Aimery of Lusignan

Aimery (born c.1153) was one of the sons of the Lord of Poitou, Hugh VIII of Lusignan, and Burgundia of Rancon. His brother Guy has figured largely in the past several posts for his time as King of Jerusalem.

After rebelling unsuccessfully against Henry II of England by kidnapping Eleanor of Aquitaine, Aimery fled to the Latin East —not that unusual a move since the Lusignan family had been involved in the Crusades for generations. He married into the influential Ibelin family with the support of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and became constable of Jerusalem c.1180. He and Eschiva of Ibelin had six children.

He was a commander at the disastrous Battle of Hattin, and was part of the Siege of Acre. He supported his brother Guy when the barons wanted to remove Guy as king.

After Guy was sent to govern Cyprus and Conrad of Montferrat was chosen to be King of Jerusalem by marrying Queen Isabella, Aimery remained in the office of constable. After Conrad's death and Henry II of Champagne's marriage to Isabella, however, Aimery was involved in a plot to hand the city of Tyre over to Guy. Henry arrested Aimery, but the barons persuaded Henry to release Aimery.

Once freed from prison, Aimery went to Cyprus in 1193 to join Guy. Guy died in 1194, and the nobles of Cyprus chose Aimery as their lord. Aimery started a process of organizing laws and policies in Cyprus to try to raise its status to a kingdom. To do this required him to be acknowledged as king, and only an emperor or a pope could authorize this. He appealed to Pope Celestine III to establish a Latin Church hierarchy (an archbishopric and bishops and dioceses, etc.) on Cyprus.

He also reached out to Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, promising he would be a vassal to the Emperor if were granted the right to be crowned King of Cyprus. Henry sent Aimery a golden scepter. A letter from Celestine in December 1196 refers to Aimery as king, so he may have been using the title already, although his coronation was delayed until 1197 to allow Henry time to arrive; Henry was too ill to travel, however. (The illustration shows Aimery's coronation, attended by Henry's chancellor, Conrad.)

Henry's death shortly after Aimery's coronation led to a war of succession in the Empire and denied Aimery the attention and support of a powerful ally.

But now Aimery was a king in his own right, having fled from a king on the mainland. Both were Christian rulers in the Eastern Mediterranean and had similar concerns about maintaining Christian power while surrounded by Muslims. It would be in their best interests to get along, despite hostility in the past. Were they able to put aside their former conflicts for the sake of achieving mutual goals. We'll take a look at that tomorrow.