County of Edessa

County of Edessa Comitatus Edessanus (Latin) Conté de Édese (Old French) ܐܘܪܗܝ ܐܲܬ݂ܪܵܐ (Syriac) Եդեսիոյ Կոմսութիւն (Armenian)
1098–1144
Coat of arms of the houses of Boulogne and Courtenay
The expansion of the county of Edessa prior to 1131.
Capital	Edessa (1098–1144; 1146) (modern-day Şanlıurfa, Turkey) Turbessel (1144–1146; 1146–1150) (modern-day Gündoğan, Oğuzeli, Gaziantep, Turkey)
Common languages	Latin (official/ceremonial) Syriac (popular) Old French (popular) Italian Armenian Arabic Greek
Religion	Roman Catholicism, Armenian Apostolic Church, Greek Orthodoxy, Syriac Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism
Government	Feudal monarchy
Count of Edessa
• 1098–1100 (first)	Baldwin I
• 1131–1144 (last)	Joscelin II
Historical era	High Middle Ages
• First Crusade	1096–1099
• Establishment	1098
• Conquered by Nur ad-Din Zengi, and the rest sold to Manuel I Komnenos	1144
Preceded by Succeeded by Edessa under Thoros Seljuk Empire Emirate of Zengids Byzantine Empire
Today part of	Syria Turkey

The County of Edessa (Latin: Comitatus Edessanus) was a 12th-century Crusader state in Upper Mesopotamia.^[1] Its seat was the city of Edessa (modern Şanlıurfa, Turkey).

In the late Byzantine period, Edessa became the centre of intellectual life within the Syriac Orthodox Church. As such it also became the centre for the translation of Ancient Greek philosophy into Syriac, which provided a stepping stone for the subsequent translations into Arabic. When the crusades arrived, it was still important enough to tempt a side-expedition after the siege of Antioch.

Baldwin of Boulogne, the first count of Edessa, became king of Jerusalem, and subsequent counts were his cousins. Unlike the other Crusader states, the county was landlocked. It was remote from the other states and was not on particularly good terms with its closest neighbor, the Principality of Antioch. Half of the county, including its capital, was located east of the Euphrates, far to the east, rendering it particularly vulnerable. The west part of the Euphrates was controlled from the stronghold of Turbessel. The eastern border of Edessa was the Tigris, but the County may not have extended quite that far.

The fall of Edessa in 1144 was the first major setback for Outremer and provoked the Second Crusade. All the later Crusades, however, were troubled by strategic uncertainties and disagreements. The Second Crusade did not even try to recover Edessa, calculating it to be strategically better to take Damascus. But the campaign failed and Edessa was lost for the Christians.