Non-contemporary paintings of 12th Century Tiberias, from western and eastern points of view, respectively. Since the golden days of the Umayyad Caliphate, the city had lost its prosperity and became mostly depopulated, with many of its buildings falling in disrepair, as it happened to many Palestinian communities. The establishment of the Crusader State marked the beginning of a new golden age for Galilee, which saw an influx of immigrants and began yet again to prosper due to its insertion in the Mediterranean commercial network.
In 1126, the ruling Count of Tiberias,
Peter of Stenay, former Count of Astenois, died without male issue. He was a scion of the House of Dampierre, a Champagnois family whose estates sprawled through northeastern Francia, and was a distant relative of Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lotharingia, whom he had accompanied in the First Crusade. After the fall of Jerusalem, a certain Gunter, one Lorrainer knight of Godfrey’s household, captured Tiberias in the name of his liege. After Godfrey died, however, Adhemar of Le Puy refused to recognize a petty knight as the lord of such a holy and ancient city, and instead convinced the highborn lord Peter, known for his chivalry and piety, to remain in the Outremer and become its ruler. Thus, Peter ruled Tiberias for almost 30 years, having relinquished his property in Europe to his younger brother Rainald, the Count of Toul.
Now that Peter passed away, a dispute arose when his son-in-law,
Lambert, the former Count of Montaigu, married to his elder daughter Marie, claimed the fief for himself, but was opposed by Sigemar, another of Godfrey’s many cousins, who had been created Castellan of
Capernaum [Kfar Naḥūm] – the birth-place of Apostle St. Peter – on the grounds that he was the closest male relative in the Holy Land. When the parties proved irreconcilable, Lambert immediately fielded an army and besieged the citadel of Capernaum. However, some knights of his household, refusing to raise arms against Sigemar, a character well-respected for his bravery and honor, deserted his cause and went to Jerusalem to seek intervention from the Court.
Even before the matter was brought to the attention of the Archbishop in Jerusalem, Richard of Salerno discovered about the situation, and, from his manor in Nablus, he immediately mustered his knights and sergeants and hurried to Capernaum. By the time the Archbishop received the news about the altercation, Prince Richard had already obliged Lambert to put down arms and return to Tiberias. Now, both of the belligerents were summoned to the Holy City so that their claims might be judged.
It happened, though, that while Lambert and Sigemar awaited for judgment, a messenger came from the northern road, bringing news that
Baldwin of Boulogne, the self-proclaimed Count of Edessa, was voyaging to Jerusalem with some of his vassals, both Lorrainers and Armenians. To everyone’s surprise, Baldwin claimed the vacant throne of Tiberias for himself, on the grounds that it had initially belonged to his elder brother Godfrey, before passing to the House of Dampierre. The claim was dubious at best, as the formal grant of Tiberias as a fief after Godfrey's death had evidently severed any belonging it might had towards the House of Boulogne. However, knowing that Baldwin was a stronger and more resourceful lord, who had gained a large following among the Armenians in these years in Edessa, both Archbishop Gerard and Prince Richard were very willing to turn a blind eye, if this meant that the Armies of the Realm might be reinforced by Baldwin's retinues and its coffers fattened by the treasure that he brought from the fallen kingdom of Armenia.
This serves to explain why the Court of Jerusalem, comprising three of the highest-ranking ecclesiastic authorities and two of the laymen nobles, ruled that, by the lack of male heirs from the House of Dampierre, the County of Tiberias had became vacant, and then it was granted to Baldwin of Boulogne, in recognition of his services to the exalted cause of Christ, thus creating him the Count of Tiberias, in accumulation with his fief of Edessa.
While Sigemar, dutiful and conscientious, accepted the verdict, and pledged allegiance to Baldwin (later becoming his chancellor), Lambert of Montaigu was infuriated by the outcome, but he lacked means to enforce his claim. Even so, he arrogantly demanded compensation, either in gold or in kind, before the Court of Jerusalem. When this too was refused – because the Court ruling did not recognize
any rights to him whatsoever – he, maddened by his anger, challenged his rival Baldwin to a duel.
Sat atop his horse, in the courtyard of the Temple of Solomon, Lambert screamed Baldwin's name through the four winds, and offended him by every name possible, attracting a perplexed crowd to watch the bizarre situation. Then, Baldwin himself appeared at last, mounted in a grey horse, opening his way through the appalled citizens and simply stared at the proud Count of Montaigu, without saying a word. For some seconds, the place became completely silent. Then, Baldwin simply nodded and departed from Jerusalem with his retainers, following the road to Tiberias, leaving an infuriated Lambert among the Jerusalemite crowd. In the end, Lambert’s histrionic exasperation yielded no fruits, and he saw himself landless and without support in the Outremer, with but a couple Galilean villages to provide meager revenue, from whence he could barely pay for a banquet to his handful of retainers.
Frustrated by the humilitation, shortly thereafter Lambert returned to Europe with his wife Marie, re-assuming his position as the Count of Montaigu and Clermont, never to return to the Outremer.
*****
The fate of Edessa itself was initially unclear. Even now that the Empire had more or less pacified the Anatolian frontier, and both the Rhōmaîoi and the Latins had established a firm presence in Syria, by subjugating Antioch and Aleppo, Edessa still remained in a tight spot, as the consolidation of the Emirate of Mosul under the Toghtekinids effectively closed the eastern frontier for expansion, and created a dangerous and tireless foe in Mesopotamia. While the city of Edessa was fortified and prosperous, Baldwin had long since reallocated the court to the fortress of Turbessel, in the western bank of the Euphrates, sometimes residing in the pleasurable garden-city of Samosata.
Baldwin’s cousin and vassal, also named
Baldwin, but one from Rethel, would rule as steward for the remainder of his life, as Baldwin of Boulogne would reside mostly in Tiberias. Some even suggested that he might sell or cede the County of Edessa to another Frankish warlord or even to the Empire, but he would always deny it, affirming that he had sworn a sacred vow to God to protect the very first Crusader bastion founded in the Outremer. The truth, however, was that this Lorrainer lord was proud and superstitious; he believed that simply giving Edessa away would mean the loss of his honor and prestige, and, also, that he could not violate his sacred oaths towards the Armenian which had accepted him as rightful suzerain, lest Fortune might punish him for the transgression.
Baldwin’s non-Frankish retainers and followers were mostly of Armenian stock, with a handful of Turcopoles and Kurds, many of whom had started their careers as mercenaries among the Armenian petty fiefs. After Baldwin was created Count of Tiberias, some of them returned to Samosata, where they had been settled, in safer lands far from the chaotic Mesopotamian frontier, but others opted to remain in Palestine in his service. The country between the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights, which separates Palestine from Syria, was the most fertile region of Palestine, but there was not much land available to the newcomers. Much like the Egyptians and the Turks before them, the Franks did not interfere nor disrupted the traditional Levantine agrarian communities, and were content with allowing the Palestinians and Arabs with their crops and cattle as long as they complied to their feudal duties. Thus, Baldwin’s followers were rewarded for their service with revenue from these many Galilean parishes, usually in goods, but sometimes in money.
It is said that the Archbishop voiced to Baldwin his concerns about the safety of Edessa, considering it to be a stalwart bastion against the Islamic potentates of Mesopotamia, fearing that the presence of so many of the Count’s retainers in Tiberias might deplete the Euphrates of Latin troops. Count Baldwin reassured him that this was not the case, boldly proclaiming that Edessa would withstand a thousand sieges before falling to the infidel. He was wrong, obviously, but, by then, as he endeavored in his late years to refurbish the citadel of Tiberias into a tranquil palace, he did not seem honestly concerned about the ultimate fate of Edessa.
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Notes and comments: This is an interesting divergence from OTL. Since Godfrey never became the ruler of Jerusalem, his brother Baldwin doesn't gets to become its first King. Nevertheless, Baldwin is too much of a fascinating historical character to be left behind in the story. Edessa will have its relevance, but Tiberias is more important in the grand scheme of Jerusalemite politics. Another point that must be stressed is that Baldwin IOTL did not have children, even after two marriages (Steven Runciman, if I recall correctly, suggests that he was homossexual, and only married out of convenience). ITTL, considering that he repudiates his Armenian wife Morphia sooner, he will marry in old age to another Frankish woman, and generate offspring, thus Jerusalem will remain with a significant Lorrainer/Picard family around.
Anyway, the chapter is not very eventful, but I found it interesting because it briefly illustrates the complicated feudal relationships, as well as the role of the judiciary in the solution of disputes, which serves to dispel the idea that in the Middle Ages, every problem was solved by blood.
