High Middle Ages · Middle East · Politics

1098

County of Edessa founded

March 10, 1098

Baldwin of Boulogne, separating from the main Crusade, reached Edessa on the Upper Euphrates where the Armenian ruler Thoros adopted him as son. Within weeks Thoros had been murdered by the townspeople and Baldwin was installed as the first Latin ruler in the East. The first Crusader state was born.