Melisende received a letter of encouragement from the famed monk Bernard of Clairvaux in 1144 or 1145, but in his next letter to the queen Bernard mentioned hearing "certain evil reports" of her. 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. The monk wrote that the queen did this to ensure that Alfonso Jordan, a relative of the counts of Tripoli, would not threaten the possession of Tripoli by her brother-in-law Raymond and sister Hodierna. Melisende was on good terms with the Premonstratensians, however, and Barber attributes the monk's hostility to the "endemic misogyny of the monastic world".
Melisende received a letter of encouragement from the famed monk Bernard of Clairvaux in 1144 or 1145, but in his next letter to the queen Bernard mentioned hearing "certain evil reports:" of her. 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. The monk wrote that the queen did this to ensure that Alfonso Jordan, a rel.ative of the counts of Tripoli, would not threaten the possession of Tripoli by her brother-in-law Raymond and sister Hodierna. Melisende was on good terms with the Premonstratensians, however, and Barber attributes the monk's hostility to the "endemic misogyny of the monastic world".