Editing Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem (section)

==Background==
[[File:Map Crusader states 1135-en.svg|thumb|The crusader states were surrounded by hostile Muslim powers.|alt=A map of the Middle East]]
The four [[crusader states]] of the [[Levant]]—the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]], the [[Principality of Antioch]], the [[County of Tripoli]], and the [[County of Edessa]]—were created by the [[Franks#Crusaders and other Western Europeans as "Franks"|Franks]], the [[Latin Christians]] who invaded the region and defeated its [[Muslim]] rulers during the [[First Crusade]] in 1098–99.{{sfn|Barber|2012|p=2}} Melisende was the eldest daughter of [[Baldwin of Bourcq]], a Frankish [[crusade]]r, and [[Morphia of Melitene]], an [[Armenians|Armenian]] noblewoman of the [[Greek Orthodox]] faith.{{sfn|Hamilton|1978|p=147}} The [[Christianity in the Middle East|native Christians of the Levant]] were ethnically and doctrinally diverse, and included the adherents of the Greek Orthodox, [[Armenian Apostolic]], [[Syriac Orthodox]], [[Maronite]], [[Coptic Orthodox]], [[East Syriac]], and [[Georgian Orthodox Church]]es.{{sfn|Barber|2012|pp=40–44}} The historian [[Jaroslav Folda]] remarks that Melisende's mixed heritage reflected the region's ethnoreligious diversity.{{sfn|Folda|2012|p=434}}

Melisende's parents probably married in 1100, according to the historian Bernard Hamilton;{{sfn|Hamilton|1978|p=147}} Folda dates Melisende's birth to around 1110 or a little earlier.{{sfn|Folda|2012|p=433}} She and two of her sisters, [[Alice of Antioch|Alice]] and [[Hodierna of Tripoli|Hodierna]], were born while their father, also known as Baldwin II, was the count of Edessa.{{sfn|Hamilton|1978|p=147}} Folda thus believes that Melisende was born in [[Edessa]].{{sfn|Folda|2012|p=433}} In 1118 Baldwin set out on a [[Christian pilgrimage|pilgrimage]] to [[Jerusalem]]. During this journey the [[king of Jerusalem]], [[Baldwin I of Jerusalem|Baldwin I]], died. Baldwin II was elected to succeed him.{{sfn|Barber|2012|pp=118–119}} In 1119 the new king returned to Edessa to install his cousin [[Joscelin I of Edessa|Joscelin of Courtenay]] as the new count and to bring his wife and their daughters to Jerusalem.{{sfn|Runciman|1952|pp=154–155}} Melisende gained another sister, [[Ioveta]], after her parents were [[coronation|crowned]] king and queen in 1119.{{sfn|Hamilton|1978|pp=147–8}}

The crusader states were in a near-constant state of war, and their defense fell to men.{{sfn|Hamilton|1978|p=143}} Baldwin II was the first Frankish ruler of Jerusalem to have children, yet all four of his children were daughters, and no conventions had yet developed in the crusader states regarding female succession.{{sfn|Mayer|1985|p=139}} The marriage of Melisende's parents was happy despite there being no male heir to the kingdom.{{sfn|Hamilton|1978|p=147}} Like Baldwin I's wives [[Arda of Armenia]] and [[Adelaide del Vasto]], Morphia took no part in the affairs of state.{{sfn|Hamilton|1978|p=148}}