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Joscelin II — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Rivalry with Antioch and Byzantium

Raymond of Poitiers, the new prince of Antioch, secured his northern flank by marching against Joscelin's uncle Leo I of Cilicia. Raymond was allied with Baldwin of Marash, who was Joscelin's vassal. Joscelin sided with Leo and they repulsed Raymond's expedition. Fighting continued until 1137. In 1137, Fulk intervened again in the County of Tripoli, which was threatened by the Zengi. The army was ambushed in the mountains and while Count Raymond II was captured, Fulk sought refuge in Montferrand. Joscelin, Raymond of Poitiers, and Patriarch William of Jerusalem rushed to Fulk's aid, but when they arrived he had already surrendered Montferrand and 50,000 dinars for his freedom, unaware of the coming relief. Raymond attempted to exile Ralph of Domfront, the patriarch of Antioch, and Joscelin allowed Ralph to stay in Edessa, where Archbishop Hugo received Ralph as a spiritual overlord.

The recent Frankish defeats led to an invasion of Antioch by Byzantine emperor John II Komnenos. Joscelin, Raymond of Poitiers, and Raymond of Tripoli all swore fealty. John then completed his conquest of Cilicia, at which point Baldwin of Marash came to him and paid homage for military protection. Joscelin's submission is neglected by Byzantine chroniclers, as he ruled the weakest crusader state, but was prescribed in the Treaty of Devol from 1108. John launched a military campaign alongside Joscelin and Raymond of Poitiers into enemy territory in 1138, occupying Balat and Bizaah. The allies came to Aleppo, but lacking water and finding the defences too strong, they passed it. They then captured Atarib and Kafartab, but upon reaching Shaizar, progress ceased. John besieged the city, but his allies held back. Success here would contribute to Byzantine influence in the region, while Raymond did not want to lose Antioch in exchange for Shaizar, a condition of his submission. Joscelin disliked Raymond and the potential of him being installed in Shaizar and later Aleppo. Reportedly, Joscelin and Raymond played dice while John attacked Shaizar.

John returned to Antioch and demanded the citadel be handed over to him. In response, Joscelin instigated a riot in Antioch, forcing the emperor to withdraw. The Artuqids and Zengi attacked Edessa in the wake of John's campaign. Michael the Syrian records that the Edessans raised an army in response of 300 knights and 4000 infantry, but they were ambushed and suffered heavy losses. The county was raided by the Artuqid rulers, Timurtash and Da'ud. The Principality of Antioch faced the brunt of the attack, losing multiple frontier fortresses. Edessa was comparatively peaceful between 1138 and 1142, and in the latter year, Joscelin felt safe enough to undergo a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In 1139, Raymond was finally able to depose Ralph, who died in 1142. Based on the wording of Joscelin's charters, Raymond seems to have been his overlord since around 1140.

John returned in 1142 at the head of another large army, but suddenly turned northwards from Cilicia and appeared before Joscelin's seat at Turbessel. Due to the count's actions in 1138, the emperor seems to have distrusted him. Joscelin was surprised and had to hand over one of his daughters as a hostage. Raymond refused John's demand for Antioch and the emperor plundered its suburbs before retreating to Cilicia for the winter. Before he could return, he died in a hunting accident in April 1143.

Sieges of Edessa

In 1143, Zengi renewed his war against Joscelin, capturing a number of minor castles in Edessa. Joscelin made an alliance with Kara Arslan, signalling an intention to form a coalition against Zengi. This caused Zengi to overrun most of Kara Arslan's lands and attempt to cut communications between the allies. In 1144, Edessene forces went on a raid towards Balis and Raqqa on the Euphrates. After being promised a fortress north of Gargar, Joscelin marched to aid Kara Arslan with most of his army, and Zengi struck at Edessa. When they arrived on 28 November, the city's defences were already manned. Upon learning of Zengi's movements, Joscelin went to Turbessel with his army, as his force was too small to defeat Zengi and there he could cut off Muslim reinforcements from Aleppo. Joscelin sought aid from the other crusader rulers, and Queen Melisende of Jerusalem sent a detachment of troops.

Before reinforcements could arrive, Zengi broke into Edessa on 24 December, and broke into the citadel on 26 December. He slaughtered all of the Franks, but spared local Christians. After capturing Edessa, Zengi seized Saruj and advanced towards Birejik in 1145. Joscelin was nearby and the queen's army was quickly advancing to reinforce the garrison, motivating the Franks at Birejik to hold out. Zengi raised the siege on 2 May and returned to Mosul. Considering the defence of Birejik untenable, Joscelin surrendered it to the Muslim ruler of Mardin, an enemy of Zengi. Joscelin was left with the half of the county west of the Euphrates. Zengi crushed an Armenian plot to return Edessa to Joscelin in May of 1146, executing the ringleaders. Zengi was murdered by one of his slaves on 14 September 1146.

Joscelin responded to the assassination by launching a second attempt to reclaim Edessa alongside Baldwin of Marash. Joscelin broke into the city on 27 October, taking advantage of the cooperation of the Edessene citizens. However, he was unable to take the citadel due to a lack of siege equipment, and when Zengi's son Nur ad-Din arrived, Joscelin was forced to launch a breakout. Joscelin managed to slip out and make his way towards the Euphrates with a number of native Christians, but a battle was fought on 3 November.

The Franks initially held their own in a fighting march formation, but Joscelin launched an ill-fated cavalry charge which was avoided by the Zengids, causing his force to be routed. Baldwin of Marash was killed in the fighting, Joscelin was wounded in the arm by an arrow, and the native Christians were massacred. In Edessa, the populace was driven into exile, leaving the city desolate. This second siege was significantly more damaging than the first, and was the fatal blow to the county. In November or December of 1146, Joscelin successfully defended Azaz against eight days of Zengid assault. Nur ad-Din seized two more fortresses in Edessa before leaving.

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His difficulties prevented him from joining the Second Crusade, which shifted its focus to Damascus. The gap between Syrian and Latin Christians in the county grew under internal divisions and the actions of neighboring Muslim rulers. The count agreed to a temporary peace with Nur ad-Din in 1148, which prevented him from assisting the Principality of Antioch. This protected Nur ad-Din's flank and allowed him to invade Antioch; in the campaign, Raymond of Poitiers and Joscelin's son-in-law Reginald of Marash were killed facing Nur ad-Din at the Battle of Inab on 29 June 1149, leaving Joscelin almost surrounded. Probably in response to Reginald's death, Joscelin campaigned against Antioch's northern border and seied several towns, including Kesoun.

Mesud I, the Seljuk sultan of Rum, invaded the Principality of Antioch before besieging Joscelin at Turbessel. Baldwin III of Jerusalem sent sixty knights to prevent the fall of Azaz. The possibility that the force would go to Turbessel helped convince Mesud to raise the siege, although Joscelin had to give up his hostages. Kara Arslan turned on Joscelin and invaded Edessa, seizing Gargar and the surrounding area, while a joint Frankish-Armenian attempt to turn him back failed. Joscelin managed to defeat Nur ad-Din in a skirmish in early 1150. Patriarch Aimery summoned Joscelin in the spring of 1150 to take up the regency, but Nur ad-Din's forces took the traveling count prisoner.

When his identity became known, Joscelin was taken to Nur ad-Din who had him blinded and imprisoned. Immediately after his imprisonment the county was invaded on all sides and mostly absorbed by Mesud, Timurtash of Mardin, and Nur ad-Din, while Turbessel was sold to Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos. Although the defence of Joscelin's son, Joscelin III, prevented Mesud from capturing Turbessel, it fell to Nur ad-Din's captain Hassan in 1151. Joscelin spent the remaining nine years of his life after 1150 in captivity. His captors used threats and discipline alongside flattery to procure his conversion, but Joscelin remained a Christian until his death in May 1159. He was denied a Latin or Armenian chaplain, forcing him to receive his last sacraments from Ignace, the Jacobite Metropolitan of Aleppo.

Reputation

William of Tyre, one of the main sources of the 12th-century, despised Joscelin, and contrasted his behavior with his predecessors, Baldwin II and Joscelin I. In his thirteenth book, William provides a character portrait of Joscelin:

The mother of Joscelin the Younger was a sister of Leo the Armenian, a very influential man among his own people. Though small of stature, Joscelin was stout of limb and very robust. His skin and hair were dark, his face broad and covered with scars from the disease called smallpox. He had bulging eyes and a prominent nose. Although of a generous disposition and distinguished for military prowess, he was yet given to excessive revelry and drunkenness. He was devoted to licentiousness and uncleanness of the flesh to the point of infamous notoriety.

According to William, Joscelin lived in Turbessel due to a lack of responsibility for Edessa and a preference for pleasure. Tyre commented that "through his lack of energy and in punishment for his sins, this Joscelin lost the entire land over which his father ruled so ably." In retelling Joscelin's final fate, he elaborated on his character. According to William, Joscelin was lazy and idle, who was "given over to low and dissolute pleasures, one who spurned good ways and followed base pursuits." William remarked that, in his rivalry with Raymond of Poitiers, Joscelin "paid but slight attention to the truth of the saying, 'When your neighbor’s house is burning, your own property is in danger.'" Armenian sources were no less forgiving. According to Michael the Syrian, he was a tyrant who joined a cult of demons. Steven Runciman gives a fairly similar character portrait, but did not mention Joscelin's distinction for military prowess:

Joscelin II of Edessa lacked his father's energy and political sense. He was an unattractive figure. He was short and thick-set, dark-haired and dark-skinned; his face was pock-marked, with a huge nose and prominent eyes. He was capable of generous gestures, but was lazy, luxurious and lascivious, and quite unfitted to command the chief outpost of Frankish Christendom.

20th-century historians generally followed this line of thinking, with some nuances. Robert Lawrence Nicholson's monograph on Joscelin III accused Joscelin II of being shortsighted, isolationist, drunken, slothful, "blind to vital matters of security", preferring the pleasure of Turbessel over defending Edessa, altogether painting a negative picture. Nicholson did comment on Joscelin II's effort to stay "loyal to his Christian faith" despite "punishments, threats, and blandishments designed to make him a convert to Islam until his death in May, 1159." Other historians like Joshua Prawer and Hans Eberhard Mayer stated that Joscelin had a "feable personality" but emphasised the structural weakness of the county over his personal faults.

More recently, William's conclusions, including those relating to Joscelin, have come under greater scrutiny. Malcolm Barber points out that while William claims that Joscelin was permanently residing at Turbessel, the Muslim historians Ibn al-Qalanisi and Ibn al-Athir believed that his residence there was temporary. Barber suggests that William's intense dislike of Joscelin III, his political rival, may have colored his portrayal of Joscelin II. In his military history of the Crusader states, Nicholas Morton believes that, not yet having lost significant territory, the county was "by no means in decline" before the fall of Edessa and could still maintain long-range offensive capacity, and that the coalition with Kara Arslan was genuinely threatening to Zengi.