Editing Fulk, King of Jerusalem (section)

==Marriage to Melisende of Jerusalem==
By the 1120s, concern was growing about the succession to King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and [[Morphia of Melitene|Queen Morphia of Melitene]], who had only daughters, the eldest being [[Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem|Melisende]]. Many factors argued in favor of Fulk's candidacy: he had visited Jerusalem and supported the kingdom and the Templars; his son [[Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou|Geoffrey]] had come of age in 1126; and his wife Erembourg died in the same year.  The assassination of [[Charles the Good|Count Charles the Good of Flanders]] in 1127, who had likewise visited Jerusalem in his youth and was a popular contender, made Fulk the obvious choice. 

In 1127, Baldwin dispatched an embassy to Fulk led by two noblemen, William of Bures, prince of [[Principality of Galilee|Galilee]] and Guy Brisbarre, and the Master and co-founder of the Knights Templar [[Hugues de Payens|Hugh of Payns]].{{Sfn|Barber|2012|p=122}} The embassy was tasked with finding a husband for Melisende and raising an army for [[Crusade of 1129|an attack on Damascus]]. After consulting with his barons, Baldwin had decided to offer Melisende's hand in marriage to Fulk, with the promises that they should be married within 50 days of Fulk's arrival in the Latin East and that Fulk could expect the hold the kingdom after Baldwin's death.{{Sfn|Barber|2012|p=123}}  In Spring 1128, the embassy reached Anjou. Hans Eberhard Mayer has reconstructed the extensive negotiations that must have taken place between Fulk and the ambassadors, which he believes led Baldwin II to treat both Fulk and Melisende as the "heir of the king" (''heres regni'') to forestall any challenge to their succession.{{Sfn|Mayer|1985|p=139-147}} By 31 May, Fulk seems to have accepted their offer, for he took the cross on that day in Le Mans.<ref name=Doherty /> He spent the next year setting his affairs in order, transferring lordship over Anjou and Maine to his son Geoffrey, who had married Matilda, daughter of King Henry I of England. Fulk apparently did not relinquish the title of "count of Anjou", perhaps as insurance in case the Jerusalem plan did not succeed.{{Sfn|Mayer|1985|p=144}} In about March 1129, Fulk departed for Jerusalem accompanied by a number of crusaders recruited from Anjou and the surrounding region. They arrived in the East in May of that year and Fulk and Melisende were married on the [[Pentecost|Feast of Pentecost]],  2 June 1129. As Melisende's dowry, Baldwin II presented Fulk with the cities of Acre and Tyre.{{Sfn|Mayer|1985|p=141}} That winter, Fulk and the army recruited Europe by Hugh of Payns attacked Damascus.{{Sfn|Barber|2012|p=137}}