County of Edessa Comitatus Edessanus (Latin) Conté de Édese (Old French) ܐܘܪܗܝ ܐܲܬ݂ܪܵܐ (Syriac) Եդեսիոյ Կոմսութիւն (Armenian) | |||||||||||||
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1098–1144 | |||||||||||||
Capital | Edessa (1098–1144; 1146) (modern-day Şanlıurfa, Turkey) Turbessel (1144–1146; 1146–1150) (modern-day Gündoğan, Oğuzeli, Gaziantep, Turkey) | ||||||||||||
Common languages | Latin (official/ceremonial) Old French (popular) Syriac (popular) Italian Armenian Arabic Greek | ||||||||||||
Religion | Roman Catholicism (official), Armenian Apostolic Church, Greek Orthodoxy, Syriac Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism (popular) | ||||||||||||
Government | Feudal monarchy | ||||||||||||
Count of Edessa | |||||||||||||
• 1098–1100 (first) | Baldwin I | ||||||||||||
• 1131–1150 (last) | Joscelin II | ||||||||||||
Historical era | High Middle Ages | ||||||||||||
1096–1099 | |||||||||||||
• Establishment | 1098 | ||||||||||||
• Conquered by Nur ad-Din Zengi, and the rest sold to Manuel I Komnenos | 1144 | ||||||||||||
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Today part of | Syria Turkey |
The County of Edessa (Latin: Comitatus Edessanus) was a 12th-century Crusader state in Upper Mesopotamia.[1] Its seat was the city of Edessa (modern Şanlıurfa, Turkey).
In the late Byzantine period, Edessa became the centre of intellectual life within the Syriac Orthodox Church. As such it also became the centre for the translation of Ancient Greek philosophy into Syriac, which provided a stepping stone for the subsequent translations into Arabic. When the crusades arrived, it was still important enough to tempt a side-expedition after the siege of Antioch.
Baldwin of Boulogne, the first count of Edessa, became king of Jerusalem, and subsequent counts were his cousins. Unlike the other Crusader states, the county was landlocked. It was remote from the other states and was not on particularly good terms with its closest neighbor, the Principality of Antioch. Half of the county, including its capital, was located east of the Euphrates, far to the east, rendering it particularly vulnerable. The west part of the Euphrates was controlled from the stronghold of Turbessel. The eastern border of Edessa was the Tigris, but the County may not have extended quite that far.
The fall of Edessa in 1144 was the first major setback for Outremer and provoked the Second Crusade. All the later Crusades, however, were troubled by strategic uncertainties and disagreements. The Second Crusade did not even try to recover Edessa, calculating it to be strategically better to take Damascus. But the campaign failed and Edessa was lost for the Christians.