslan turned on Joscelin and invaded Edessa, seizing Gargar and the surrounding area, while a joint Frankish-Armenian attempt to turn him back failed.[75]
Joscelin was summoned to Antioch in the Spring of 1150 by Patriarch Aimery to take up the regency. While en route, Joscelin was taken prisoner by Nur ad-Din's forces.[76][77] When his identity became known, Joscelin was taken to Nur ad-Din who had him blinded and imprisoned.[76] Immediately after his imprisonment the county was invaded on all sides and mostly absorbed by Mesud, Timurtash of Mardin, and Nur ad-Din while Turbessel was sold to Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos.[76] Although the defence of Joscelin's son, Joscelin III, prevented Mesud from capturing Turbessel, it fell to Nur ad-Din's captain Hassan in 1151.[76][78] Joscelin spent the remaining nine years of his life after 1150 in captivity.[79] Despite attempts to procure his conversion, Joscelin remained a Christian until his death in May 1159.[77] He was denied a Latin or Armenian chaplain, forcing him to receive his last sacraments from Ignace, the Jacobite Metropolitan of Aleppo.[77]
Family
Joscelin married Beatrice of Saone, the widow of the wealthy Antiochene baron, William of Zardana.[80] They had:
- Agnes of Courtenay was their first child, probably born around 1133.[81] She first married Reginald of Marash, but he died in battle in 1149. She then married Amalric, her third cousin and later king of Jerusalem, in 1157.[82] After her divorce from Amalric, she held the lands and incomes of the County of Jaffa. Joscelin II's grandchildren Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Sibylla of Jerusalem were in turn monarchs of Jerusalem, as was his great-grandson Baldwin V of Jerusalem.[83]
- Joscelin III was their second child. Old enough to sign charters in 1141, he was probably born near the middle of the 1130s, possibly around 1134.[84] He held the nominal title Count of Edessa, being in reality a respected Jerusalemite baron.[85][86]
- Isabella of Courtenay, possibly married Thoros II, Prince of Armenia had two daughters.[87]