Near East Kingdoms

County of Tripoli
AD 1109 - 1287

The county of Tripoli was the last of the four major Crusader states in the Levant to be created. It plugged the gap between Antioch and Jerusalem, and secured the entire eastern coastline for the Crusaders, while largely being neighboured to the east by the atabegs of Aleppo and Damascus. Its territory reached from a little way above the Crusader town of Beirut in the south to beyond the city of Tartus in the north (which the Crusaders called Antartus or Tortosa), now in Syria.

The beginnings of the county came in 1102, when Count Raymond IV of Toulouse, one of the leaders of the First Crusade, began a lengthy war with the Banu Ammar emirs of Tripoli (theoretical vassals of the Fatimid caliphs in Cairo), gradually seizing much of their territory and besieging them within Tripoli itself.

Raymond died in 1105, leaving his infant son Alfonso-Jordan as his heir, with a cousin, William-Jordan of Cerdagne, as regent. William-Jordan continued the siege of Tripoli for the next four years, when a bastard son of Raymond, Bertrand, who had been acting as regent of Toulouse, arrived in the east, leaving Toulouse to Alfonso-Jordan and his mother, who returned to France. Thanks to the mediation of King Baldwin I of Jerusalem, Bertrand and William-Jordan eventually came to an agreement whereby each would keep control of their own conquests, an agreement which worked best for Bertrand when he captured Tripoli later that year. When William-Jordan died a few months later, Bertrand became sole ruler.

1103 - 1105

Died at the siege of Tripoli.

1105 - 1109

Son.

1105 - 1109

Regent.

1109

Following a siege which lasts from 1103, Tripoli falls.

1109 - 1112

1112 - 1137

1137 - 1152

1152 - 1187

Regent of the kingdom of Jerusalem (until 1185).

1187 - 1233

Prince of Antioch (1201-1216 & 1219-1233).

1197 - 1198

Philip Hohenstaufen, youngest brother of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI and a former bishop of Würzburg, has already been made duke of Tuscany in 1195. In 1196 he had become duke of Swabia on the death of his brother Conrad, and now appears to be the guardian of Henry's son, the infant Frederick (II). In 1197, Philip sets out to fetch Frederick from Sicily for his coronation as king of the Germans when he hears of the emperor's death and returns at once to Germany.

Philip Hohenstaufen climbed through the ranks of the nobility during his lifetime, from bishop of Würzburg, through duke of Tuscany and then Swabia, to become emperor of the Germans

Many other members of the German nobility also hurry back to their seats in order to protect their interests during the coming struggle. They have been involved in the short-lived German Crusade (otherwise known as the Crusade of 1197 or the Crusade of Henry VI), including Ulrich II of Carinthia. Henry VI had been determined to complete the work of his father in the Holy Land with a fresh expedition, but he himself had died before even embarking. Those who remain in the Holy Land capture territory for the kingdom of Jerusalem between Tyre and Tripoli, restoring the land link to the county of Tripoli, but the campaign ends abruptly with the recapture of the lordships of Beirut and Sidon in 1198 (both lost to Saladin in 1187 - the brotherhood of the Teutonic Knights is also elevated in this year to a spiritual military order, and its priors become grand masters).

1233 - 1252

Prince of Antioch.

1252 - 1275

Prince of Antioch (1252-1268).

1287 - 1289

The succession is disputed between Behemond's heir and the city commune.

1275 - 1287

Titular prince of Antioch.

1268

Antioch falls to the Mameluke Sultan Baybars.

1287 - 1289

Sister and heir.

1289

Following a siege by Sultan Qalawun al Alfi, Tripoli falls to the Mamelukes.