Balian II: Son and Heir to Beirut
Balian, the Lord of Beirut’s eldest son and heir, was a close friend and “compeer” of Philip de Novare. He, therefore, figures comparatively prominently in Novare’s autobiographical account of the civil wars. He was an ardent supporter of his father’s struggle for the Rule of Law in Outremer and took over as the leader of the baronial opposition to Hohenstaufen rule in the crusader states at his father’s death in 1236. Yet, based on Novare’s account (who knew both men well), he had a decidedly different temperament and personality from his father. I provide a biography in two parts. Balian first enters the historical record on the (unnamed) day of his knighting. Interestingly, Novare notes that he and his younger brother Baldwin were knighted jointly, suggesting that either Balian’s knighting was delayed or his brother’s was moved forward — or both. The knighting of a lord’s eldest son was always celebrated more or less lavishly, and a lord was often allowed to le...