For ten days the monarchs discoursed pleasantly, after which Baldwin returned to Antioch carrying twenty thousand gold nomisma as well as brocade, jewelry, fine silk, vases, and other gifts.
Anon, here was Manuel Comnenus with his vast army approaching the gates. King Baldwin emerged, attended by notables, followed by citizens. To the music of trumpets and drums Emperor Manuel passed through the gates and was escorted to the cathedral of Saint Peter through streets adorned with carpets, strewn with flowers. Then to the palace. He wore chain mail beneath his robes.
Emperor Manuel luxuriated at the baths and otherwise sampled the pleasures of Antioch for several days. Now he wished to go hunting. So on the day of our Lord’s Ascension these two monarchs with their attendants went riding toward the forest. But as they galloped across uneven ground King Baldwin’s horse stumbled and pitched him from the saddle. When he struck the earth he broke one arm. The emperor at once dismounted, knelt beside him and took up the duty of physician, ministering to the king as if he himself were a common leech. Seeing this, Greek courtiers stood amazed, dumb with shame, for it was unseemly that the most powerful sovereign in the world should disregard the majesty of his office. And when they had returned to Antioch the emperor visited the king each day to change poultices and ointments, displaying as much solicitude as if Baldwin were his son. Narratives agree that he took much pride in his skill at physic.
Shortly thereafter Manuel Comnenus returned to Constantinople. King Baldwin, troubled by discord and Saracen threats, returned to Jerusalem.
Queen Melisende, his mother, wasted from long suffering that no remedy could palliate, the wall of her flesh broken, ascended to celestial glory in the providential year 1161. She was entombed in the valley of Jehoshaphat, to the right as one descends toward the sepulcher of Blessed Mary. She rests in a stone crypt with iron gates. Close by is an altar where mass diurnally is celebrated for her soul, for the souls of all who trust in the Lord. King Baldwin lost himself in grief. For a long time he would not be comforted.
One year later while sojourning at Antioch he swallowed certain tablets, that being his custom when winter approached. He obtained these from a Saracen medicaster called Barac. On the advice of wives and daughters many Christian lords Outremer disdained the practice of Latin physics, submitting instead to the care of Syrians, Jews, Samaritans, or what pagan horse leech may be known only to Allah. Ushama ibn Munquidh speaks of one called Thabat who came to treat the abscessed leg of a Frankish knight. This Turk made a plaster and the leg began to heal. But here came a Latin who said Thabat did not know how to cure the cancer. Would you live with one leg or die with two? he inquired of the wounded knight. Certainly I prefer to live, the knight replied. So the Latin ordered his leg hacked off with a battleaxe, marrow spurted, and the knight went to sleep in God. Also there was a consumptive woman for whom Thabat prescribed refreshing food. But the Latin said a devil wanted her so he chopped off the woman’s hair. Then she went back to eating Frankish food with mustard and got sick. A devil has slipped into her brain, said the Latin. With a razor he drew a cross on her skull to expose the bone, which he rubbed with salt, whereupon she followed the knight to glory. This according to Ushama. It is possible that certain unbelievers have better knowledge of such matters than the shrewdest physicians in Europe, albeit I do not claim to know, nor avouch the truth of infidel writing.
Be that as it may, King Baldwin had no more swallowed these tablets than fever and flux attacked. Nothing could be found to alleviate his distress. When he perceived that he was failing he went to Tripoli where he rested several months. At length, knowing he must die, he had himself carried to Beyrouth and directed that lords of the realm and prelates of the Church be assembled. In their presence he acknowledged his faith, humbly confessed his sins. Having done so, he was mercifully released from this ephemeral flesh. Some think the medicine he got from Barac was poison. Certain it is that several tablets were put in bread and fed to a dog, which very soon died. Whatever the truth, his spirit ascended on the tenth of February, less than two years after his mother Melisende, during the twentieth year of his reign. Because he expired without issue he was succeeded by his brother Amalric.
The funeral cortege of King Baldwin traveled for a week between Beyrouth and Jerusalem, attended by frantic displays of grief. Not only Christians but Muslims felt saddened. In the Holy City he was entombed among his royal predecessors. When it was suggested to Nur al-Din that during this mournful time he might lay waste to Christian land he declined, saying the Franks had lost such a prince as could not be found elsewhere in the world.
Concerning Amalric, this much has been preserved. His greed was notorious, he intervened at courts of justice for his own profit and pocketed ecclesiastic benefices. Archbishop William of Tyre, who knew him, declares that he was egregiously fat so his breasts dripped down to his belly like those of an old woman. His blond hair receded. Storms of discordant laughter would course through him, which caused his fat body to shake and lessened his dignity. He wallowed in female flesh, seducing married women without guilt. Yet he displayed commendable taste, abjuring theatrical performances and gaming while delighting at the sweep
