Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Maps
- Genealogies
- Glossary
- Prologue
- 1 The sources for Baldwin IV's reign
- 2 Baldwin's childhood
- 3 The kingdom
- 4 The international status of the kingdom
- 5 The king's minority
- 6 Western aid. William of Montferrat and Philip of Flanders
- 7 The victor of Mont Gisard
- 8 Prince Reynald's initiative
- 9 The dying king
- 10 The heirs of the leper king
- Epilogue
- Appendix An evaluation of the leprosy of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem in the context of the medieval world
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - The king's minority
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2015
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Maps
- Genealogies
- Glossary
- Prologue
- 1 The sources for Baldwin IV's reign
- 2 Baldwin's childhood
- 3 The kingdom
- 4 The international status of the kingdom
- 5 The king's minority
- 6 Western aid. William of Montferrat and Philip of Flanders
- 7 The victor of Mont Gisard
- 8 Prince Reynald's initiative
- 9 The dying king
- 10 The heirs of the leper king
- Epilogue
- Appendix An evaluation of the leprosy of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem in the context of the medieval world
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
No regent was appointed for Baldwin IV even though he was a minor. This matter must have been considered by the High Court at the time of his election, and the decision which it reached may be reflected in a passage in the Livre au roi, a treatise on the laws of the kingdom drawn up for Aimery of Lusignan (1197–1205):
The regency of the kingdom should be entrusted to the nearest relation, male or female, on the mother's side if the claim to the throne comes through the mother, or the nearest male relation on the father's side if the claim to the throne comes through him. And that is the law and true sense of the assise.
This enactment excludes the mother of a child ruler from the regency if he inherits the throne from his father, and almost certainly reflects a decision made when Baldwin IV became king. The ruling ran contrary to the custom of the kingdom in the case of lordships, where a mother normally had the right to administer the fief on behalf of a child heir. In Baldwin IV's case that custom could not be applied because his parents' marriage had been annulled and his mother, Agnes of Courtenay, was not legally King Amalric's widow, while the dowager-queen, Maria Comnena, was not the young king's mother.
It would appear that the High Court did not reach any decision about who Baldwin's ‘nearest male relation on the father's side’ was, and the work of government automatically devolved on the seneschal, Miles of Plancy. John of Ibelin, writing some eighty years later about the customs of the kingdom, noted:
If it come to pass that the king is absent from the kingdom and his representative is also absent, the seneschal, by virtue of his office, should hold the king's place save in matters relating to the army and to military campaigns.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Leper King and his HeirsBaldwin IV and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, pp. 84 - 108Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000