Внезапная смерть иерусалимского короля Фулька I, или Как передавали власть в государстве крестоносцев

Abstract

The article examines a tragic episode in the history of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, that is, the sudden death of king Fulk I of Jerusalem. The author tries to answer the question what consequences this event had for the society and state of the crusaders. To this end, she embeds this fact into a more general context of the political history of the Latin Orient. The death of Fulk turns out to have weakened his kingdom and provoked serious political crisis. It triggered a new stage of struggle for power, which eventually escalated into a real civil war, culminating in the accession of Fulk’s son Baudouin III to the throne. The study shows that the crusaders’ state was regarded by its ruling elite not as an institution providing a political framework for society but as a hereditary possession of the rulers which changed hands like any other kind of property. The death of a member of the royal family could disable this system.