Outremer
Succession Woes
In 1185, illness and death stalked both sides. King Baldwin's condition deteriorated and he knew that his time was near. He summoned Raymond of Tripoli to him and made up his will. His little nephew was to be crowned Baldwin V and Raymond was to serve as regent. Guy was expressly forbidden to be made regent. Baldwin IV, the Leper King, died in March.
Later that summer, Saladin also fell ill and nearly died. He had marched north to Mosul, to bring that great city under his control as well. But the city held against him, the summer came and his troops sickened. Then, in August, the Sultan also became sick. Despite the best doctors, he did not recover and for a time was convinced that he would die. But by January 1186 he was recovered. In March, the ruler of Mosul agreed to become Saladin's vassal. By April he was back at Damascus, having extended his empire to the Tigris River and the borders of Persia.
Baldwin V was still only a little boy. In the summer of 1186, he, too, fell ill and died in August at the age of eight. Both Raymond of Tripoli and Joscelin of Courtenay, who acted as co-regents, were at his bedside. Knowing that the Patriarch was a partisan of Queen Sibylla, Joscelin persuaded Raymond to go to Tripoli and to summon the barons to meet him there, away from the Patriarch's influence.
Once he was gone, Joscelin sent troops loyal to him to occupy Tyre and Beirut. He remained at Acre, where the little King had died, and there he proclaimed Sibylla the Queen of Jerusalem. Guy and Sibylla immediately left Ascalon. Reynald of Châtillon came from Kerak, and the Templars conducted the King's body to Jerusalem. Raymond found himself completely shut out of the government.
When he learned he had been duped, Raymond went to Nablus, which was closer to the Kingdom's heartland, and summoned the barons of the realm. All of his faction came to him. He sent representatives to Jerusalem to remind the conspirators that they were breaking the King's will, but they ignored this and closed the city gates. They then proceeded to crown Sibylla as Queen. She then immediately herself crowned Guy as King.
The Lusignan faction had won, much to the disgust of many of the Palestinian barons. Baldwin of Ibelin openly refused homage to Guy, then rode north to enter into the service of Bohemond of Antioch, who favored Raymond. Other barons followed him. Raymond was isolated at Tripoli.