BALDWIN, BALDOOIN. or BALDUIN. The name of several members of the House of Flan ders, who reigned as Kings of Jerusalem during the period of the Crusades. BALDWIN 1. (1058 1118) was King of Jerusalem after 1100. Ile was the youngest brother of Godfrey de Bouillon (q.v.), Duke of Lower Lorraine, or Brabant. lie took part in the first Crusade, quarreled with Tapered, retired to Edessa at the request of the Christian inhabitants of the place, and was soon after created Count of Edessa. After the death of his brother Godfrey, in 1100, he became Pro tector of the holy Sepulchre and Baron of Jeru salem, and immediately assumed the regal title, whieh his brother had refused. lie was defeated by an invading force from Egypt in 1102. He made sonic conquests, including Caesarea, Acre, and Sidon. He died in Egypt. Unlike his Brother Godfrey, Baldwin was worldly and am bitious.-11.‘LDW'iN 11. (Baldwin du Bourg), cousin of Baldwin 1., succeeded the latter as Count of Edessa, and in 1118 as King of ,feru salem, reigning until 1131. During his reign Tyre was taken, in 1124, with the assistance of a Venetian fleet, and the Order of the Templars was instituted. He was held in captivity by the Turks for six months. Ile died August 21, 1131, leaving four daughters. Shortly before his death he resigned the crown in favor of his son Fulk of Anjou, who reigned till 1142.— 13.unwIN M. (1129-1 l621, the son and succes sor of Fulk of Anjou, was King of Jerusalem after 1143. He has come down to us in tradi tion as a model of crusading chivalry. The Christians lost Edessa during his reign. He several times defeated Nureddin, Sultan of Aleppo. He endeavored to improve the external and internal defenses of his kingdom. Saracens are said to have served under him, so much was he respected. lie married Theodora, the daugh ter of the Greek Emperor Slanucl, and died, it is believed, of poison, at Tripolis, in Syria, Feb ruary 10, 1162. llis reign marked the height of power of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. He was .Succeeded in the Government by his brother Amalric, or Amau•y, who died in I173.—BALDWIN 1V., the son and successor of Amalric, surnamed the Leper, reigned till 1183.—BALDWIN V., a child of • five. the sun of Sibylla, sister of Baldwin IV., was then called to the throne. He died in 1186, a year before Jerusalem was re taken by Saladin. Consult: Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Cox, History of the Crusades (New York, 1889) ; also references under CRUSADES.
BALDWIN I. (1171-e.1206). The first Latin Emperor of Constantinople. He was born at
Valenciennes, the son of Baldwin VIII., Count of Flanders and Ilainault. In 1195 he succeeded his father as Count of Flanders. In 1200 he ap pointed his brother Philip to the regency of Hainault and Flanders, and joined the Fourth Crusade. Part of the Crusaders—Baldwin 1. among others--were induced to assist the Vene tians in reeonquering Zara, in Dalmatia, from the King of Hungary. While at Zara the young Alexius, son of Isaac 11., Emperor of Constanti nople, asked the assistance of the Crusaders against his uncle. Alexins Angelus, who had de posed and blinded Isaac II., and had usurped the throne. In return for• their aid he promised to pay the Crusaders a liberal sum of money, to help them recover Palestine, and to effect the union of the Greek Church with the Roman. The Crusaders agreed, defeated the usurper's forces, and restored the rightful emperor; but when Alexius experienced some difficulty in car rying out his promises they turned their arms against him. A revolution broke out in the city at the same time. Alexius the Younger was murdered, and his father died soon after. Alex ius Ducas Murzuflos then usurped the throne, but was defeated by the Crusaders, and Constanti nople was sacked, the Latins and the Venetians sharing the booty. Baldwin was chosen emperor, and crowned on May 9, 1204; but he received only about a fourth part of the Empire—Con stantinople and Thrace—the Venetians obtaining the greater share of the provinces. A part, also fell to the French adventurers who accompanied the expedition, and several provinces remained in the hands of Greek princes. The capacities of Baldwin 1. were not able to cope with the evils necessarily attending so anomalous a position. The Greeks were discontented, and, backed by Calo-John, King of Bulgaria, took advantage of the absence of Baldwin l.'s brother with the flower of his troops in Asia, and rose and mas sacred the Latins scattered throughout the towns of Thrace, and made themselves masters of Adrianople. Baldwin laid siege to the town with the forces he had at his disposal, but -was defeated and taken prisoner, April 14, 1205, by the Bulgarian king, and probably died about a rear after (1206) in captivity. The facts abOut his death were never known. In 1225 a usurper attempted to pass himself off for Bald win, and thus obtain Flanders. Ilaldwin 1. was succeeded by his brother henry. Consult: Pears, Fall of Constantinople (London, 1885) ; Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Homan Empire, new ed.
Vol. VI. (London, 1898).