Aimery versus Ralph

The King of Jerusalem, Aimery of Lusignan, had a problem with his seneschal, Ralph of Saint-Omer: he accused the seneschal (who had hopes of becoming King of Jerusalem before the election went to Aimery) of being behind a foiled assassination attempt in 1198.

Aimery declared Ralph should be exiled, and gave him eight days to depart the kingdom. Aimery's plan ran into a snag.

You see, Ralph knew the laws of the land better than anybody, and he brought up a rule laid down a couple decades earlier.

In the 1170s, King Amalric of Jerusalem proposed a new law, which was heartily approved by the High Court. The law stated that 1) all lords were vassals of the king, even if they were vassals of someone who was himself a vassal of the king; and 2) therefore anyone could take their case before the king if they felt their immediate lord were unfair to them. Amalric wanted to be able to control any disputes in his vassals and their vassals. It also claimed that vassals were right to withdraw their support from their liege if the liege did not abide by the ruling of the High Court, the collection of barons and prelates and other nobles brought together when important matters needed to be discussed or adjudicated.

This was called the Assise sur la ligece (basically, an "Assize on liege-homage"). 

Ralph appealed to the High Court that he needed to be judged by his peers at the Court, not by the king. Aimery might have thought that, since he was king and the nobles had already decided that Aimery was preferable to Ralph as king, this would be smooth sailing. But Aimery wanted Ralph exiled, the High Court didn't, Aimery refused to accept the High Court's verdict, whereupon the barons declared that they were withdrawing their support from the king.

Aimery's vassals withdrew their service from Aimery, but Ralph took himself away to Tripoli anyway  (since clearly he could not work under this king) and then to Constantinople in 1204. He returned after Aimery's death in 1207.

The barons returned their support to Aimery in 1200.

This was an important legal precedent, applying the force of law to the king himself. It was used a couple more times, which I'll share tomorrow.

The Next King of Jerusalem

With the unexpected death of Henry II of Champagne by falling out a window, Jerusalem's Queen Isabella (the real ruler) needed a new husband to help lead the kingdom. The Prince of Galilee and Tiberias, Hugh II of Saint-Omer, suggested his brother Ralph. Ralph was the seneschal of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The nobles rejected him due to his lack of wealth (Henry had brought revenues from Champagne which helped the kingdom's finances), and his lack of stature.

Instead they chose none other than Aimery of Lusignan, who had just recently been reconciled to Henry. Aimery had once been opposed to Henry because Aimery's brother Guy had been King of Jerusalem by marriage to Isabella's older sister, Sibylla. When Sibylla died and Guy's status as king through marriage ended, he refused to give up the title. Even after Isabella was married to Henry, Aimery was part of a plot to take Acre away from Henry and grant it to Guy.

Now, however, Aimery was the most prominent "free agent," his wife Eschiva (of the prominent Jerusalem Ibelin clan) having died not long before. Aimery would bring the resources of Cyprus to Jerusalem, and in October of 1197 Henry and Isabella were betrothed. (The illustration is Aimery's seal as King of Cyprus.)

Although Aimery did use Cypriot troops on the mainland, he was very careful to keep the two kingdoms separate. After all, he had no real claim to Jerusalem as a dynasty, and Isabella's children were the proper line of succession. Cyprus, on the other hand, would be passed on to his own children. The fact that he and Henry had promised to marry Isabella's three daughters to Aimery's three sons would mean that no one could see how the two kingdoms would relate to each other in the future, but for now they had only Aimery in common.

Aimery did not make any radical changes to Jerusalem or its royal advisors or offices. He did not like Ralph of Saint-Omer, but he approved of Ralph's competence as seneschal. When he asked Ralph to be part of a commission to codify all the laws of the kingdom because Ralph knew and understood them so well, however, Ralph would not participate.

In March of 1198, while riding from Acre to Tyre, Aimery and his small escort were attacked by four Germans. Aimery was saved by his escort. The four would not admit who hired them to attack, but Aimery came to believe that Ralph was behind it.

Aimery called the High Court of barons and nobles together to accuse and punish Ralph, but Ralph had a defense based on a law from a generation earlier that actually turned the High Court against Aimery.

I'll explain how quickly things turned against Aimery next time.

Aimery and Henry

So we have Henry II of Champagne, elevated to the position of King of Jerusalem even if he doesn't use the title, and Aimery of Lusignan, who became King of Cyprus after he needed to flee the mainland when he was discovered by Henry to be part of a plot to turn one of Henry's cities over to Guy of Lusignan, Aimery's brother who had been effectively exiled to Cyprus because he wanted to (illegally) retain the title of King of Jerusalem himself.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem had made a peace treaty with the Ayubbid Dynasty of Saladin, but that expired in 1196, and the danger of renewed Muslim attacks was a grave concern for Henry. Cyprus, that had been captured by Richard I of England on his way to the Third Crusade and the Siege of Acre, was becoming formally a Christian kingdom under changes made by Aimery.

The nobles of the mainland understood that an alliance between the former rivals Henry and Aimery was necessary for aid in the potential conflicts to come. Aimery's wife Eschiva was from the Ibelin clan, a prominent family in Jerusalem, and many of the nobles in Jerusalem held land on Cyprus. No one wanted hostility between Henry and Aimery.

Henry sailed to Cyprus in 1197 and the two kings made a promise of mutual aid against enemies. Even more profound for the future, the three daughters of Henry were promised to the three sons of Aimery. The town of Jaffa had been taken from Aimery when he was forced to leave Jerusalem, and now it was restored as dowry for the future marriages. In November of that year, Aimery was using his former Jerusalem title of constable (even though by that time he had been crowned as King of Cyprus).

While negotiating, the Ayubbids did attack. Aimery sent his representative to Jaffa to organize defense. Henry returned to the mainland to organize his men at Acre. Somehow, some way, on 10 September Henry fell out of a window from his royal palace at Acre (illustration). He died. No details survive as to how this happened.

His death was a blow to the kingdom; he had been a capable and tolerant ruler, and had brought revenue from Champagne to the defense of the kingdom. He was mourned, but the immediate question was raised:

Who should become King of Jerusalem by marriage to Queen Isabella, so that a man would be in charge? Isabella had already had three husbands—not always by her choice. Should she accept another? The immediate suggestion was the palace seneschal, Ralph of Saint-Omer.

Ralph, however, was not wealthy or prestigious enough to satisfy the nobles. Who, then? I'll tell you tomorrow, of course.

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 couple weeks 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 him.

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 he 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.

Henry's Problems

While Henry II of Champagne was functioning as King of Jerusalem (even if he did not use the title itself, preferring to manage things clearly on behalf of his wife, Queen Isabella), he had a lot of support from the barons and military orders like the Templars and Hospitallers. He was also good to supporters outside of those who followed him from the Champagne region.

Some problems cropped up, however. We've talked before about rivalry between the Maritime Republics, and the merchants of Pisa were not happy with the favor Henry showed to merchants from Genoa. The Pisans conspired to help Guy of Lusignan (who had been "exiled" to Cyprus) to become ruler of the city of Tyre (Henry was living in Acre).

The conspiracy was discovered in May 1193 and the conspirators arrested. Henry decreed that the Pisans in Tyre could number no more than 30 and the rest had to leave. Those who left began raiding villages in the area, so Henry expelled all Pisans from Acre.

Guy was in Cyprus, but his brothers were close by. Aimery of Lusignan held Jaffa and had been granted the office of constable, and he spoke up for the Pisans. Angered, and doubting Aimery's loyalty, he arrested the constable. Aimery argued that Henry had no right to arrest a constable, but Henry replied that Aimery was no longer constable.

Henry demanded that Guy turn over Cyprus as ransom for Aimery's release. The barons persuaded Henry to free Aimery without gaining Cyprus. Aimery gave up Jaffa and the position of constable and left to join his brother Guy at Cyprus.

Cyprus was a lot of territory, and ruling it would have been a boon for the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Guy's governorship ended in 1194 with his death, and Aimery became governor. Henry and Aimery were going to have to deal with this situation.

Tomorrow we'll learn more about Aimery and his history.