Melisende maintained her interest in the matters of religion. Barber believes that she continued her patronage of the Church as before her retirement. In 1157 Amalric married Agnes, daughter of the dispossessed Count Joscelin II of Edessa. Patriarch Fulcher protested that Amalric and Agnes were related within the prohibited degrees, but despite her piety Melisende did not object. The same year her stepdaughter Countess Sibylla of Flanders, Fulk's daughter from his first marriage, arrived in Jerusalem on a pilgrimage and entered the convent of Bethany. 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. The following year Baldwin married too; his wife, Theodora Komnene, became the new queen. Hamilton speculates that Melisende's forceful character made her sons reluctant to allow their wives to take part in state affairs. In 1160 Queen Melisende joined her sister Hodierna in commissioning luxurious jewelry, gold tiaras, and silver utensils for the dowry of Hodierna's daughter, Melisende of Tripoli; this example of Melisende's art patronage demonstrates, in Folda's opinion, the queen's continued activity and the Franks' resolve to impress her niece's betrothed, Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. thumb|Melisende's commissions concluded with her tomb, which surpassed the tombs of the kings. Queen Melisende's last public act was to assent with King Baldwin to Count Amalric's donation to the Holy Sepulchre on 30 November 1160. In 1161 she fell ill, with her memory impaired; she may have had a stroke. Hodierna and Ioveta nursed her for several months, permitting few people to see her. In the last weeks of her life Baldwin moved into Nablus, acquiring the land Philip of Milly held there. This was in breach of his agreement with his mother, but she was by then unaware of the outside world. She died on 11 September 1161. Barber estimates that she was probably in her early fifties. William of Tyre records that Baldwin was inconsolable; Mayer calls this "a fine public show of grief". Melisende was buried, like her mother, in the Abbey of Saint Mary of the Valley of Jehosaphat, which had always been dear to her. Folda considers her tomb to have been her last major commission in Jerusalem and "more magnificent than any king of Jerusalem ever received". In her last will and testament she left property to, among others, the Orthodox Monastery of Saint Sabas. Baldwin barely outlived her, dying on 10 February 1163.
Melisende maintained her interest in the matters of religion. Barber believes that she continued her patronage of the Church as before her retirement. In 1157 Amalric married Agnes, daughter of the dispossessed Count Joscelin II of Edessa. Patriarch Fulcher protested that Amalric and Agnes were related within the prohibited degrees, but despite her piety Melisende did not object. The same year her stepdaughter Countess Sibylla of Flanders, Fulk's daughter from his first marriage, arrived in Jerusalem on a pilgrimage and entered the convent of Bethany. 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. The following year Baldwin married too; his wife, Theodora Komnene, became the new queen. Hamilton speculates that Melisende's forceful character made her sons reluctant to allow their wives to take part in state affairs In 1160 Queen Melisende joined her sister Hodierna in commissioning luxurious jewelry, gold tiaras, and silver utensils for the dowry of Hodierna's daughter, Melisende of Tripoli; this example of Melisende's art patronage demonstrates, in Folda's opinion, the queen's continued activity and the Franks' resolve to impress her niece's betrothed, Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. thumb|Melisende's commissions concluded with her tomb, which surpassed the tombs of the kings. Queen Melisende's last public act was to assent with King Baldwin to Count Amalric's donation to the Holy Sepulchre on 30 November 1160. In 1161 she fell ill, with her memory impaired; she may have had a stroke. Hodierna and Ioveta nursed her for several months, permitting few people to see her. In the last weeks of her life Baldwin moved into Nablus, acquiring the land Philip of Milly held there. This was in breach of his agreement with his mother, but she was by then unaware of the outside world. She died on 11 September 1161. Barber estimates that she was probably in her early fifties. William of Tyre records that Baldwin was inconsolable; Mayer calls this "a fine public show of grief". Melisende was buried, like her mother, in the Abbey of Saint Mary of the Valley of Jehosaphat, which had always been dear to her. Folda considers her tomb to have been her last major commission in Jerusalem and "more magnificent than any king of Jerusalem ever received". In her last will and testament she left property to, among others, the Orthodox Monastery of Saint Sabas. Baldwin barely outlived her, dying on 10 February 1163.