Edessa
Edessa Eclipsed
Edessa was now in Muslim hands and would remain so. Yet there was still a Count of Edessa and still a bare handful of territories, and these lingered for years.
Zengi was succeeded, after some scrimmaging, by his son Nur-ad-Din, rendered as Nuradin by Christian writers. He proved to be even more dangerous than his father.
Joscelin, holed up in Turbessel and watching Nuradin emerge as a potent new enemy, must have been mystified and outraged to watch the Second Crusade land in Antioch then march south to Jerusalem rather than east to Edessa. The fall of the city had spurred the Crusade in the first place, but now it was abandoned in favor of other prizes. In the end, of course, Damascus was not won either, and Turbessel continued to be isolated amid a growing storm. Joscelin was able to buy some time by making a truce with Nuradin, who wanted to take care of some business further west first.
In 1149, Nuradin destroyed an Antiochene army and killed Prince Raymond. He then repudiated the truce with Joscelin and began operations directed against him. In April 1150 Joscelin was riding to Antioch to try to coordinate efforts. He was separated from the main body of his men and then was captured by some Turcomen. He nearly escaped because they were willing to ransom him on the spot, but Nuradin heard of his capture and dispatched a cavalry troop to take him into custody.
Once in his hands, Nuradin had Joscelin blinded and put into prison. The last Count of Edessa spent nine years blind in a prison in Aleppo before dying in 1159. This was the last, sad end of the County of Edessa, the first of the Crusader states to be established, and the first to disappear.