The leper king was born in mid-1161 to Amalric of Jerusalem and Agnes of Courtenay and was named Baldwin IV. His godfather was King Baldwin III, who jokingly gave the Baldwin IV the Kingdom of Jerusalem as a present for Baldwin's IV christening. King Baldwin III would sadly passes away in 1163 without an heir and Amalric was next in line for the throne but was denied the throne because the High Court feared his wife Agnes due to her potential influence. He was forced into an annument, which meant that Amalric's marriage Agnes was rendered null and void. Amalric was able to to have Baldwin IV and his sister Sibylla be declared as legitamate, but Baldwin's mother was forced to marry anothter ruler and only ever saw Baldwin during public occasions.
Baldwin IV was suspected to have leprosy at the age of 9-years old. William of Tyre was an archbishop who was tasked with looking afer Balwdin IV. It was suspected that Baldwin IV had leopracy due to him not being able to feel any pain in his right arm. He was sent to Arabs to be treated and in the meantime he was taught about horse riding. Due to his condition it caused him to be handicapped because he couldn't feel his right arm but still managed to learn how to. Due to his suspected illness he was overlooked as a possible canidate as the next ruler.That was before trajedy struck.
Sadly, in June of 1174, Amalric became sick with dysentery and died on July 11th. Due to the kings death Baldwin was the only suitable canidate despite the objections from the High Court due to Baldwin's leprosy. His coronation took place in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and on the 75th anniversary of the First Crusade's seizure of Jerusalem.
Baldwin IV hadn't met the age of majority which is when a person reaches what would be considered adulthood, which at the time was 15 years old. The government needed a ruler until Baldwin IV could take over, Miles of Plancy was the one who took over for a bit until he was murdered for trying to expand his authority. The next to become the regent was Count Raymond III of Tripoli but Baldwin IV sat in for High Court meetings when Raymond was away for military duties. While in regency when Baldwin IV hit puberty it's thought to belive that puberty caused his leporasy to accelerate and his leporasy became more apparent. During this time, Baldwin's mother Agnes also stepped back into his life and quickly Baldwin became attatched to her.
On July 15 1176, they held the second anniversary for his coronation he reached the age of majority. One of the first things he did was launch a full scale attack on Egypt with the help of an ally named Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, also known as Saladin.
Sala al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, also known as Saladin was a great sultan who worked his way up the ranks due to his consistant victories against the crusaders. At the height of his of his power, Saladin ruled over both Egypt and Syria which locations that would be considered powerhouses in those times. He was also a great adversary aginst Baldwin IV and both had a great deal of respect for each other. They both highly respected each other because they both were master tacticians and both were very accomplished within their kingdoms.
Saladin once had an alliance with Baldwin's former regent, Count Raymond III who allowed Saladin to cross Galilee so Saladin could assist in defending Tiberias. Baldwin IV felt that Saladin was growing too much in power and decided to cut off his quest for power by intervening in Saladin's war against the Order of Assassins. On August 1, Baldwin with the help of Count Raymond III led the knights of Jerusalem and Tripoli on a raid against Saladin and his troops in Beqaa Valley (Now modern day Lebanon). Due to Baldwin's leprosy he could only make use of one arm during the raid but still managed to lead his troops to victory and forced Saladin to retreat and abandon his campaign. In 1177 Baldwin's sister's husband, William of Monferrat became sick with malaria and Baldwin went to visit him during his time of being sick but as a result Baldwin also became gravely ill and shortly after William died. William left Baldwin's sister, Sibylla pregnant and Baldwin was bedridden. During his sickened state the Byzantine alliance collapsed due to Saladin's quest for power and the uncooperativeness of differing rulers from allying kingdoms.
In late October, Saladin tried to invade the Kingdom of Jerusalem while the Knights of Templar allies left to help at Gaza and left him all alone with no reinforcements. Baldwin went out to meet Saladin and invited him to Ascalon and Baldwin called a arrière-ban, where all able-bodied men were caleld to arms to help defend the city of Ascalon. Saladin arrived at Ascalon on November 22nd, where Baldwin awaited him outside the city with his army. Saladin had the strength in numbers and Baldwin saw this and decided to retreat back into the city of Ascalon. Seeing that he had the advantage, Saladin proceeded to Jerusalem ignoring the Baldwin and his makeshift army. Baldwin manged to get reinforcements from Raymond of Tripoli and the Knights of Templars and managed to catch Saladin off gaurd. While Saladin was on route to Jerusalem, Baldwin and his reinforcements rode out of Ascalon and attacked Saladins dispersed army at Montgisard and caused Saladin to barely escape with his life. After this decisive victory Baldwin decied to fortify his kingdom and was advised to build the castle, Le Chastellet on the upper River Jordan as a strategic measure much to Saladin's objections. Sometime in April 1179, Saladin sieged La Chastellet and destroyed the castle.
Baldwin's sister, Sibylla now widowed gave birth to her son Baldwin V sometime in the winter of 1177-78. In 1178 the official mourning for Sibylla's husband, William of Montefrat had concluded and was time for her to look for a new husband which was a complicated matter. Baldwin scouted out Hugh III of Burgundy as a potential canidate but during the Holy week in 1180, the prince of Antioch and the count count of Tripoli marched their armies into the Kingdom of Jerusalem and try to force Baldwin IV to marry his sister off to another ruler named Baldwin of Ibelin. They tried to force Baldwin IV to marry his sister Baldwin of Ibelin so that Baldwin IV could give up the thrown because of his worsening condition. Baldwin IV acted on this surprise and had Sibylla marry a Poitevin knight named Guy of Lusignan. The prince and the count had no choice but to accept the marriage and go back empty handed. Baldwin had hoped that he could hand the kingdom over to his sister but due to many objections from that happening due to Sibylla not marrying someone of royal decent, Baldwin IV made a two year truce with Saladin so he could sort out the whole sitution so he could abdicate. Baldwin IV had to marry his 8-year old half sister, Isabella off to teenaged Lord of TToron, Humphrey IV in October of 1180.
During the two year truce, Baldwin made sure to have a backup plan for the kingdom in case he were to pass away. He made sure to associate Guy and Sibylla in public acts so people could get accustomed to Guy being a member of the royal family. He also made sure to distrubute parts of the kingdom to his family members in case he were to have an early passing. He gave his uncle Joscelin of Courtenay, the cities Maron and Chastelneuf and gave usufruct of Toron to his mother Agnes. Baldwin's truce with Saladin came to a conclusion mid-1181 when Raynald of Châtillon seized a merchant caravan and while Baldwin tried to come to a peaceful compromise but Raynald refused unless the Baldwin yielded to Saladin. Saladin seeing that one of Baldwin's allies had turned against him and a coup was stirring, that's when Saladin decided to try to invade Jerusalem. The Muslims started by laying a siege on Bethsan and so Baldwin decided to go there to push back aginst the invaders and even though Baldwin was out numbered he still managed to repell the siege and won the Battle of Le Forbelet. Now another army approached from Egypt which is down South and Saladin decided to try to go for Beirut to try to split Baldwin's forces but Baldwin made the choice of prioritizing Beirut over the Southern invasion. Baldwin with the assistance of Italian maritime republics managed to destroy Saladins naval blockade of Beirut. Saladin retreated and went North to try to expand his kingdom while Baldwin started a campaign on Saladin's territory. First he went after Damascus then to Bosra before finally attacking and capturing Cave de Sueth. In the winter of 1182-83, he attacked Damascus again and threatened to destory a mosque but was advised not to due to the retaliation that the churches could face.
By 1183 Baldwin IV could not walk without being supported or use his hands and became blind due to his inability to blink which caused his eyes to dry up. Baldwin came close to death when he became bedridden with a fever and thinking of the worst case scenario, he appointed Guy as regency but Baldwin still had the title and authority over the city of Jerusalem. Due to Guy not having any military experience it caused a lot of conflict with Baldwins barons since he lacked experience and knowledge but luckily Baldwin managed to recover from his sickness. He visited Guy and Sibylla in Tyre and found that his health had greatly improved due to the region and offered Guy to trade kingdoms but Guy rudely refused which left a sour taste in Baldwin. In late 1183, Baldwin's half-sister, Isabella married Humphrey IV of Toron but during the celebration, Saladin attacked the city of Kerak where the wedding was being hosted hoping to capture Isabella and Humphrey IV. Baldwin quickly stripped Guy of his title as regency and took full control of the kingdom and went to aid Isabella and Humphrey IV and fend off Saladin and his forces. After the dismissal of Guy the High Council demanded that Baldwin have a successor, and so Baldwin apointed Sibylla's son, Baldwin V and Baldwin's mother, Agnes as his successors. Baldwin IV also implemented the idea of having a lighting beacon on the Tower of David so that messages could be sent and recieved faster which led to multiple nearby kingdoms also implementing these beacons.
After the falling out between Guy and Baldwin IV, Guy did not want nothing to do with Baldwin and Baldwin tries to reason with him and try to sort out the situation but there wasn't any way of fixing this problem. Baldwin then thought of ways to ensure that his nephew, Baldwin V could not be over thrown but before he could figure that out Guy had massacred the Beduin of the royal fief of Darum because they were under royal protection and were the ones who provided information about the Egyptian armie's movements. Shortly after this massacre, Baldwin IV developed a fever and in late 1185 bestowed regency on Raymond of Tripoli because there was no other suitable regency, even though Baldwin did not want to have Raymond as regency. Raymond was also chosen as Baldwin V's regency by the High Council since they found him to be best suitable. It's debated by historians that Baldwin IV died sometime in March 1185 or before May 16, 1185. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, nearby where his father was also buried. Sadly, Baldwin V died the following year and Sibylla thus was next in line and made Guy the new king. Saladin still waged war on Jerusalem and eventually defeated Guy at the Battle of Hattin in 1187 and Sibylla soon followed and died in 1190. Isabella I was next in line for the broken kingdom and was tasked with rebuilding what she could.
I decided to make a timeline following the story of King Baldwin IV because I personally am a big fan of history and his story is one of those intruiging stories from history that I find impressive. When I first read about King Baldwin IV I was around 15 years old and reading about a king who suffered from a disability but still managed to wage war, rule kingdom, and fight in battles really impressed me as a kid because most of us can barely do anything when we catch a cold. Reading how a man with leprosy still managed to accomplish all that he did, showed me that you can do anything you put your mind to. I also did this project because I figured that there may be someone out there who may also find the story of King Baldwin IV interesting. Some problems I ran into when making this project was trying to make the images look as they do when scrolling, and also understanding how background images can be implemented into their own sections took me a bit of time to learn. Another problem I ran into was keeping track of what divider was named what becasue I had to use so many I accidentally kept naming the different dividers the same name.