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 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, however, 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 decision from a generation earlier that actually turned the High Court against Aimery.

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