Ioveta, the youngest, was sent to the Convent of Saint Anne; the historian Hans E. Mayer believes that this was "the safest way" to ensure that her status as a porphyrogenita (born to crowned parents) would not threaten Melisende's claim.

[12] In late 1127 or, less likely, early 1128, an embassy led by the prince of Galilee, William I of Bures, and the nobleman Guy I Brisebarre traveled to France to arrange a marriage for Melisende.

[16][4] Mayer initially thought that Melisende had been declared heir before the embassy was sent to France, but eventually concluded that her official recognition was a condition imposed by Fulk before he would agree to a marriage contract and come to Jerusalem.

Mayer argues that William himself did not believe the rumor[32] and that a medieval queen, being constantly attended by the members of her household and the court, would have found it exceedingly difficult to have a secret lover.

He notes that Melisende needed to strengthen her succession, which had hitherto rested on only one son; and that she wished to influence Fulk's policies in Antioch, where her sister Alice once again seized power.

[44] Melisende's intervention did not guarantee Alice's fortunes for long: she lost her regency in Antioch, this time permanently, when Raymond of Poitiers arrived to marry her still-underage daughter, Constance, in 1136.

[50] In February 1138 she and Fulk persuaded the patriarch and the canons of the Holy Sepulchre to cede the church at Bethany and its dependent villages so that a new religious community could be built there.

Melisende so generously endowed the convent with estates, golden and silver sacred vessels with precious stones, silks, and ecclesiastical robes that she made it richer than any other monastery or church in the kingdom.

[55] Her lavish gifts became legendary and earned her a reputation as a devoutly religious woman, but Mayer argues that she was primarily a shrewd politician and that through her donations she was buying the Church's political support.

[60] Besides Manasses, the queen's inner circle comprised the lord of Nablus, Philip of Milly; the prince of Galilee, Elinand of Tiberias; and the viscount, Rohard the Elder.

Rohard had incurred the queen's wrath in the early 1130s by supporting her husband's attempt to exclude her, but he was a key figure in the city of Jerusalem and, apparently, both were content to make peace.

[69] Barber suggests that the "evil reports" might be the claim of an anonymous Premonstratensian monk from France, who wrote that in 1148 Melisende had poisoned Count Alfonso Jordan of Toulouse and arranged for the capture of his son Bertrand by the Muslims.

[75] Mayer believes that the young king was not sent because Melisende resented his success at Wadi Musa;[71] he argues that the queen did not wish to see her son gain a reputation as a military leader lest it lead to him becoming a threat to her political leadership.

In any case, the army did not reach Edessa in time:[75] the city fell to the Turks, who spared its Armenian and Greek population, but "killed the Franks wherever they could" according to the chronicler Michael the Syrian.

[78] Count Joscelin II of Edessa attempted to retake his former city, and King Baldwin invaded the Hauran, but both were defeated by Zengi's son Nur al-Din.

[82] Kings Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany travelled to the Levant with their relatives, vassals, and troops, accompanied by papal legates.

[83] The crusaders were met near Acre on 24 June 1148[84] by a contingent from Jerusalem consisting of Queen Melisende, King Baldwin, Patriarch Fulcher, the archbishops and the bishops, the masters of the Knights Hospitaller and Templar, and the leading noblemen; it was the most impressive gathering of dignitaries ever held in the Latin East.

[84] Mayer surmises, while admitting that it cannot be known for certain, that Melisende must have been opposed to the decision to attack Damascus because it had so far been a valuable ally against Nur al-Din and because the conquest of such a great city would have earned Baldwin enough prestige to challenge her supremacy.

[88] Melisende used her son's failure at Damascus, and possibly his journey to Antioch, to further reduce his position: from 1149 she no longer issued charters jointly with him,[88] but merely allowed him to consent.

[91] Mother and son henceforth employed separate scribes, which avoided an open break in their co-reign, but marked an unprecedented division of royal power.

[93] This was, in Mayer's mind, the queen's attempt to prevent Baldwin from making any military success, and specifically from fulfilling the traditional role of the kings of Jerusalem in protecting the northern crusader states.

[95] Mayer considers it clear from the surviving charters that from 1150 Melisende was preparing for a showdown with Baldwin: she set up her own administrative machinery and gathered the lords loyal to her.

[97] Melisende might have been expected to retire to the convent of Bethany, but Hamilton posits that she held out for better terms, which saw her gain Nablus and adjacent lands for life along with her son's promise not to disturb her.

[105] Baldwin summoned a general assembly of the crusader states at Tripoli in mid-1152 intending to induce his widowed cousin Constance, princess of Antioch, to remarry and so relieve him of the responsibility for the principality.

[112] In 1157 she took a military initiative while the king was in Antioch:[109] it is thanks to her insistence that the cave-fortress of el-Hablis, significant for controlling the territory of Gilead beyond the River Jordan, was attacked and recovered from the Muslims.

[43] Fulcher died on 20 November, and though clergy assembled to elect his successor, Melisende intervened with Sibylla and Hodierna to secure the appointment of Amalric of Nesle as the next patriarch.

[123] William wrote: She was a very wise woman, fully experienced in almost all spheres of state business, who had completely triumphed over the handicap of her sex so that she could take charge of important affairs.

[63] Hamilton agrees with William's judgment that "striving to emulate the glory of the best princes... she ruled the kingdom with such ability that she was rightly considered to have equaled her predecessors in that regard".

[124] Barber observes that William's opinion was not universally shared[63] and that two of the greatest disasters suffered by the Franks in the Levant took place during her reign, namely the fall of Edessa in 1144 and the failure to conquer Damascus in 1148, though he concedes that the extent of Melisende's responsibility cannot be determined.

[100] Hamilton does not see why she should have felt the need to resign power to her "inexperienced" son, arguing that she was not a regent but the recognized co-ruler who governed well and enjoyed broad support.