section_path: Crusades and the Holy Land, 1095–1291/Early 12th century
section_name: Early 12th century
paragraph_text: Early 12th century
  
  Urban II died on 29 July 1099, fourteen days after the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, but before news of the event had reached Rome. He was succeeded by Pope Paschal II who continued the policies of his predecessors in regard to the Holy Land. Godfrey died in 1100. Dagobert of Pisa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and Tancred looked to Bohemond to come south, but he was captured by the Danishmends. The Lorrainers foiled the attempt to seize power and enabled Godfrey's brother, Baldwin I, to take the crown.
  
  Paschal II promoted the large-scale Crusade of 1101 in support of the remaining Franks. This new crusade was a similar size to the First Crusade and joined in Byzantium by Raymond of Saint-Gilles. Command was fragmented and the force split in three:
  
  The defeat of the crusaders proved to the Muslim world that the crusaders were not invincible, as they appeared to be during the First Crusade. Within months of the defeat, the Franks and Fatimid Egypt began fighting in three battles at Ramla, and one at Jaffa:
  
  Baldwin of Edessa, later king of Jerusalem as Baldwin II, and Patriarch Bernard of Valence ransomed Bohemond for 100,000 gold pieces. Baldwin and Bohemond then jointly campaigned to secure Edessa's southern front. On 7 May 1104, the Frankish army was defeated by the Seljuk rulers of Mosul and Mardin at the battle of Harran. Baldwin II and his cousin, Joscelin of Courtenay, were captured. Bohemond and Tancred retreated to Edessa where Tancred assumed command. Bohemond returned to Italy, taking with him much of Antioch's wealth and manpower. Tancred revitalised the beleaguered principality with victory at the battle of Artah on 20 April 1105 over a larger force, led by the Seljuk Ridwan of Aleppo. He was now able to secure Antioch's borders and push back his Greek and Muslim enemies. Under Paschal's sponsorship, Bohemond launched a version of a crusade in 1107 against the Byzantines, crossing the Adriatic and besieging Durrës. The siege failed; Alexius hit his supply lines, forcing his surrender. The terms laid out in the Treaty of Devol were never enacted because Bohemond remained in Apulia and died in 1111, leaving Tancred as notional regent for his son Bohemond II. In 1007, the people of Tell Bashir ransomed Joscelin and he negotiated Baldwin's release from Jawali Saqawa, atabeg of Mosul, in return for money, hostages and military support. Tancred and Baldwin, supported by their respective Muslim allies, entered violent conflict over the return of Edessa leaving 2,000 Franks dead before Bernard of Valence, patriarch of both Antioch and Edessa, adjudicated in Baldwin's favour.
  
  On 13 May 1110, Baldwin II and a Genoese fleet captured Beirut. In the same month, Muhammad I Tapar, sultan of the Seljuk Empire, sent an army to recover Syria, but a Frankish defensive force arrived at Edessa, ending the short siege of the city. On 4 December, Baldwin captured Sidon aided by a flotilla of Norwegian pilgrims led by Sigurd the Crusader. Next year, Tancred's extortion from Antioch's Muslim neighbours provoked the inconclusive battle of Shaizar between the Franks and an Abbasid army led by the governor of Mosul, Mawdud. Tancred died in 1112 and power passed to his nephew Roger of Salerno. In May 1113, Mawdud invaded Galilee with Toghtekin, atabeg of Damascus. On 28 June this force surprised Baldwin, chasing the Franks from the field at the battle of al-Sannabra. Mawdud was killed by Assassins. Bursuq ibn Bursuq led the Seljuk army in 1115 against an alliance of the Franks, Toghtekin, his son-in-law Ilghazi and the Muslims of Aleppo. Bursuq feigned retreat and the coalition disbanded. Only the forces of Roger and Baldwin of Edessa remained, but, heavily outnumbered, they were victorious on 14 September at the first battle of Tell Danith.
  
  In April 1118, Baldwin I died through illness while raiding in Egypt. His cousin, Baldwin of Edessa, was unanimously elected his successor. In June 1119, Ilghazi, now emir of Aleppo, attacked Antioch with more than 10,000 men. Roger of Salerno 's army of 700 knights, 3,000 foot soldiers and a corps of Turcopoles was defeated at the battle of Ager Sanguinis, or field of blood, and Roger was among the many killed. Baldwin II's counter-attack forced the offensive's end, after an inconclusive second battle of Tell Danith.
  
  In January 1120 the secular and ecclesiastical leaders of the Outremer gathered at the Council of Nablus. The council laid a foundation of a law code for the kingdom of Jerusalem that replaced common law. The council also heard the first direct appeals for support made to the Papacy and Republic of Venice. They responded with the Venetian Crusade, sending a large fleet that supported the capture of Tyre in 1124. In April 1123, Baldwin II was ambushed and captured by Belek Ghazi while campaigning north of Edessa, along with Joscelin I, Count of Edessa. He was released in August 1024 in return for 80,000 gold pieces and the city of Azaz. In 1129, the Council of Troyes approved the rule of the Knights Templar for Hugues de Payens. He returned to the East with a major force including Fulk V of Anjou. This allowed the Franks to capture the town of Banias during the Crusade of 1129. Defeat at Damascus and Marj al-Saffar ended the campaign and Frankish influence on Damascus for years.
  
  The Levantine Franks sought alliances with the Latin West through the marriage of heiresses to wealthy martial aristocrats. Constance of Antioch was married to Raymond of Poitiers, son of William IX, Duke of Aquitaine. Baldwin II's eldest daughter Melisende of Jerusalem was married to Fulk of Anjou in 1129. When Baldwin II died on 21 August 1131. Fulk and Melisende were consecrated joint rulers of Jerusalem. Despite conflict caused by the new king appointed his own supporters and the Jerusalemite nobles attempted to curb his rule the couple were reconciled and melisende exercised significant influence. When Fulk died in 1143 she became joint ruler with their son, Baldwin III of Jerusalem. At the same time, the advent of Imad ad-Din Zengi saw the Crusaders threatened by a Muslim ruler who would introduce jihad to the conflict, joining the powerful Syrian emirates in a combined effort against the Franks. He became atabeg of Mosul in September 1127 and used this to expand his control to Aleppo in June 1128. In 1135, Zengi moved against Antioch and, when the Crusaders failed to put an army into the field to oppose him, he captured several important Syrian towns. He defeated Fulk at the battle of Ba'rin of 1137, seizing Ba'rin Castle.
  
  In 1137, Zengi invaded Tripoli, killing the count Pons of Tripoli. Fulk intervened, but Zengi's troops captured Pons' successor Raymond II of Tripoli, and besieged Fulk in the border castle of Montferrand. Fulk surrendered the castle and paid Zengi a ransom for his and Raymond's freedom. John II Komnenos, emperor since 1118, reasserted Byzantine claims to Cilicia and Antioch, compelling Raymond of Poitiers to give homage. In April 1138, the Byzantines and Franks jointly besieged Aleppo and, with no success, began the Siege of Shaizar, abandoning it a month later.
  
  On 13 November 1143, while the royal couple were in Acre, Fulk was killed in a hunting accident. On Christmas Day 1143, their son Baldwin III of Jerusalem was crowned co-ruler with his mother. That same year, having prepared his army for a renewed attack on Antioch, John II Komnenos went hunting wild boar, cutting himself with a poisoned arrow. He died on 8 April 1143 and was succeeded as emperor by his son Manuel I Komnenos.
  
  Following John's death, the Byzantine army withdrew, leaving Zengi unopposed. Fulk's death later in the year left Joscelin II of Edessa with no powerful allies to help defend Edessa. Zengi came north to begin the first siege of Edessa, arriving on 28 November 1144. The city had been warned of his arrival and was prepared for a siege, but there was little they could do. Zengi realised there was no defending force and surrounded the city. The walls collapsed on 24 December 1144. Zengi's troops rushed into the city, killing all those who were unable to flee. All the Frankish prisoners were executed, but the native Christians were allowed to live. The Crusaders were dealt their first major defeat.
  
  Zengi was assassinated by a slave on 14 September 1146 and was succeeded in the Zengid dynasty by his son Nūr-ad-Din. The Franks recaptured the city during the Second Siege of Edessa of 1146 by stealth but could not take or even properly besiege the citadel. After a brief counter-siege, Nūr-ad-Din took the city. The men were massacred, with the women and children enslaved, and the walls razed.