DBWI: Deus Vult

What if King Baldwin of Jerusalem had some dilapidating injury or so and didn't secure the kingdom's modern borders. Bonus points for what would happen to the Jerusalemite language?
 
[Assuming you mean Baldwin IV and his leprosy, as you mention 'delapidating injury']

Well, considering his constant wars, it wouldn't have been surprising if he'd been killed or maimed in battle. The Battle of Jacob's Ford in 1179 was a masterpiece by all accounts, and it has to be admitted that managing to both ford the river and defeat Saladin's force was really rather impressive. He did get lucky with Saladin being captured in the battle, allowing him to march on Damascus and giving room for Raymond and Bohemond to capture Harim in Syria. If he hadn't been captured, the Muslims could probably have successfully prevented the fall of Damascus, even after the battle, and Jerusalem would have been stuck on the coast.

Honestly, without Baldwin's victory at Jacob's Ford, the crusaders probably wouldn't have captured Damascus and Egypt wouldn't have fractured away from Ayyubid rule. That means that the Kingdom of Jerusalem would have been severly constricted and probably confined to the coasts.

As to the language, it wasn't until the 14th century that the crusader dialects really started to diverge from their mother-tongues, becoming the Normaunt [spoken primarily in the Principality of Antioch] and Frankeis [spoken throughout the rest of the crusader kingdoms] dialects of today. Without the larger and more stable Kingdom create by Baldwin, the Latins in Outremer are going to remain heavily reliant on Italian and Greek aid. I'd expect Greek to be even more influential that it was OTL, so that Frankeis, not just Normaunt, has a whole load of Greek loan words too and maybe even some of Greek's grammatical structure. I'd imagine there would be a lot more Italian loan words too, there are still a few today OTL, but there could have been a whole load more. The Italians got kind of left out there OTL. Oh, and conversely Arabic would probably be far less of an influence without all those extra Muslim settlements inside the Kingdom.
 
Sorry for not replying it was Kingdom Day here in Ireland and I was busy for the entire day.

[Assuming you mean Baldwin IV and his leprosy, as you mention 'dilapidating injury']

Well, considering his constant wars, it wouldn't have been surprising if he'd been killed or maimed in battle. The Battle of Jacob's Ford in 1179 was a masterpiece by all accounts, and it has to be admitted that managing to both ford the river and defeat Saladin's force was really rather impressive. He did get lucky with Saladin being captured in the battle, allowing him to march on Damascus and giving room for Raymond and Bohemond to capture Harim in Syria. If he hadn't been captured, the Muslims could probably have successfully prevented the fall of Damascus, even after the battle, and Jerusalem would have been stuck on the coast.

Honestly, without Baldwin's victory at Jacob's Ford, the crusaders probably wouldn't have captured Damascus and Egypt wouldn't have fractured away from Ayyubid rule. That means that the Kingdom of Jerusalem would have been severely constricted and probably confined to the coasts.

As to the language, it wasn't until the 14th century that the crusader dialects really started to diverge from their mother-tongues, becoming the Normaunt [spoken primarily in the Principality of Antioch] and Frankeis [spoken throughout the rest of the crusader kingdoms] dialects of today. Without the larger and more stable Kingdom create by Baldwin, the Latins in Outremer are going to remain heavily reliant on Italian and Greek aid. I'd expect Greek to be even more influential that it was OTL, so that Frankeis, not just Normaunt, has a whole load of Greek loan words too and maybe even some of Greek's grammatical structure. I'd imagine there would be a lot more Italian loan words too, there are still a few today OTL, but there could have been a whole load more. The Italians got kind of left out there OTL. Oh, and conversely Arabic would probably be far less of an influence without all those extra Muslim settlements inside the Kingdom.

This theory does make sense and is highly plausible but even if they didn't secure Egypt and Damascus was Baldwin the only chance of the Kingdom staying, for lack of a better word, solid and persevering into the modern day. Personally I think he shouldn't be totted as much as he is like he was their saving grace. I understand what he did and actually must doff my cap off to him but he's sometimes lorded as much as Valerian V of the Byzantine or our own King Fíonn as if without him it would be all over for them. Don't get me wrong though he was a great and I mean great leader but it feels like most people say he was the greatest thing Jerusalem ever produced and it annoys me a little.
 
What if King Baldwin of Jerusalem had some dilapidating injury or so and didn't secure the kingdom's modern borders. Bonus points for what would happen to the Jerusalemite language?
This theory does make sense and is highly plausible but even if they didn't secure Egypt and Damascus was Baldwin the only chance of the Kingdom staying, for lack of a better word, solid and persevering into the modern day. Personally I think he shouldn't be totted as much as he is like he was their saving grace. I understand what he did and actually must doff my cap off to him but he's sometimes lorded as much as Valerian V of the Byzantine or our own King Fíonn as if without him it would be all over for them. Don't get me wrong though he was a great and I mean great leader but it feels like most people say he was the greatest thing Jerusalem ever produced and it annoys me a little.
Well, we obviously cannot know what might have happened. Is it possible that some other king would have come along and acheived the same things that Baldwin did? Of course. But it is also possible that no great leader would have come along– and maybe Jerusalem would have been defeated by the Muslims sooner or later. That's why Baldwin is so widely-revered today– he secured Jerusalem's future forever.

Baldwin's conquests also had a massive effect on the surrounding region. Egypt could well have remained under Muslim Arab rule, rather than the Christians reasserting control as happened in reality.

Overall, no Baldwin probably means a stronger Islam; maybe even the city of Jerusalem would be under Muslim rule today.
 
Baldwin was important and a milatary genius, but the key to the Crusader states survival and independence wasn't him.

It was two events, the civil war in Egypt and the successful invasion of said country during the 4th crusade and the Mongols obliterating much of the arabic world during their expansion. Byzantium, The crusader states decision to pay tribute while humilating protected them until the empire safely collapsed.

With out those two events Baldwin or not the crusaders states vanish from history.
 
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