Crusader County of Edessa

Edessa was the first of the Crusader states to be lost. The main reasons for that was it was landlocked, and it consisted of a lot of land, but the demographic base was too small, with Edessa alone being inhabited by roughly 10,000 people. Did the counts of Edessa ever try to encourage settlement into their own territory, by either the Latin and Frankish crusaders, or by the Armenians from Cilicia and from up north? Seems like they were the first line of defense against the likes of Zengi and and his successor, Nur ad-Din.
 
Edessa.

I remember vaguely that there was an attempt to settle Armenians in the area, or there was an attempt which failed. The county had no natural frontiers, and was always very subject to outside attack. Initially the native Christians disliked the Crusaders, and there was a great deal of ethnic/religious conflict before the reign of the very popular Joscelin of Courtenay. Under these circumstances, it is surprizing that the territory lasted as long as it did.
 
So despite the fact the Crusader leaders had intermarried with Armenian royalty, no Crusader in Edessa wanted to incur the displeasure of his peers by converting to Armenian Orthodoxy?! Seems like the cause was ultimately doomed. Not to mention that the stupid bastards kept fighting each other when guys like Zengi and Nur ad-Din were romping on the frontier.
 
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