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BALDWIN IV

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 247 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BALDWIN IV ., the son of See also:Amalric I. by his first wife See also:Agnes, ruled in See also:Jerusalem from 1174 to 1183, when he had his See also:nephew Baldwin crowned in his See also:stead. Educated by See also:William of See also:Tyre, Baldwin IV. came to the See also:throne at the See also:early See also:age of thirteen; and thus the See also:kingdom came under the regency of See also:Raymund II. of See also:Tripoli. Happily for the kingdom whose See also:king was a See also:child and a leper, the See also:attention of See also:Saladin was distracted for several years by an See also:attempt to wrest from the sons of Nureddin the See also:inheritance of their father—an attempt partially successful in 1174, but only finally realized in 1183. The problems of the reign of Baldwin IV. may be said to have been two—his See also:sister Sibylla and the fiery Raynald of See also:Chatillon, once See also:prince of See also:Antioch through See also:marriage to See also:Constance (1153–1159), then a See also:captive for many years in the See also:hand of the Mahommedans, and since 1176 See also:lord of Krak (See also:Kerak), to the See also:east of the Dead See also:Sea. Sibylla was the heiress of the kingdom; the problem of her marriage was important. Married first to William of See also:Montferrat, to whom she See also:bore a son, Baldwin, she was again married in 118o to See also:Guy of See also:Lusignan; and dissensions between Sibylla and her See also:husband on the one See also:side, and Baldwin IV. on the other, troubled the latter years of his reign. Meanwhile Raynald of Krak took See also:advantage of the position of his fortress, which See also:lay on the See also:great route of See also:trade from See also:Damascus and See also:Egypt, to See also:plunder the caravans (1182), and thus helped to precipitate the inevitable attack by Saladin. When the attack came, Guy of Lusignan was made See also:regent by Baldwin IV., but he declined See also:battle and he was consequently deposed both from his regency and from his right of See also:succession, while Sibylla's son by her first husband was crowned king as Baldwin V. in 1183. For a See also:time Baldwin IV. still continued to be active; but in 1184 he handed over the regency to Raymund of Tripoli, and in 1185 he died.

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