BALDWIN II

died 918 byname Baldwin The Bald, French Baudouin Le Chauve, Dutch Boudewijn De Kale second ruler of Flanders, who, from his stronghold at Bruges, maintained, as his father Baldwin I before him, a vigorous defense of his lands against the incursions of the Norsemen. On his mother's side a descendant of Charlemagne, he strengthened the dynastic importance of his family by marrying Aelfthryth, daughter of Alfred the Great, of Wessex, Eng. died August 1131, Jerusalem byname Baldwin Of Bourg, French Baudouin Du Bourg count of Edessa (110018), king of Jerusalem (111831), and crusade leader whose support of the religiousmilitary orders founded during his reign enabled him to expand his kingdom and to withstand the attacks of Seljuq Turks. A son of Hugh, count of Rthel, in the Ardennes region of France, he held the castle of Bourg as a feudal domain and was at first referred to as Baldwin du Bourg. He accompanied his cousins Godfrey of Bouillon and Baldwin (later King Baldwin I of Jerusalem) to Palestine with the First Crusade (1096). In 1100 he was named count of Edessa (now Urfa, Tur.) by Baldwin I when the latter became king of Jerusalem. The Seljuq Turks moved against Edessa in 1104, capturing Baldwin on May 7. Ransomed in 1108, he fought his way into Edessa to reclaim his principality from the regent, Tancred, and later recovered most of the lost territory. On April 14, 1118, Baldwin was crowned king of Jerusalem. Though captured by the Turks and held hostage from 1123 until 1124, in subsequent years he succeeded in expanding his territory and directing attacks against Muslim Damascus with the aid of the Hospitalers and the Templars, crusading religiousmilitary orders. Having had only daughters from his Armenian wife, Morfia, Baldwin gave his daughter Melisend in marriage to Fulk V, count of Anjou and Maine, in 1129 and named them as his successors.