Joscelin III of Edessa
Categories: Counts of Edessa | 1200 deaths
Joscelin III of Edessa (d. 1200) was the titular Count of Edessa 1159–1200. He was the son of Joscelin II of Edessa and his wife Beatrice.
He inherited the title of "Count of Edessa" from his father, Joscelin II; but Edessa had been captured in 1144 and the remnants of the county (such as the Lordship of Turbessel) conquered or sold years before he took the title. Joscelin lived in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and managed to gather enough land around Acre to set up the Seigneurie of Joscelin. His sister, Agnes of Courtenay, was the wife of King Amalric I and mother of Baldwin IV. In 1164 Joscelin was taken captive by Nur ad-Din, and remained a prisoner until 1176 when Agnes paid his ransom. She then made him seneschal of Jerusalem. He was therefore allied with the inner circle of the royal family in Jerusalem, which was opposed by the lesser nobles led by Raymond III, count of Tripoli.
In 1180 Joscelin became an ambassador to the Byzantine Empire, replacing William of Tyre, who had lost influence in the royal court. In 1184 he became guardian of the young Baldwin V while Raymond III was regent, thus allying himself with the lesser nobles rather than the royal family; Agnes had probably died by this point, and although Joscelin was Baldwin V's great uncle, Raymond's party of nobles held the most power. However, when Baldwin died in 1186 Joscelin switched sides again, barring Raymond from the funeral.
At the Battle of Hattin in 1187, Joscelin commanded the rearguard with Balian of Ibelin. Both escaped the disastrous defeat and fled to Tyre. Joscelin played little role in the Third Crusade and the politics of the Kingdom in the 1190s, and seems to have died in 1200.
He married Agnes of Milly, daughter of Henry of Milly, Lord of Petra, by whom he had two daughters:
- Beatrice (d. aft. 1245), married Otto von Henneberg, Count of Botenlauben
- Agnes, married William of Mandalee, Lord of Scandeleon
Joscelin's seigneurie was bought from his daughters by Hermann of Salza, the master of the Teutonic Knights, in 1220.
Sources
- R. L. Nicholson, Joscelyn III and the Fall of the Crusader States, 1134-1199. Brill, 1973.
| Preceded by: {{{before}}}}|before=Joscelin II}} | {{{title}}} {{{years}}}}|title=Titular Count of Edessa|years=1159–1200}} | Succeeded by: {{{after}}} |