Ernest Barker

“ Fulk also strengthened the kingdom on the south; while his butler, Paganus, planted the fortress of Krak to the south of the Dead Sea, and helped to give the kingdom an access towards the Red Sea, he himself constructed Blanche Garde and other forts on the S.W. to overawe the garrison of Ascalon, which was still held by the Mahommedans, and to clear the road towards Egypt. Twice in Fulk’s reign the eastern emperor, John Comnenus, appeared in northern Syria (1137 and 1142) ”

“ In 1128 he was preparing to return to the East, when he received an embassy from Baldwin II., king of Jerusalem, who had no male heir to succeed him, offering his daughter Melisinda in marriage, with the right of eventual succession to the kingdom. ”