Baldwin V of Jerusalem - Baldwin As Sole Monarch

Baldwin As Sole Monarch

Baldwin IV finally succumbed to his leprosy in spring 1185. Shortly before his death, he ordered an official public crown-wearing for his nephew at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (since the little boy had already been crowned). Baldwin V was carried on the shoulders of Balian of Ibelin, not only because Balian was particularly tall, but also to demonstrate that his aunt Isabella's family supported his accession. Baldwin V was now sole king, but being still a minor, Raymond III was his bailli, and his great-uncle Joscelin III of Edessa his personal guardian.

Baldwin's reign lasted just over a year, and he died in the autumn of 1186, at Acre. His grandfather William and great-uncle Joscelin accompanied his coffin to Jerusalem. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in an elaborately carved tomb-chest, which was mostly destroyed in the early nineteenth century. However, fragments of it have been identified by Zehava Jacoby in the possession of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

It had been agreed that, should Baldwin V die as a child, the kingdom could be claimed either by his mother Sibylla or his aunt Isabella, the only surviving children of his grandfather Amalric I. The succession would be determined by a council consisting of Baldwin's kinsmen, the Kings of England and France, the Holy Roman Emperor, and the Pope: in the meantime, his "most rightful heir" would act as bailli. This agreement was completely ignored once Baldwin was dead, although it was later invoked by his paternal uncle Conrad (his nearest male relative) in his challenge to Guy's kingship after the Battle of Hattin.