Patriarch Eraclius of Jerusalem (ca. 1128 - 1190/1) was originally from France, and studied law at the University of Bologna. He arrived in Jerusalem sometime before the 1168, and was ordained Patriarch in 1180.In 1184, Eraclius traveled back to Europe with Roger de Moulins (the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller) and Arnold of Torroja (Grand Master of the Knights Templar), seeking help in settling the looming succession crisis for the kingdom of Jerusalem. They were successful in receiving a pledge of men and money from Philip II of France, but failed to convince Henry II of England to return with them (although he had been forced years earlier to go on crusade as part of his penance for the murder of Thomas Becket). By the time Eraclius returned to Palestine in late 1185, King Baldwin IV was already dead and had been succeeded by his nine-year-old nephew, Baldwin V, who in turn died the following year.When Baldwin V died, his mother Sibylla, and step-father Guy de Lusignan entered the city with a large armed guard. Eraclius along with many of the present nobles were unwilling to accept Guy (a knight of relatively low birth) as their new king. An agreement was reached whereby Sibylla (who had been the sister of King Baldwin V, and the daughter of King Amalric) would be crowned queen if she would first divorce Guy. Sibylla agreed to this with the provision that she then be allowed to marry the man of her choosing. Once crowned, she announced to the shock and dismay of Eraclius that she wished to remarry Guy.Saladin (the Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt and Syria who reigned from 1174-1193) had recently remobilized his army against the crusaders, and in 1187, he surrounded the crusader army just outside of Tiberias at the Battle of Hattin, slaughtering the majority of the army, killing many of its leaders, and even taking King Guy himself captive. The loss of the majority of the military left most of the crusader-held lands (including the city of Jerusalem) defenseless. After the battle, a lord named Balian of Ibelin, one of the very few to have survived and escaped the battle, arrived in Jerusalem. He had come to rescue his wife and children from Saladins army before they arrived to lay siege to the city.Although the city was in a hopeless situation, and the people begged him for his help, he refused. In order to cross the Muslim lines and reach the city, he had been asked to swear an oath to Saladin, that he would simply take his family and leave, and never take up arms against Saladin. Eraclius intervened. As a representative of God on earth, he absolved Balian of his oath, saying that it was more important to stay and defend the city. He also had all the silver stripped from the churches in order to strike coins which could be used to pay defenders.Eraclius eventually realized that the citys defeat was inevitable, and convinced Balian to negotiate a peace with Saladin, for the sake of the people, and an agreement was reached by which people of the city could be ransomed (rather than being sold into slavery). The wealthier citizens could ransom themselves, and Eraclius and Balian organized and personally paid into a collection fund to help pay for the poor citizens. They raised enough money to ransom 18,000 people, but this still left 15,000 who could not be ransomed. Eraclius and Balian offered themselves to Saladin as hostages to be held in place of these people until such time as they could raise the rest of the money, but Saladin refused, and sold those 15,000 people into slavery. Of those who could be ransomed, they were escorted peacefully to the sea by Saladins army in three columns. Eraclius and Balian personally led the last of these columns out of the city.After this, Eraclius found refuge in Antioch. He then traveled to Acre (which had been taken by Saladins army) and participated in the siege of the city, which bolstered confidence amongst the Christians. Although Richard I of England would arrive at Acre in the summer of 1191 at the head of the Norman/English branch of the Third Crusade and succeed in taking the city back for the Christians, disease had swept through the crusader camp in the preceding winter, killing many people, including Eraclius. Show less «