1A - Internal divisions within Outremer, including the reign of Baldwin IV and his successors
Baldwin IV's illness and the succession after him made control of government an urgent issue in Jerusalem between 1174 and 1187. Family interests, disagreements over leadership and the actions of powerful lords complicated the kingdom's response to Saladin.
Baldwin IV and the problem of government
Baldwin IV became king in 1174, aged thirteen, after the death of his father Amalric. He had leprosy, a condition which progressively restricted his physical capacity and made an ordinary succession through his own children unlikely. The political consequences developed over time. A minor needed adults to manage government; a king becoming seriously ill needed deputies; and a king without a direct heir made the marriages of his sisters matters of public importance.
Authority did not pass smoothly to a single accepted deputy. At first, the seneschal Miles of Plancy handled government. After his murder in 1174, Raymond III of Tripoli became regent until Baldwin came of age in 1176. Raymond was a powerful ruler with his own northern county and family connections to the royal house. A regency gave him authority in Jerusalem as well as responsibility for defending the kingdom. The question of who should exercise power therefore involved competing noble interests. Bernard Hamilton, The king's minority.
Illness did not make Baldwin incapable of leadership throughout his reign. He took an active role in the victory over Saladin at Montgisard in 1177. As his condition worsened, he continued to influence political decisions, including the selection and removal of deputies. His authority helped hold the kingdom together, but its exercise became more difficult when others needed to act in his place. Separate the king's achievements from the long-term problem of how government would continue after him.
Regent
A person entrusted to exercise royal government when the monarch cannot do so, for example because the ruler is a child. The regent's powers depend on the political and legal arrangements establishing the office.
Marriage and competing interests
The marriage of Baldwin's elder sister Sibylla became central to the succession. She married William of Montferrat in 1176; after his death in 1177 she gave birth to their son, the future Baldwin V. Her marriage to Guy of Lusignan in 1180 introduced another possible ruler. Guy's position depended on Sibylla's royal claim, so disagreements about his ability also became disagreements about the kingdom's future government.
Family networks shaped these rivalries. Baldwin's mother, Agnes of Courtenay, and her brother Joscelin had influence at court. The Ibelins were important landholders, and Balian of Ibelin married Amalric's widow Maria Comnena, the mother of Baldwin's younger half-sister Isabella. Raymond of Tripoli also had interests in the succession. These relationships gave powerful figures different routes to influence. They do not justify assuming that every person in a family always held the same policy.
Guy acted as regent during a military crisis in 1183. His defensive conduct, which avoided a major battle with Saladin, caused disagreement over whether he had preserved the army sensibly or failed to use an opportunity. Baldwin subsequently removed him from the regency. Later that year Baldwin had his young nephew Baldwin V crowned as co-king. This provided an alternative to Guy's immediate accession, while making another minority and regency likely.
Historical explanations of these divisions require care. A simple division between settled, peace-seeking nobles and aggressive newcomers does not explain every alliance or decision. Individuals' interests changed with marriage, royal favour and military circumstances. William of Tyre was Baldwin's tutor and an important churchman, giving him close knowledge of government but also a position within its disputes. Later continuations likewise reflect particular loyalties. Assess a description of Guy or Raymond against what happened, rather than treating a writer's approval or hostility as a neutral verdict. Hamilton, The sources for Baldwin IV's reign.
The succession of 1185 and 1186
Baldwin IV died in 1185. Baldwin V, still a child, became sole king, with Raymond of Tripoli as regent. The arrangement kept a member of the royal family on the throne but did not resolve who would inherit if the child died. Truces with Saladin gave the government some breathing space, yet the political settlement depended on a vulnerable young ruler. Baldwin V's death in 1186 brought the unresolved problem to the surface.
Sibylla claimed the crown and secured Guy's coronation alongside her. Raymond and some of the Ibelins opposed Guy and considered an alternative succession through Isabella and her husband Humphrey IV of Toron. Humphrey's decision to acknowledge Sibylla and Guy undermined that alternative. Guy therefore obtained the crown, but the process left important nobles distrustful of his authority. An accession could produce an installed ruler without creating complete political agreement. Columbia's account of Isabella's dynastic position.
Raymond withdrew into his own lands and reached a separate agreement with Saladin. His action protected his immediate interests while complicating the new king's attempt to organise a common defence. The difference between the kingdom's interests and an individual lord's interests now had practical military consequences. Nevertheless, opposition did not lead to a permanent civil war between two complete armies: reconciliation remained possible, and Raymond later joined Guy against Saladin.
The succession crisis was prolonged by three linked changes: Baldwin IV needed a secure successor; Baldwin V's minority required a regent; Baldwin V's death reopened competing claims. Guy's accession settled possession of the crown more readily than it settled trust among the nobles.
Division and common defence
Internal division weakened defence when rulers could not make their authority effective across the kingdom. Raynald of Châtillon, lord of Oultrejordain, attacked a caravan in 1186–87 despite the truce with Saladin. Guy could not compel him to make the restitution needed to uphold the agreement. A powerful lord's action therefore affected the security of the wider kingdom and gave Saladin a grievance to use in mobilising for war.
Raymond's separate arrangement also created danger. In 1187 he allowed a Muslim force to pass through his Galilean lands under agreed conditions. A small force including Templars and Hospitallers attacked it at Cresson in May and suffered a severe defeat; the Hospitaller master Roger des Moulins was killed. Different authorities were making decisions about passage, truce and battle. A local agreement did not ensure that other military leaders would respect its consequences.
Raymond and Guy reconciled before the main campaign of 1187 and gathered a joint army. Cooperation was therefore possible, but distrust remained relevant to decisions about strategy. When Saladin attacked Tiberias, the leaders disagreed over whether to stay near secure supplies at Sephoria (Saffuriya) or march to relieve the town. Guy's decision to march preceded the army's defeat at Hattin in July. The military sequence requires its own explanation; noble rivalry by itself does not explain thirst, operational choices or Saladin's strength. The contemporary De expugnatione Terrae Sanctae account describes the assembled army and disagreement over the march, while also interpreting disaster through religious blame.
Divisions mattered through identifiable mechanisms: they disrupted the succession, weakened obedience to truces and complicated command. They operated alongside the growth of Saladin's resources and the difficulty of obtaining outside help. To judge their importance, compare the crises of 1185–87 with Baldwin IV's earlier ability to organise resistance. This shows how changes of ruler and trust could turn existing weaknesses into a more dangerous situation, without making defeat inevitable from the beginning of the reign.