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Baldwin I, also known as Baldwin of Boulogne, was the first count of Edessa from 1098 to 1100, and king of Jerusalem from 1100 to his death. He was the youngest son of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, and Ida of Lorraine and married a Norman noblewoman, Godehilde of Tosny. He received the County of Verdun in 1096, but he soon joined the crusader army of his brother Godfrey of Bouillon and became one of the most successful commanders of the First Crusade.
Baldwin II, also known as Baldwin of Bourcq or Bourg, was Count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118, and King of Jerusalem from 1118 until his death. He accompanied his cousins Godfrey of Bouillon and Baldwin of Boulogne to the Holy Land during the First Crusade. He succeeded Baldwin of Boulogne as the second count of Edessa when he left the county for Jerusalem following his brother's death. He was captured at the Battle of Harran in 1104. He was held first by Sökmen of Mardin, then by Jikirmish of Mosul, and finally by Jawali Saqawa. During his captivity, Tancred, the Crusader ruler of the Principality of Antioch, and Tancred's cousin, Richard of Salerno, governed Edessa as Baldwin's regents.
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Hugh of Fauquembergues, also known as Hugh of St Omer, Hugh of Falkenberg, or Hugh of Falchenberg was Prince of Galilee from 1101 to his death. He was Lord of Fauquembergues before joining the First Crusade. Baldwin I of Jerusalem granted him Galilee after its first prince, Tancred, who was Baldwin's opponent, had voluntarily renounced it. Hugh assisted Baldwin against the Fatimids and made raids into Seljuk territories. He established the castles of Toron and Chastel Neuf. He died fighting against Toghtekin, Atabeg of Damascus.
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Kogh Vasil, or Vasil the Robber, was the Armenian ruler of Raban and Kaisun at the time of the First Crusade. In the early 12th century, he was the most influential Armenian ruler who adhered to the Armenian Apostolic Church. He was succeeded by his adopted son, Vasil Dgha.
Abu'lgharib Artsuni or Abul Gharib Arsruni was Lord of Birejik and chief of the Pahlavuni clan. He was governor of the Taurus mountain region and Mopsuestia for the Emperor Alexios I. Abu'lgharib was a kinsman of Oshin of Lampron who married one of his daughters. He ceded forts at Lampron and Barbaron near the Cilician Gates to Oshin. He was installed as governor of Birejik by Baldwin I following the crushing of an Armenian conspiracy in 1098. He joined Baldwin I and Kogh Vasil in their campaign in the north in 1109. Finally, he was displaced by Baldwin II in 1116 who gave Birejik to his cousin Waleran of Le Puiset, who married another of Abu’lghrib’s daughters.
Vasil Dgha, or Dgha Vasil, was the Armenian ruler of Raban and Kaisun. He succeeded his adoptive father, Kogh Vasil, in 1112. Baldwin II, Count of Edessa, tortured Vasil to force him to abandon his domains in 1116. Vasil settled in Constantinople.
References
- Setton, Kenneth M.; Baldwin, Marshall W., eds. (1969) [1955]. A History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Hundred Years (Second ed.). Madison, Milwaukee, and London: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-04834-9.
- Runciman, Steven, A History of the Crusades, Volume One: The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Cambridge University Press, London, 1951, pgs. 197, 200-204
- Runciman, Steven, A History of the Crusades, Volume Two: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187, Cambridge University Press, London, 1952, pgs. 129-130
- Tyerman, Christopher, God’s War: A New History of the Crusades, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2006, pg. 134