The political state established in the Near East by the First Crusade when they captured Jerusalem on 15 July 1099, and lasting until the fall of the city of Acre in 1291.
Territorially, the kingdom corresponded to modern Israel, southern Lebanon and south-west Jordan. It consisted of a royal domain (Jerusalem and its surrounding, Acre, and Tyre) and four baronies; the county of Jaffa and Ascalon, the lordships of Karak (aka Montreal) and Sidon, and the principality of Galilee. In addition, Antioch, Edessa and Tripoli, which were also ruled by the crusaders, served as vassal states.
The first kings, Baldwin I (r. 1100-18) and his son Baldwin II (r. 1118-31) established a solid territorial footing and a rather peaceful and secure, if feudal system of government. Subsequent kings sought to expand southward. In doing so they triggered a Muslim response that led to the loss, first, of Edessa in 1144. The attacks, and failure, of King Amalric I (r. 1163-74) on Egypt aided the rise of Saladin (1169-93), who managed to unite the previously divided Muslim powers. On 4 July 1187, Saladin's army defeated the Crusaders in a battle at the Horns of Hattin that changed the course of the Kingdom. By 2 October Jerusalem had surrendered. The Crusaders moved to Acre, which became the base of the Kingdom from this time onwards and which was treated as if it was Jerusalem. But the rulers could only watch from here the slow painful death of their dream in the Holy Land. The end came on 18 May when Acre fell, after nearly six weeks of siege, to the Mamluk forces of Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil.
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