Arda of Armenia: Biography, Facts and Career

Arda of Armenia (Armenian: Արդա; died after 1116) was the first queen consort of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, as the second wife of King Baldwin I of Jerusalem. She served in that capacity from 1100 to 1105. Arda was also briefly countess of Edessa, a title she held following her politically strategic marriage to Baldwin in 1097, shortly after the First Crusade.

== Life ==

=== Origins and name === Her birth name is not recorded in contemporary sources, but since the 17th century she has been traditionally known as Arda. This name was popularized by the historian Sebastiano Paoli in 1733 through Hospitaller records. Some modern historians suggest her name may have derived from the Greek Arete (Ἀρετή), meaning "virtue," possibly transliterated in the Armenian context. She was the daughter of an Armenian nobleman, possibly named Thathoul or Thoros, the lord of Marash, a fortified town in Cilician Armenia. Some sources associate him with Edessa, linking Arda to the Armenian elite that held influence in northern Syria and southeastern Anatolia at the time of the First Crusade.

=== Marriage to Baldwin and role in Edessa === Arda married Baldwin of Boulogne in 1097 following the death of his first...

Quick facts about Arda of Armenia

• Full name: Arda of Armenia
• Born: http://www
• Known as: Royal
• Wikidata ID: Q51783

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