February 18, 1162: Amalric I becomes King of Jerusalem

The coronation of Amalric I
(Manuscript from the 14th century)

Amalric, a.k.a. Amaury, was born in 1136 to King Fulk count of Anjou. In 1157 at age 21, he married Agnes of Courtenay, daughter of Joscelin II of Edessa; despite the objection of Patriarch Fulcher on grounds of consanguinity (the two shared a great-great-grandfather). 

Following the death of Amalric's brother, King Baldwin III in February 10, 1162, Amalric and Agnes were forced to annul their marriage, in consequence of the refusal of the Haute Cour to endorse Amalric as king, unless his marriage to Agnes was annulled. 

In 1163, a year after he inherited the throne, Amalric led the Crusader invasion of Egypt while attempting to turn it into a protectorate of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Repeated attacks by the Syrian ruler Nur ad-Din at the north, forced Amalric to abandon his aspirations while returning to Jerusalem.

Upon his return to Jerusalem in 1167, Amalric formed an alliance with the Byzantine Empire by marrying Maria Comnena, the great-grandniece of Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus. This alliance encouraged Amalric to renew his efforts in the Egyptian front, which had meanwhile passed into the hands of Saladin. 

In October 1169 Amalric's Crusader army laid siege on the Egyptian port city of Damietta. During this long lasting siege the Crusader camp suffered a severe plague and famine which forced Amalric to end the blockade and to reach a ceasefire agreement with Saladin. This was the first in series of successes which led to the rise of Saladin as a regional leader.

The last in Amalric's string of military failures accrued in 1174 when he attempted to take advantage of the death of Nur ad-Din and achieve success on the Syrian front. He besieged the Syrian town of Banias and failed to capture it. While making his way back to Jerusalem Amalric fell ill from dysentery, which was ameliorated by doctors but turned into a fever in Jerusalem. Despite the efforts of physicians which were summoned from Greece, Syria and other countries, Amalric died on July 11, 1174. 

He is considered to be the last dominant king of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

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