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M.Besant E.Walter
Jerusalem, the city of Herod and Saladin
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M.Besant E.Walter
Jerusalem, the city of Herod and Saladin
page 243
bore the more weight, as it seemed entirely disinterested. Arnold, the patriarch, seconded him, and Baldwin was chosen king unanimously. Whether Jocelyn's advice was altogether disinterested may he doubted. At all events he received from the new king the investiture of the princi, pality of Edessa, as a reward for his services. Baldwin was crowned, like his predecessor,' in Bethlehem, on
Ascension Day.
The new king, the date of whose birth is uncertain,
was the son of Count Hugh of Bethel and his wife
Milicent. He was the cousin of Godfrey, with whom he
started for Palestine. He had two brothers, one of whom
was the Archbishop of Bheims, and the other succeeded his
father, but dying without children, the archbishop gave
up his episcopate, and married, in order to continue the
family. Baldwin himself was above thè ordinary stature,
wonderfully active, skilful in horsemanship, and of great
strength and bravery. His hair, we are told, was thin
and fair, and already streaked with grey. He was
married to an Armenian princess, by whom he had several
daughters, but no sons. He wore a long Oriental beard,
but though he conformed in many respects to Eastern
habits, he had not forgotten his early piety, and scrupu
lously obeyed the rules of the church, insomuch that we are
told that his knees were covered with callosities, the result
of many prayers and penances. He was already well
advanced in years.
Count Eustace, hearing in France of his brother's
death, set off at once to take possession of the kingdom
which was his by right of succession. But on arriving in
Apulia, he heard the news of Baldwin's succession, and
immediately turned back, content to spend the rest of his
days in obscurity, rather than disturb the peace of Pales
tine by an unseemly rivalry.
The first year of the king's reign was marked by the
customary invasion of the kingdom from Egypt and the
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