The following article, part one in a series on Templar Battles, is adopted from Stephen Dafoe's book Nobly Born: An Illustrated History of the Knights Templar, published by Lewis Masonic.
When King Baldwin IV reached the age of 16 in 1177, Count Raymond of Tripoli's regency of the Kingdom of Jerusalem came to an end. Now in power, the leper king immediately became involved in military campaigns, despite his growing illness. When Philip of Flanders decided to go north to help Raymond in a campaign against the Muslims, Baldwin sent one thousand knights and two thousand foot soldiers to assist, as well as a number of Templars. This left the kingdom with far fewer men than they had sent and Saladin quickly learned of the kingdom's weakened condition.
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