ABSTRACT
If Baldwin's biography reads largely as an unremitting series of military campaigns, this is a reflection of the amount of space devoted to them by the chroniclers, but also an indication of the reality that lay beneath their accounts. Of course, such decisions were not made unilaterally: military leaders had to consult with their allies and vassals, and it may well be that the abandonment of these campaigns was a collective decision rather than Baldwin's own. It may seem ironic that as king of Jerusalem, Baldwin put far greater efforts into defending the Frankish principalities of the north than into expanding his own realm. Beyond the constraints imposed on him by the geopolitical situation of the Frankish states, Baldwin had the capacity for bold offensive thinking, notably in his attempt to seize Aleppo in 1124, which sought to exploit the sudden death of a capable ruler there.
