page_title: William I of Bures
section_title: Baldwin's baron
hierarchical_section_title: William I of Bures / Prince of Galilee / Baldwin's baron
caption_attribution_description: Tiberias English: Crusader Citadel, Tiberias. Tajar street
context_page_description: William of Bures was Prince of Galilee from 1119 or 1120 to his death. He was descended from a French noble family which held estates near Paris. William and his brother, Godfrey, were listed among the chief vassals of Joscelin of Courtenay, Prince of Galilee, when their presence in the Holy Land was first recorded in 1115. After Joscelin received the County of Edessa from Baldwin II of Jerusalem in 1119, the king granted the Principality of Galilee to William. He succeeded Eustace Grenier as constable and bailiff in 1123. In his latter capacity, he administered the kingdom during the Baldwin II's captivity for more than a year, but his authority was limited.
  William was the most prominent member of the embassy that Baldwin II sent to France in 1127 to start negotiations about the marriage of his eldest daughter, Melisende, and Fulk V of Anjou. William escorted Fulk from France to Jerusalem in 1129. Fulk, who succeeded Baldwin II in 1131, dismissed his father-in-law's many officials, but William retained the office of constable.
context_section_description: Baldwin II of Jerusalem gave the County of Edessa to Joscelin in August or September 1119. Before 15 January 1120, the king granted Joscelin's former principality to William, who thus seized one of the largest fiefs in the kingdom. William was one of the four or five secular lords to attend the Council of Nablus on 16 January 1120. The council confirmed the right of the clergy to control the collection of the tithes and ordered the persecution of sexual misdemeneanours. William donated estates in Lajjun and near Tiberias to the hospital of the Abbey of St. Mary of the Valley of Jehosaphat on 1 February 1121.
  Balak ibn Bahram, the Artuqid ruler of Suruç and Mardin, captured Baldwin II on 18 April 1123. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Warmund of Picquigny, convoked an assembly which elected Eustace Grenier constable and bailiff to administer the kingdom, but Grenier died on 15 May or June. The council again assembled and appointed William to both offices. Meanwhile, a Venetian fleet had landed at the Holy Land, carrying 15,000 soldiers. The patriarch, William and Pagan, the chancellor of Jerusalem, concluded a treaty with the Doge of Venice, Domenico Michiel on behalf of the king. In accordance with Baldwin's previous promises to the Venetians, the treaty—the so-called Pactum Warmundi—granted privileges to them in both the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Principality of Antioch in exchange for their assistance to besiege either Tyre or Ascalon. The barons of the realm could not decide which town should be attacked, thus their debate was settled by lot in favor of Tyre.
  The crusaders and the Venetians laid siege to Tyre on 16 February 1124. Patriarch Warmund was acknowledged as the supreme commander of the army. The defenders of the town urged Toghtekin, Atabeg of Damascus, to attack the crusaders, but he only marched as far as Banyas. The patriarch appointed William and Pons, Count of Tripoli, to launch a military expedition against Toghtekin, but he avoided any engagements and returned to Damascus. The crusaders captured Tyre on 7 or 8 July.
  Baldwin II won his freedom in late August 1124, but he returned to Jerusalem only on 3 April 1125. He had not fathered a son and decided to give her eldest daughter, Melisende, in marriage to an influential European ruler. After consulting with his barons, he chose Fulk V of Anjou. He appointed William and Guy Brisbarre to lead an embassy to Anjou and to start negotiations with Fulk. William was also authorized to pledge that Fulk could marry Melisende in fifty days after he came to the Holy Land and the marriage would secure his right to succeed Baldwin on the throne.
  The embassy departed in the autumn of 1127. Fulk accepted the offer and took the Cross in token of his decision to go to the Holy Land at Le Mans on 31 May 1128. William and Brisbarre accompanied Fulk from France to the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the spring of 1129. They landed at Acre in May. Fulk married Melisende before 2 June. In the same year, William donated the village of St Job (at present-day Dayr Ayyub) to the Abbey of St. Mary of the Valley of Jehosaphat, but secured the right of his nephew, William (who had become a monk) to the revenues from the leasing out of the estate.
caption: Ruins of the crusaders' castle at Tiberias, the seat of the Principality of Galilee
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