Boniface I, Marquess of Montferrat the independent city communes of the Lombard League. Boniface's eldest brother, William, had died in 1177, soon after marrying Sibylla, the heiress presumptive to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1179, the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus offered his daughter Maria Porphyrogenita as a bride to one of the sons of William V. Since Boniface, like his older brother Conrad, was already married, and Frederick was a priest, the youngest brother, Renier, married her instead, only to be murdered along with her during the usurpation of Andronicus. In 1183, Boniface's nephew Baldwin V was crowned co-king of Jerusalem. William V went
Baldwin I of Jerusalem from his subjects. He appointed his relative, Baldwin of Le Bourcq, his successor in the county and Le Bourcq swore fealty to him. About 200 knights and 300–700 foot-soldiers accompanied Baldwin when he left Edessa on 2October 1100. He spent four days in Antioch, but did not accept the local inhabitants' offer to administer the principality during Bohemond's captivity. Duqaq of Damascus wanted to ambush him on the narrow road near the mouth of the Nahr al-Kaib River. Fakhr al-Mulk, the qadi of Tripoli, secretly warned Baldwin, enabling him to make arrangements to defeat the attack and he routed the