Susan B. Edgington is a teaching and research fellow at Queen Mary University of London. She has written extensively on many aspects of the crusades, but it is her close familiarity with the Latin sources for the period in question, 1095-1118, that uniquely qualifies her to write this biography. She is the editor and translator of Albert of Aachen’s Historia Ierosolimitana (Oxford, 2007); translator (with Thomas S. Asbridge) of Walter the Chancellor’s The Antiochene Wars (Aldershot, 1999); (with Carol Sweetenham) of The Chanson d’Antioche (Farnham, 2011); and (with Steven Biddlecombe) of Badric of Bourgueil’s History of the Jerusalemites (Woodbridge, forthcoming). Her critical comparison of the relationship of Bartolf of Nangis’ Gesta Francorum Iherusalem expugnantium with the chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres (Crusades 13, 2014) will lead to a new edition and translation of this important source.

"Susan Edington has written a tremendously useful and welcome study of Baldwin and the history surrounding his tenure as Count of Edessa and subsequent accession to the royal title. Paying due attention both to the context of Baldwin's leadership and what the sources reveal about his character, Edgington presents new insights into the world of the First Crusade and its aftermath. The complex network of primary sources that describe the progress and memorialisation of the First Crusade and the creation of the Latin states of Outremer are dealt with deftly throughout."- Megan Cassidy-Welch, Sehepunkte"Edgington presents Baldwin I not as a good man, but rather a man who was good at being a king. Baldwin was the right man at the right time, and was exactly what the Kingdom of Jerusalem needed during its formative years. Similarly, this excellent biography, which brings together and expands upon many of the strands of the current research on Baldwin I, is exactly what scholars of the Latin East have needed."- Stephen Donnachie, University of Swansea

• List of mapsList of abbreviationsPrefaceNote on translations First CrusaderBaldwin the Younger SonThe First CrusadeThe Journey to ConstantinopleContacts with ByzantiumConstantinopleThe Oath to AlexiosThe Evidence Nicaea to EdessaThe Siege of NicaeaThe Battle of DorylaeumCilician Adventure or Cilician Campaign?TarsusMamistraComing of AgeTurbessel Count of EdessaWhy Edessa?The Invitation from EdessaThe CoupRuler of EdessaThe Armenian MarriageRebellionSupport for the CrusadePilgrimage to Jerusalem Crisis in Jerusalem, 1100Bohemond’s CaptureGodfrey’s Rule in JerusalemGodfrey’s TitleGodfrey’s DeathThe Succession DisputeBaldwin’s Journey to Jerusalem King of JerusalemA Royal ProgressCoronationTancredBohemond’s Captivity and ReleaseRaymond of Saint-GillesDaibert of PisaThe Failure of the Holy Fire, 1101Six Years Later Ecclesiastical AffairsThe Patriarchate of JerusalemDaibert of PisaBaldwin’s AccessionPatriarch Evremar (1102-1108)Patriarch Gibelin (1108-1112)Patriarch Arnulf (1112-1118) The Conquest of the LittoralIntroductionThe Situation at Baldwin’s AccessionThe Capture of Arsuf, 1101The Siege and Capture of Caesarea, 1101The Siege and Capture of Acre, 1104The Capture of Tripoli (1109) and Beirut (1110)The Capture of Sidon, 1110Conclusion Fighting the SaracensThe First Battle of Ramla, 1101Arrival of the ‘Crusade of 1101’The Second Battle of Ramla, 1102A Saracen Ambush, 1103The Third Battle of Ramla, 1105Ambushes and Raids The Army, Administration, and AlliesIntroductionThe ArmyAdministrationThe Crusader StatesEdessa and AntiochTripoliAttacks by Mawdūd of Mosul, 1110-1113The Turkish Invasion of 1115ByzantiumSicily Last Years and LegacyIntroductionInto ArabiaThe Last CampaignThe Funeral ProcessionTomb and EpitaphTwelfth-Century Assessments of BaldwinWilliam of TyreBaldwin’s MarriagesThe SuccessionConclusion BibliographyIndex