Note 1043 — Chapter VII · THE ENGLISH CHURCH. 1136–1149.

On Fulk’s reign in Palestine see Will. Tyr., ll. xiv. and xv. The exact date of his death is doubtful; Will. Tyr., l. xv. c. 27, and l. xvi. c. 2, gives it as November 13, 1142, and says that Baldwin II. was crowned on the following Christmas-day. But in l. xvi. c. 4 he says that Edessa was lost in the interval between Fulk’s death and his son’s coronation, and it is known from other sources that Edessa was taken by the Infidels on Christmas-night 1144. Moreover there is in Paoli’s Codice Dipl. del S. Mil. Ord. Gerosol., vol. i. p. 29, a charter of Melisenda dated “1149, Indictione xii.,” which she calls the fifth year of her son’s reign. The Chronn. S. Albin. and S. Serg. (Marchegay, Eglises, pp. 35, 146), Chron. Turon. Magn. (Salmon, Chron. Touraine, p. 134), Chron. Namnet. (Rer. Gall. Scriptt., vol. xii. p. 558) and Ric. Poitiers (ib. p. 415) all date Fulk’s death 1143; the Chron. S. Flor. Salm. (Marchegay, Eglises, p. 191) places it in 1141, but couples it with the death of Pope Innocent, which certainly occurred in 1143. Fulk’s end was characteristic, being caused by his own impetuosity. He was thrown from his horse in dashing too hastily after a hare started by some children, as he was riding with Melisenda outside the walls of Acre (Will. Tyr., l. xv. c. 27). See the peculiar philosophizing of the Tours chronicler thereon (Salmon, as above).