ABSTRACT
Baldwin of Boulogne was a crusader who became the first Latin count of Edessa and then the first Latin king of Jerusalem, a realm that he ruled for almost eighteen years. These would be outstanding achievements for any man, but for someone who was the youngest of three brothers and whose prospects at birth and as a youth were correspondingly modest, they suggest extraordinary strength of character as well as a modicum of good fortune. The balance between these assets will emerge from an investigation of his life and rule. Inevitably, however, the enquiry must begin with Baldwin’s background and early years, a period for which the documentary sources are sparse and sometimes contradictory. A fair amount of what follows, therefore, is necessarily conjectural.
