Antioch
Rivalry with Edessa
Meanwhile Tancred, regent of both Antioch and neighboring Edessa, refused to relinquish the county upon the return in 1108 of Baldwin of Bourcq and Joscelin of Courtenay. Both sides allied themselves with neighboring Muslim powers against each other: Antioch with Aleppo and Edessa with Mosul. To the south, succession issues had developed in Tripoli between the nephew and the son of Raymond IV of Toulouse. In the face of the stronger claim of Bertrand, Raymond’s son, the nephew William-Jordan decided to recognize Tancred as his overlord, no doubt due to the military power and prowess of the Norman. The upshot of these events was that Baldwin I of Jerusalem (formerly Count Baldwin I of Edessa), in alliance with Bertrand, Baldwin of Bourcq and Joscelin of Courtenay, faced down Tancred and William-Jordan. Tancred was forced to return Edessa to Bourcq and after William-Jordan's death the following year, Tripoli became a fief of Jerusalem. Baldwin I had succeeded in establishing the kingdom's right to arbitrate internal matters throughout Outremer.