Henry, Ruler of Jerusalem

After the brutal murder of Conrad of Montferrat right after he was informed that he had been chosen to replace Guy of Lusignan as King of Jerusalem, Henry II of Champagne went back to Tyre to mourn. He was greeted warmly by the people of Tyre, who proposed to make him their new lord. Henry had a certain amount of standing, since he was a nephew to the current kings of both England and France. Then something happened which he likely did not expect.

The Queen of Jerusalem, Isabella, now a widow after Conrad's death, offered to marry Henry, which would make him King of Jerusalem suo jure ("by right of marriage"). Henry was 20 years younger than Conrad (a husband who was imposed upon her; the illustration shows her having her first husband annulled and marrying Conrad), and probably more to the liking of the 20-year-old Isabella.

Henry had doubts. Isabella was pregnant by Conrad, and if the child were a boy, he would be the next heir rather than an heir of Henry's. The barons and Richard I of England agreed that the succession would pass to children of Henry and Isabella. Henry and Isabella married within a week of Conrad's death, Henry was granted all the cities held by Crusaders (but Jerusalem itself was still in the hands of Saladin), and the couple went to live in Acre, recently freed from Muslims.

As for the most recent king, Guy, Richard had Guy pay Henry 40,000 bezants.

There was still more fighting to be done in the Holy Land, and Henry joined Richard to capture or recapture cities from the Muslims. The Third Crusade officially ended on 2 September 1192 with a peace treaty that allowed the existence of the Kingdom of Jerusalem as a narrow strip of land extending south to Jaffa. It was signed by Henry (speaking for Richard), and the heads of the Templars and Hospitallers. Richard declared Henry the leader of all Christian forces in Palestine.

Henry's standing did not go to his head. He never called himself "king," but used his European title of "count of Troyes." His rulings were done in the name of Isabella, and he constantly claimed he did things with her "wish and consent." When Aymar the Monk was elected Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem (a seat vacant for a couple years since the death of Heraclius) by the priests who manage the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Henry was angered at not having been consulted and arrested them. Their argument was that he did not need to be consulted because he was not king. Pope Celestine III agreed with the priests. Archbishop Josias of Tyre convinced Henry to let the priests go and appease the insult to Aymar by giving a rich fief to Aymar's nephew.

The child of Isabella and Conrad turned out to be a daughter, Maria of Montferrat. This new marriage produced three daughters, of which two survived past childhood, Alice and Philippa.

Henry had an interesting approach to his Muslim neighbors, now that a peace treaty was in place. He requested of Saladin a turban and tunic, wearing these around Acre to show respect for the Muslim residents and neighbors. He gained a reputation for being tolerant to others, and was even hosted by the Assassins (perhaps we'll get to that some day).

Not everything was pleasant, however, and some of the danger came not from Muslims but from other Europeans. I'll tell you about that tomorrow as well.

Henry II of Champagne

We're going to look at the man who unexpectedly became King of Jerusalem in 1192.

Henry was the son of the Count of Champagne, Henry I, and Marie of France, who was a daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and King Louis VII of France. Because Marie was half-sister to both Philip II of France and Richard I of England, Henry was the nephew of two kings.

Henry was born on 29 July 1166. His father arranged a betrothal to Isabella of Hainaut. When his father died in March 1181, Marie became regent for the 15-year-old Count Henry II. A couple months later, a different bride was suggested for young Henry: Yolanda, daughter of Count Baldwin of Hainaut. Yolanda was nine years younger than Henry, and Baldwin asked that the marriage be postponed until she was older (this delay would work in Henry's favor in a few years).

While waiting to reach his majority at 21, he traveled on the tournament circuit, learning (and enjoying) how to fight. He turned 21 in 1187 and immediately took to the role of Count of Champagne, issuing orders and making changes to policy and in the chancery. He was a big supporter of the Champagne Fairs, an annual set of trade fairs in the county that were a large part of Champagne's economic stability.

When news reached Europe that Jerusalem had been conquered by Saladin and Queen Sibylla had fled, he joined the Third Crusade and went to the Siege of Acre in 1190, leaving his mother as regent and having his barons swear fealty to Henry's 11-year-old brother, Theobald, as Henry's successor should Henry not return. Henry's marshal, Geoffrey de Villehardouin, also went along.

Henry's arrival at the Siege of Acre was a huge boost to morale: he brought many soldiers, money, weapons, siege engines, and supplies. His presence caused Saladin to pull his army back a little from the growing Crusader camp. Henry was respected, but the Crusaders wanted more leadership, and the kings of England and France had not yet arrived. On 15 November Henry and Conrad of Montferrat were both wounded in a battle. On 24 November Henry saw Conrad married to Isabella of Jerusalem, making Conrad king (although Guy of Lusignan refused to relinquish the title).

Henry's money ran out, and he asked King Philip of France for a loan; Philip would only lend money if Henry offered Champagne as collateral. This Henry was unwilling to do, but when Richard of England arrived, Richard gave him money. Philip went home after the Siege, and Henry joined his army to Richard to deal with the Battle of Arsuf and other conflicts.

When Richard wanted to return to England, he first wanted to settle the question of the King of Jerusalem. He called the nobles and prelates together and voted: the unanimous choice was Conrad over Guy. Henry was sent to Tyre with the news, then returned to Acre to prepare for the coronation. Meanwhile, Conrad was killed by two men who claimed to be of the Assassins; under torture, one confessed that Richard had ordered the death.

Hearing of Conrad's death, Count Henry went back to Tyre where he was greeted warmly, and then was handed a golden opportunity. I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

Selecting the King

The question of who should be King of Jerusalem came up after the death of Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem during the Siege of Acre. Her husband, Guy of Lusignan, was only king suo jure (by right of marriage), and therefore was no longer the rightful king.

The next in line was Sibylla's younger sister, Isabella of Jerusalem. The nobles were hostile to Guy, not liking him from the start, but long ago Sibylla had tricked them into accepting Guy. Guy proved his unworthiness by refusing to relinquish control of the kingdom to Isabella.

A further complication was that Isabella was married to Humphrey of Toron. Humphrey was a friend of Guy's and did not want to replace him. Despite pressure from other nobles, Humphrey pledged his loyalty to Guy. That loyalty got him nowhere because the nobles did not think Humphrey would be suitable as king by right of being married to Isabella, so they wanted to replace him. An annulment was arranged so that Isabella could be married to Conrad of Montferrat (brother of Sibylla's first husband, William), who so disliked Guy that when Guy and Sibylla fled Jerusalem after its takeover by Saladin, Conrad would not give them shelter in Tyre.

Once married to Conrad, the couple retired to Tyre, leaving the Siege of Acre to others, including Guy, and taking steps to ensure the succession (Isabella did get pregnant at this time). The European leaders at Acre were divided on the issue: Philip II of France supported Conrad, Richard I of England supported Guy (who was a vassal of Richard due to Guy being Lord of Poitou).

In April 1192, Richard called a meeting of all the European and Holy Land nobles. By this time, Richard may have still wanted Guy to be king, but the vote for Conrad was unanimous. Richard wanted Guy to have something, so he made him the governor of Cyprus, which Richard had captured on his way to the Holy Land. Guy was in Cyprus until his death in 1194, having squandered the country's treasury.

Henry II of Champagne, a nephew to both Philip and Richard, who had been at the Siege of Acre prior to his uncles arriving, was tasked with going to Tyre with the news of Conrad's election. Conrad and Isabella were happy to have a resolution to the conflict.

Conrad was never crowned, however. On 28 April, a few days after the election, Conrad:

...rode home through the city flanked by a pair of guards. As he turned down a narrow street, he saw two men sitting on either side of the road. As Conrad approached, they stood up and walked to meet him. One of them was holding a letter. Conrad was intrigued but did not dismount. Rather, he stretched down from his horse and reached out to take the letter. As he did so, the man holding the letter drew a knife and stabbed upwards, plunging the blade deep into Conrad's body. At the same time, the other man leaped onto the back of Conrad's horse and stabbed him in the side. [source]

One of the men was killed, the other captured and tortured. They turned out to be members of the Assassins, and might have been contracted by Saladin. Under torture, however, the surviving assassin maintained the order came from Richard (the Assassins had been known to form an alliance with Christians). Humphrey of Toron was also a suspect.

According to Richard I's chroniclers, on his deathbed Conrad said Tyre should be handed over to Richard, which is certainly suspect, especially since Conrad knew that Richard did not support Conrad.

So who became King of Jerusalem? As it turns out, Henry II of Champagne! We'll see how that came about tomorrow.

Isabella I of Jerusalem

With the death of Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem during the Siege of Acre, her husband, Guy of Lusignan, lost his claim to the throne and the succession fell to Sibylla's younger sister, Isabella, currently in her late teens. Just as the leaders of Jerusalem objected to Guy's marriage to Sibylla, Isabella's husband was not considered the proper person to become King of Jerusalem simply by his marriage to the rightful queen.

Humphrey IV of Toron was a leading baron of Jerusalem. He and Isabella married in 1183 (the illustration shows the two being betrothed by Baldwin IV), and Humphrey gave Toron to King Baldwin IV (Isabella's half-brother) at the time. The other barons of Jerusalem were willing to give Humphrey and Isabella the opportunity to become king and queen after the death of Baldwin V because they did not want Guy on the throne, but the young married couple chose instead to pay homage to Sibylla and Guy.

Now in the midst of an ongoing conflict with Saladin, an experienced military leader would be ideal as the new King of Jerusalem, and Humphrey did not fit the bill. There was someone who already wanted the throne, and was a tried and true military leader: Conrad of Montferrat. Isabella's step-mother, Maria Comnena—also the result of the nobles forcing someone to annul their marriage if they wanted to rule—supported the idea of Conrad marrying Isabella. Humphrey, she felt, had prevented Isabella from becoming queen once, and Maria was happy to see him out of the family.

Maria swore before a papal legate, Archbishop Ubaldo of Pisa, that Isabella's betrothal at the age of eight was against her consent and the marriage should be annulled. Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem deferred the matter to Archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury. Baldwin would not support the annulment, saying that Conrad and Isabella would be guilty of adultery. On the other hand, Archbishop Ubaldo supported the annulment after some concessions to Pisa were made.

Isabella made it clear that Humphrey (of whom she seemed fond) should not lose everything, and the lordship of Toron was restored to him. Isabella and Conrad were married on 24 November 1190. Conrad took her back to Tyre. Guy stayed at Acre. Guy refused to concede the kingship. What they needed was to gather more of the nobles of Europe and have the matter adjudicated by a gathering of peers.

Fortunately, more of the heads of Europe were on their way. We'll see how things went next time.

The Siege of Acre, Part 4

The first big clash between the army of Saladin and the Christians besieging the city of Acre led to thousands of losses for the Christians under Guy of Lusignan in September 1189. Fortunately, what became known as the Third Crusade had been called in Europe, and reinforcements started to arrive.

One of the imminent arrivals was Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, known as Barbarossa. His reputation boosted the morale of those at Acre, but also motivated Saladin to call for many more soldiers to join him. Unfortunately for all concerned, Frederick drowned while taking a shortcut across the Saleph River in southern Turkey (see illustration), never making it to Acre. Two-thirds of his army returned home. The rest followed Frederick's son, Frederick IV of Swabia, to Acre. (They carried the body with them, intending for Barbarossa to be interred in Jerusalem. Preservation attempts with vinegar failed, and he was buried in Antioch.)

In the last days of October, a fleet of Muslim ships broke the Christian ships blockading the harbor to prevent Muslim reinforcements reaching Acre. Weapons, food, and 10,000 Muslims entered Acre from the sea. An Egyptian fleet arrived in mid-December, reinforcing the new blockade to prevent Christian ships from attacking from the sea.

Conrad of Montferrat sailed back to Tyre to bring back food and supplies for the Crusade army. He also brought materials to build siege machines.

Saladin added to his army over the months of winter, and attacked the Crusaders on 20 May 1190. The Crusaders resisted for eight days until finally Saladin's forces retreated.

During the summer, numerous nobles from Europe arrived with more men and supplies. Unfortunately, Saladin's forces had them almost completely surrounded, making further supplies and food scarce. An attack by some restless Christian soldiers against the orders of the leaders failed. Louis III of Thuringia contracted malaria, and headed home only to die in Cyprus. Between July and October Queen Sibylla died a few days after her daughters died. Guy, only King of Jerusalem through marriage to the rightful heir Sibylla, lost his claim to the throne, but refused to step aside for the next in line, Sibylla's younger sister, Isabella of Jerusalem.

Isabella's marriage was an issue, since she was now Queen of Jerusalem and her husband would be its king. She was already married, but her current husband was considered not the ideal person to be king, and so in the midst of the Siege of Acre there was some political meddling. We'll look at that tomorrow.