{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Kingdom_of_Jerusalem"}
The timeline of the Kingdom of Jerusalem presents important events in the history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem—a Crusader state in modern day Israel and Jordan—in chronological order. The kingdom was established after the First Crusade in 1099. Its first ruler Godfrey of Bouillon did not take the title of king and swore fealty to the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Daimbert. Godfrey's brother and successor Baldwin I was crowned the first king of Jerusalem without doing homage to the patriarch in 1100. By 1153, Baldwin I and his successors captured all towns on the Palestinian coast with the support of Pisan, Genoese and Venetian fleets and also took control of the caravan routes between Egypt and Syria. The kings regularly administered other crusader states—the Counties of Edessa and Tripoli and the Principality of Antioch—on behalf of their absent or underage rulers.

The polarisation of the Muslim world enabled the crusaders (colloquially known as Franks in the Levant) to consolidate their rule in Palestine. They could also appeal to the popes and the European rulers for help against their enemies. In the mid-twelfth century, Baldwin III and his successor Amalric maintained a close alliance with the Byzantine Empire, but they could not prevent the ruler of Aleppo, Nur ad-Din, from uniting the Muslim states in Syria in the 1150s. Internal strife weakened the kingdom during the reigns of the leper Baldwin IV and the unpopular Guy of Lusignan. This facilitated Nur ad-Din's former general, Saladin, to unite Egypt and Syria in the 1180s. Saladin annihilated the crusader army in the Battle of Hattin on 4 July 1187, and occupied almost the whole kingdom during the following months.

An Italian crusader, Conrad of Montferrat, saved Tyre and the Third Crusade forced Saladin to acknowledge the restoration of the Franks' rule in most coastal towns in his 1192 truce with Richard I of England. Further lands were recovered during the reigns of Henry of Champagne and Aimery of Lusignan, and Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, also restored the Franks' rule in Jerusalem in 1229. Frederick and his successors were absent monarchs and the kingdom was administered by regents (or bailiffs) from 1229 to 1269. Due to conflicts between the kings' representatives and the powerful barons, and the War of Saint Sabas between Genoa and Venice, the kingdom disintegrated into autonomous towns and lordships by the 1260s. The personal union of Jerusalem and Cyprus could not prevent the Mamluks of Egypt from occupying the last Frankish outposts in 1291. In addition to the Lusignan kings of Cyprus, the Angevin rulers of Naples and their successors maintained a claim to the defunct Jerusalemite kingdom for centuries.

Background

1009
1027

1055

1063

1063-1070

Before 1070

1071
1074

1080s

1092

1095

A version of Pope Urban II's sermon at the Council of Clermont (1095)

Frenchmen and men from across the mountains; men chosen by and beloved of God as is clear from your many achievements...– it is to you that we address our sermon, to you that we appeal. ... Disturbing news has emerged from Jerusalem and from the city of Constantinople and is now constantly at the forefront of our mind: that the race of Persians, a foreign people and a people rejected by God ... has invaded the lands of those Christians, depopulated them by slaughter and plunder and arson, kidnapped some of the Christians and carried them off to their own lands and put others to a wretched death, and has overthrown the churches of God or turned them over to the rituals of their own religion. ... By now the Greek empire has been dismembered by them and an area that could not be crossed in two months' journey subjected to their ways. So to whom should the task fall of taking vengeance and wresting their conquests from them if not to you – you to whom God has given above other nations outstanding glory in arms, greatness of spirit, fitness of body and the strength to humilitate the hairy scalp of those who resist you?

Robert the Monk, Historia Iherosolimitana

1096

1097

1098

1099

First kingdom

Establishment (1099-1100)

1099

Slaughter of the townspeople in Jerusalem by the Crusaders (1099)

[The Crusaders] put to the sword great numbers of gentiles who were running about through the quarters of the city, fleeing in all directions on account of their fear of death: they were piercing through with the sword's point women who had fled into the turreted palaces and dwellings; seizing by the soles of their feet from their mothers' laps or their cradles infants who were still suckling and dashing them against the walls or lintels of the doors and breaking their necks; they were slaughtering some with weapons, or striking them down with stones; they were sparing absolutely no gentile of any age or kind.

Albert of Aachen, Historia Hierosolymitanae expeditionis
c. 1100

1100

Consolidation (1101-1124)

1100s
1101

1102

1103

1103–1106

c. 1104

1104

1105
c. 1107

1106–1108

1107

1108

1109

1110

1111

1112

1113

1114

1115

c. 1116

1117
1118

1119

1120

Canons 5, 8 and 13 of the Council of Nablus (1120)

The adulterer should be castrated and expelled from the country; the adulteress should suffer rhinotomy-unless her husband forgives her. If he does so, both should be expelled beyond the sea. ... Adults consenting to the sodomitic depravity should be burnt, both the active and the passive party. ... A man who rapes a female Saracen he owns should be castrated; she should be seized on behalf of the fisc.

Patriarch Warmund and King Baldwin II at the assembly of Jerusalemite prelates and barons

1120s

1121

1122

1123

1123 or 1124

1124

Heyday (1125-1144)
1125

1126

1127

1127

1128

1129

c. 1130

1130

1131
c. 1132–c. 1135

1132

1133

1134

c. 1135
1135

1136

1137

1138

1139

1140

1141

1142
1143

1144

Towards the union of Muslim Syria and Egypt (1145-1173)

1145

1146

1146–1153

1147

1148
1149

before 1150

1150

1150s

1151

1152
1153

1154

c. 1155

1155

1156

1157

1158

1159

1160

1161

1163
c. 1164

1164

1167
1168

1169

c. 1170

Amalric's heir, Baldwin, is diagnosed with leprosy (c. 1170)

It so happened that once when [Baldwin] was playing with some other noble boys who were with him, they began pinching one another with their fingernails on the hands and arms, as playful boys will do. The others evinced their pain with yells, but, although his playmates did not spare him, Baldwin bore the pain altogether too patiently, as if be did not feel it. When this had happened several times, it was reported to me [William of Tyre]. At first I thought that this happened because of his endurance, not because of insensitivity. Then I called him and began to ask what was happening. At last I discovered that about half of his right hand and arm were numb, so that he did not feel pinches or even bites there. I began to have doubts, as I recalled the words of the wise man: "It is certain that an insensate member is far from healthy and that be who does not feel sick is in danger." I reported all this to his father. Physicians were consulted and prescribed repeated fomentations, anointings, and even poisonous drugs to improve his condition, but in vain. For, as we later understood more fully as time passed, and as we made more comprehensive observations, this was the beginning of an incurable disease. I cannot keep my eyes dry while speaking of it. For as he began to reach the age of puberty it became apparent that he was suffering from that most terrible disease, leprosy.

William of Tyre, History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea

1170

1171

1173

1174

Decline and fall (1174-1187)

1174
1175

1176

1177

1178

1179

c. 1180

1180
1181

1182

1183

1184

1185

1186

1187

Saladin has Raynald of Châtillon executed (1187)

[Saladin] summoned King Guy, his brother and Prince [Raynald]. He handed the king a dring of iced julep, from which he drank, being dreadfully thirsty, and he passed some of it to Prince [Raynald]. The sultan said to the interpreter, 'Tell the King, "You are the one giving him a drink. I have not given him any drink.'" ... [Saladin] ordered them to proceed to a place assigned for their lodging. They did so and ate something. Then the sultan summoned them again, now having with him none but a few servants. He gave the king a seat in the vestibule and, having summoned Prince [Raynald], confronted him .... He said to him 'Here I am having asked for victory through Muhammad, and God has given me victory over you.' He offered him Islam but he refused. The sultan then drew his scimitar and struck him, severing his arm at his shoulder. Those present finished him off and God speedily sent his soul to Hell-fire.

Bahā' al-Din Ibn Shaddād, The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin

Third Crusade (1187-1192)

1187

Pope Gregory VIII's grant of crusading privileges to those who depart for the Third Crusade (1187)

We promise full remission of their sins and eternal life to those who take up the labor of this journey with a contrite heart and a humble spirit and depart in penitence of their sins and with true faith. ... Their gods from their reception of the cross, with their families, remain under the protection of the holy Roman Church, as well as the archbishops and bishops and other prelates. They should not face any legal challenge regarding the things they possess legally when they received the cross until their return or their death is known for certain, but they should also keep legally all their goods. Also, they may not be forced to pay interest if they have a loan.

Pope Gregory VIII, Audita tremendi

1188

1189

1190
1191

1192

Second kingdom

Recovery (1193-1229)

1193

Geoffrey of Donjon about Saladin's death (1193)

...the death of our persecutor Saladin ... caused fear and anxiety among his people and gave rise to angry discord among his three sons, in Damascus, Aleppo and [Egypt]. Each brother refused to be subject to another, preferring to try to gain control over the land of the other. We know for certain that since the loss of the land of the inheritance of Christ cannot easily be regained. The land held by the Christians during the truces remains virtually uninhabited.

Geoffrey of Donjon, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, Letter to William Villiers, Preceptor of the Knights Hospitallers in the West

c. 1194

1194

1195

1196

1197

1198

1200

1202

1203

1204

1205

c. 1206

1206

c. 1207
1208

1209

1210

1211

1212

1213

1214

1215

1217

1218
1219

1220

1221

Peter of Montaigu about the Crusader's failed campaign towards Cairo (1221)

...[Al-Kamil] took advantage of the rising waters to launch galleys and galliots through an ancient fortificatiln onto the Nile to prevent us in our need from shipping food supplies from Damietta. ... Faced with the impossibility of receiving food by land or river the army held a general council as to whether it should retreat. However, [Al-Kamil]'s brothers, ... the sultans of Aleppo and Damascus, and other sultans, ... as well as several kings of the pagans with their armies who had come to his aid, were blocking our retreat. Nevertheless, our army made its retreat at night by land and river. It lost the food it was transporting and several men in the river because [Al-Kamil] diverted the rising waters of the Nile into secret channels and waterways of ancient construction to hinder the retreat of the Christian people. The army of Christ lost its packhorses, equipment, saddlebags, carts and virtually all its essential supplies in the swamps, so that, bereft of food, it could not advance, retreat or try to find refuge anywhere.

Peter of Montaigu, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Letter to Alan Martel, Preceptor of the Temple in England

1222

1223

1224

1225

1227

1228

1229
Absent kings (1229-1268)

1229

1230

1231

1232

1233

1234

1235

1236

1237

Prior Philip about the Jacobite patriarch's visit in Jerusalem (1237)

The patriarch of the Eastern Jacobites, whose knowledge, morals and age are to be venerated, came to worship this year in Jerusalem, accompanied by a large number of archbishops, bishops and monks too of his nation. Divine grace so helped us to explain the word of the Catholic faith to him that we succeeeded in getting him to abjure all heresy and promise obedience to the Holy Roman Church... He also wrote us his confession in Chaldaic and Arabic as a permanent testimony to the fact. Furthermore, he even adopted our dress on departure.

Philip, Prior of the Dominican Province of the Holy Land, Letter to Pope Gregory IX

1238

1239

1240

1241
1242

1243

1244
1245

1246

c. 1247

1247

1248

1249

c. 1250

1250

1251
1252

1253

1254

Louis IX decides to leave the Holy Land (1254)

[Louis IX] had no troops with him whom he could have used to put things right, nor did anyone bring him news of likely help or support from any quarter. He discussed matters with the prelates and other nobles and decided, on their unanimous advice, to appoint Sir Geoffrey of Sergines to stay in the Holy Land. [Louis IX] would provide him with money to maintain knights, crossbowmen and sergeants, mounted and on foot, to defend the land against the Saracens. The king himself would go back to France, as he could get no reinforcements.

1255

1256

1257

1258

1259

1260

1261

1263

1264

c. 1265

1265

1266
1267

1268
Final years (1269-1291)

1269

1270

1271
1272

1274

1275

1276

1277
1279

1281

1282

1283

1284

1285

1286

1287

1289

1290

1291
Aftermath

1290s

1291

1295

1299

1309–1311

1335

1365

Sources