Agnes of Courtenay

Some women in the Middle Ages became pawns as wives to powerful men. Some women had power in their own right and wielded it despite opposition from their husbands, like Eleanor of Aquitaine and Queen Melisende of Jerusalem. Agnes of Courtenay, who became Melisende's daughter-in-law, found herself in similar straits.

Agnes was born c.1136, daughter of Count Joscelin II of Edessa (a second cousin of Melisende) and Beatrice of Saone. She was married to Reginald of Marsah, who was killed in the Battle of Inab (along with several others) in 1149.

Her next husband was...well, there historians disagree. She came to Jerusalem and married Amalric, Melisende's son, in 1157. When Amalric was about to succeed his brother and become King of Jerusalem, there was opposition to the marriage from Fulcher of Angoulême, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem. 

William of Tyre (who was a contemporary and writing a history of the Crusader states) claims it was because the two were too closely related. A later chronicler claims she was essentially abducted by Amalric because she was betrothed to another, Hugh of Ibelin, and that the objection was the impropriety of Amalric's abducting her.

Modern historians have other theories. One is that she was already married to Hugh of Ibelin, and therefore Amalric's actions made the two guilty of bigamy. Another theory was an objection from the Jerusalem nobles that she would wind up wielding too much power and give favors to exiles from Edessa. Also, it might have been that Amalric could make a more advantageous match.

Whatever the case, Amalric did not let a wife stand in the way of the kingship: he had the marriage annulled in 1163 (see them being separated in the illustration) rather than be excommunicated for bigamy or reasons of consanguinity.

Immediately after the annulment, she married Hugh of Ibelin, removing from Amalric any responsibility for supporting her. Hugh died c.1169, and Agnes (only in her 30s) married Reginald Grenier, heir to the Lord of Sidon.

But Agnes was not done with the Kingdom of Jerusalem. She had given birth to two children with Amalric: Sibylla of Jerusalem and Baldwin IV of Jerusalem. Let's go back to Amalric and what happened when he died.