Baldwin IV of Jerusalem

Baldwin IV (1161–1185), known as the Leper King, was the king of Jerusalem from 1174 until his death in 1185. He was admired by historians and his contemporaries for his dedication to the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the face of his debilitating leprosy. Choosing competent advisers, Baldwin ruled a thriving crusader state and succeeded in protecting it from the Muslim ruler Saladin.

Baldwin's parents, King Amalric and Agnes of Courtenay, separated when Baldwin was two. At nine years old, he was sent to be educated by Archbishop William of Tyre. William noticed preliminary symptoms of leprosy, but Baldwin was only diagnosed after he succeeded his father as king. Thereafter, his hands and face became increasingly disfigured. He mastered horse riding despite gradually losing sensation in his extremities and fought in battles until his last years. Miles of Plancy ruled the kingdom in Baldwin's name until the former was murdered, and Count Raymond III of Tripoli took over until the king reached the age of majority in 1176. Baldwin's mother then returned to court, and he became closer to her and her brother, Joscelin.

As soon as he assumed government, Baldwin planned an invasion of Egypt, which fell through because of his vassals' uncooperativeness. Leprosy prevented Baldwin from marrying; he hoped to abdicate when his older sister, Sibylla, married William of Montferrat in 1176, but William declined and died the next year. Saladin attacked Baldwin's kingdom in 1177, but the king and the nobleman Raynald of Châtillon repelled him at Montgisard, earning Baldwin fame. In 1180, to forestall a coup by Count Raymond III of Tripoli and Prince Bohemond III of Antioch, Baldwin had Sibylla marry Guy of Lusignan. Guy was opposed by a large fraction of the nobility, and soon permanently impaired his relationship with Baldwin through his insubordination. Although he wished to abdicate, the internal discord that followed forced Baldwin to remain on the throne, as only he was capable of uniting the quarreling nobility.

Baldwin again repelled Saladin in 1182 at the Battle of Le Forbelet, but leprosy rendered him blind and unable to walk or use his hands in 1183. After Guy's failure as a commander and regent, Baldwin disinherited him and had Sibylla's son, Baldwin V, crowned co-king before having himself taken in a litter to lift Saladin's Siege of Kerak. Because of their refusal to attend court, Baldwin failed to have Sibylla's marriage to Guy annulled and Guy's fief of Ascalon confiscated. In 1184, he repelled Saladin from Kerak again. In early 1185, he arranged for Raymond to rule as regent for Sibylla's son, dying to a fever before 16 May 1185.