The Siege of Ascalon (1153) as a Political Act: Baldwin III and the Consolidation of Royal Power in the Kingdom of Jerusalem

This article reinterprets the siege and capture of Ascalon in 1153 not merely as a military operation but as a deliberate act of political communication designed to consolidate royal authority in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. After the conflict with Queen Melisende, Baldwin III had to convert military success into durable political legitimacy. Drawing on narrative and diplomatic sources, the study uses the concept of political ritual to examine warfare as a performative expression of power. It argues that collective mobilisation, oath-taking, royal leadership, ceremonial entry into the conquered city, and the distribution of rewards served as mechanisms of elite integration and consensus-building. The campaign reunited secular and ecclesiastical elites previously divided by civil war, turning victory into symbolic capital that confirmed divine favour and reinforced monarchical authority. The siege of Ascalon thus emerges as a pivotal moment in the reconfiguration of royal power in the mid-twelfth-century Latin East.