During the Crusades – the battles Christians waged against Saracen Muslims to regain the Holy Land – Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem was famous for his beard and known sometimes as Bearded Baldwin or Baldwin the Beard. He famously extorted a large ‘ransom’ from his father-in-law, Gabriel, for whom the wearing of of a beard was an essential sign of manhood. The story goes that Baldwin, aware of Gabriel’s abhorrence for shaven faces, claimed he had ‘mortgaged’ his beard for the enormous sum of 30,000 gold bezants in order to fund his army, So horrified was Gabriel at the thought of a beardless son-in-law that he paid the astronomical sum to ensure his daughter’s husband kept his facial hair intact.
Moustaches, Whiskers & Beards by Lucinda Hawksley, National Portrait Gallery
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