Less fortunately, Edessa was ruled by Count Joscelin II, a short, thickset, swarthy man with bulging eyes, a large nose and smallpox scars all over his face. Joscelin was a mediocre military campaigner, a drinker and womanizer. All the same, had he been in Edessa Zengi would most likely have left the city alone. But on December 23, 1144, Joscelin was out of town visiting his castle at Turbessel, several days’ ride west across the Euphrates, along with the majority of his mercenary troops.
