the responsibility of the Hospitallers until 1229. Following the example of the Knights Templar, he was to develop protection for pilgrims by providing them with security in their travels to the Holy Places. Little by little, he hired knights and men-at-arms as mercenaries and participated, through intermediaries, in the defense of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The political importance of the Grand Master increased, since in June 1148 at the Council of Acre, he was among the princes who took the decision to undertake the Siege of Damascus. In the Holy Land, the influence of the Hospitallers became preponderant with a decisive role taken in military operations with an increasingly prominent presence due to the government of Raymond. He is also said to have taken over the management of the leprosarium outside Jerusalem that eventually broke off from the Order to become the Order of Saint Lazarus, becoming its seventh Grand Master just before his death. Amidst the Siege of Ascalon in 1153, a truce was held to enable each side to bury its dead. Baldwin III of Jerusalem held a council in his tent, with a relic of the True Cross present. After five months of siege, the position of the Franks did not improve. An Egyptian fleet had dispersed the Latin fleet, the Templars had suffered a serious defeat during the assault, and a good part of the knights had been massacred. The lay nobles, discouraged by the reverse, wished to abandon the siege; but Raymond and Fulk of Angoulême, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, persuaded the king to continue, a position that moved the barons. The attack was renewed more vigorously than before and, three days later, on 19 August 1153, the besieged capitulated and the following day they evacuated the city. In 1156, Nūr-ad-Din and his brother Nasr-ad-Din routed a force of Hospitaller near their stronghold Qalaat el-Marqab close to Banyas. After a peace treaty was broken by Baldwin III in February 1157, the constable of Jerusalem, Humphrey II of Toron, to whom Banyas and the surrounding country belonged, had to face the Zengids. He quickly realized that his forces alone would not be enough and called upon the Hospitallers. He exchanged their participation for half of Banyas and the castles that depended on this city. His army, composed of a large foot force, was 700 strong, including the Hospitallers. But this did not prevent the defeat