The Downfall of Deus lo Volt:
The Fracture of the Ruling Class of Nobility in the
Kingdom of Jerusalem, c. 1163-1187
Abstract:
In the final decades of the 12th century the Kingdom of Jerusalem experienced several significant changes in society, international politics, and warfare; these changes were accompanied by the onset of a split between factions of the ruling class of nobility. The fracture between the “court” and “noble” party and their manipulation of the weakness of the monarchy destabilized and divided the realm. This division ultimately crippled the Franks’ ability to defend their territory from the encroachments of Saladin and his Muslim army, which, in 1187 resulted in the re-conquest of Jerusalem and the subsequent downfall of the kingdom. The fracture of the ruling class was based along complicated lines of familial and personal alliances and grudges as well as enmity between King Baldwin IV’s maternal and paternal relatives. The support of the great officers of state and the lower nobility greatly augmented the influ ence and resources of the opposing factions, who used their loyalty to assert the dominance of their respective parties over that of their enemies. Thus, the court and noble party’s endless machinations for power and their inability to unify in the face of external aggression doomed the fate of all those who resided in the Holy Land.