The King of Jerusalem was the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Crusader state founded by Christian princes in 1099 when the First Crusade took the city.
The Muslim leader Saladin successfully captured the city of Jerusalem in 1187, but the Kingdom of Jerusalem survived, moving its capital to Acre (in what is now Israel) in 1191. The city of Jerusalem was re-captured by the Christians in the Sixth Crusade, during 1229–39 and 1241–44. The Kingdom of Jerusalem was finally dissolved with the fall of Acre and the end of the Crusades in the Holy Land in 1291.
After the Crusader States ceased to exist, the title of King of Jerusalem was claimed by a number of European noble houses descended from the kings of Cyprus or the kings of Naples. None of these monarchs actually ruled over any part of the former Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the title became a purely ceremonial one. Felipe VI of Spain currently uses the title, but has shown no inclination to attempt to re-establish Jerusalem.
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