Person:Pons of Tripoli (1)

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Pons ( 1098 – 25 March 1137) was count of Tripoli from 1112 to 1137. He was a minor when his father, Bertrand, died in 1112. He swore fealty to the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos in the presence of a Byzantine embassy. His advisors sent him to Antioch to be educated in the court of Tancred of Antioch, ending the hostilities between the two crusader states. Tancred granted four important fortresses to Pons in the Principality of Antioch. Since Pons held his inherited lands in fief of the kings of Jerusalem, Tancred's grant strengthened the autonomy of the County of Tripoli. On his deathbed, Tancred also arranged the marriage of his wife, Cecile of France, to Pons.

Pons closely cooperated with Tancred's successor, Roger of Salerno, against the Muslim rulers in the 1110s. He refused obedience to Baldwin II of Jerusalem in early 1122, but their vassals soon mediated a reconciliation between the two rulers. Pons was one of the supreme commanders of the crusader troops during the successful siege of Tyre in 1124. He supported Alice of Jerusalem, the dowager princess of Antioch, against her brother-in-law, Fulk, King of Jerusalem, in late 1132, but they could not prevent him from taking control of Antioch. A year later, Pons was only able to defend his county against Imad ad-Din Zengi, atabeg of Mosul, with Fulk's assistance.

Bazwāj, the mamluk (slave) commander of Damascus, invaded Tripoli in a battle in March 1137. Bazwāj defeated Pons, forcing him to flee to the mountains where native Christians captured Pons. His captors handed him over to Bazwāj who had him killed. The County of Tripoli developed into a fully independent crusader state during Pons' reign.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Pons of Tripoli, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
2.   PONS de Toulouse ([1096]-executed near Mont Pèlerin, near Tripoli Mar 1137), in Cawley, Charles. Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families.