ABSTRACT

At the same time as he was pursuing an aggressive policy to achieve the capture of the coastal cities, throughout his reign Baldwin had to defend the kingdom against attack from the crusaders’ Muslim enemies. When Baldwin moved south to Jerusalem in 1100 he left Edessa and Antioch on the front line against Turkish attacks. The more immediate threat came from the Fāṭimids of Egypt who had captured Jerusalem from the Turks in 1098, only a year before the city was besieged and captured by the First Crusade. The crusaders’ blockade had been comparatively short – only five weeks – and so they were in possession of the city before the Egyptians’ relieving force, led by the vizier al-Afḍal in person, arrived at Ascalon. Thus within weeks of the conquest the Christians had to march out to meet a vast Fāṭimid army on the plains outside Ascalon. Against overwhelming odds they were successful and could have pressed on and taken Ascalon, but the garrison would surrender only to Raymond of Saint-Gilles, and Godfrey was not prepared to countenance this: Raymond had opposed his candidacy for rulership, refused to hand over Jerusalem’s citadel and joined the army at Ascalon only reluctantly and belatedly. Rather than cede possession of Ascalon to him, Godfrey forfeited the best opportunity to take the city for the coming half-century. Baldwin was to see the consequences of this in the series of battles of Ramla in the first few years of his reign. 1