Melisende Queen of Jerusalem (1106-1161)

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Melisende or Milicent, the oldest of four daughters of King Baldwin II, was the first Crusader Queen of Jerusalem to rule in her own right. Her father trained her in statecraft and diplomacy and she had the support of the Catholic heirarchy, the Council (the Haute Cour) and the people. Her arranged marriage to Fulk, Count of Anjou, elevated him to the throne and they were jointly crowned. Fulk, however, openly dismissed her hereditory right and ignored her authority but she refused to be overlooked; which he came to accept.

Melisende ruled as Queen of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem for almost half a century: first as co-ruler with her father for a decade, then for 14 years with her husband, King Fulk, and then as regent for her thirteen year old son, Baldwin III. Finally she was queen-regnant: co-ruling with this son until her end. Both of her children became king in turn as Baldwin III and Amalric I, and Amalric’s son was Baldwin IV.

Queen Melisende patronised culture, scholarship and the arts and built and/or financed monasteries and churches including the beautiful Crusader Church at Abu Gosh (about which I have made a YouTube video) and Great Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was restored and reconsecrated with great ceremony in 1149.




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