Baldwin of Ibelin, also known as Baldwin of Ramla (died c. 1187), was an important noble of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. He was the son of Barisan of Ibelin and brother of Hugh of Ibelin and Balian of Ibelin.
After the death of his eldest brother Hugh, the castle of Ibelin passed to Baldwin, who remained lord of Ramla and passed Ibelin to his younger brother Balian. Baldwin and Balian supported Raymond III of Tripoli over Miles of Plancy as regent for Baldwin IV in 1174, and in 1177 the brothers were present at the Battle of Montgisard. Baldwin was captured at the Battle of the Ford of Jacob's Daughters on the Jordan River in 1179. He was ransomed by Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus, and after his release in 1180 he visited Constantinople. Supposedly, the emperor sat him in a chair and covered him up to his head in the gold coins that were to be used as his ransom money. During his stay in Constantinople, the emperor died. In 1183 he supported Raymond against Guy of Lusignan, husband of Sibylla of Jerusalem and by now regent for the ailing Baldwin IV. Lord Baldwin was among the barons who advised the king to crown Baldwin V in 1183, while Baldwin IV was still alive; this was an attempt to prevent Guy from succeeding as king. Baldwin V became king while still a child in 1185, but when the young king died in 1186, Raymond's choice for the kingship, Humphrey IV of Toron, refused the crown and joined Guy. Baldwin refused to pay homage to Guy, placed his young son Thomas under the care of his brother Balian, and exiled himself to the Principality of Antioch, where he was welcomed with great fanfare.
According to the Chronicle of Ernoul, an Old French continuation of the chronicle of William of Tyre, written by a scribe of Baldwin's brother Balian, Baldwin disliked Guy because he himself had wanted to marry Sibylla in 1180. Baldwin and Sibylla exchanged letters during Baldwin's captivity, but the Ibelin family was not yet as important as the French lords of Lusignan and Baldwin was unsuccessful. Baldwin considered Guy "a madman and a fool", and refused to pay homage because his father had not paid homage to Guy's father (i.e., Guy was a newcomer, and had no place in the kingdom where Baldwin was a native baron). He refused to return to Jerusalem to assist Guy against Saladin, and probably died in his self-imposed exile in 1187.
Baldwin's daughter Eschiva married the future Amalric II of Jerusalem and became the mother of the future king Hugh I of Cyprus.
Another Baldwin of Ibelin was the son of John of Ibelin, the Old Lord of Beirut, and the grand-nephew of this Baldwin.
Sources
- William of Tyre, A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea. E. A. Babcock and A. C. Krey, trans. Columbia University Press, 1943.
- Peter W. Edbury, The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade: Sources in Translation. Ashgate, 1996.
- Peter W. Edbury, John of Ibelin and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Boydell Press, 1997.
- Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades, vol. II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University Press, 1952.