The Double Marriage

So Sibylla of Jerusalem married Guy of Lusignan and spoiled the plot of others to marry her to someone else. Her brother, King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, was content that now there was someone to inherit the throne in the event of his inevitable death through complications from leprosy.

Many in the High Court were opposed to Guy. When King Baldwin was becoming increasingly unable to function, the court decided to make Baldwin, Sibylla's son from her marriage to William of Montferrat, co-king although he was only five years old. At his coronation, his step-father Guy was not invited. 

The question of regent for young Baldwin was raised. The obvious choice was his mother Sibylla and step-father Guy. Guy was considered unsuitable by many, however, so Raymond of Tripoli was named.

Consulting with the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem about the future of the kingdom, Heraclius, one obvious path was to have Sibylla's marriage annulled and have her marry a more suitable candidate to run the kingdom. Heraclius traveled to Europe to find someone able to secure the Kingdom of Jerusalem for the future.

Baldwin IV died in March 1185, making Baldwin V sole king. Unfortunately, Baldwin V died in mid-1186. (The illustration depicts the death of Baldwin IV and coronation of Baldwin V.) The succession fell to Sibylla.

The High Court told Sibylla her marriage to Guy had to be annulled if she intended to be Queen of Jerusalem. The same thing had happened to her father, Amalric, who was forced into an annulment from Agnes of Courtenay. She was a little more clever than her father, however, and said she would agree to the annulment if she were allowed to choose her next husband. The court agreed, the annulment took place, and Sibylla made her choice:

Guy of Lusignan.

He turned out to be a pretty bad King of Jerusalem, fighting with his allies like Raymond, and losing at the Battle of Hattin then becoming prisoner to Saladin. He was eventually freed, made more mistakes, and was removed from Jerusalem. King Richard I of England gave him the governorship of Cyprus in 1192. By the time of Guy's death in 1194, Cyprus was bankrupt, Guy having given away the landed property to anyone loyal to him.

So what happened to Heraclius, traveling Europe and looking for support for the Kingdom of Jerusalem? He was busy, let me tell you. Let me tell you tomorrow, that is.

Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem

King Amalric I of Jerusalem, and his first wife, Agnes of Courtenay, had three children. When Amalric was forced to put Agnes aside via annulment in order to be crowned, he first guaranteed that his children would be recognized as legitimate, just in case he did not produce any more heirs.

Sibylla was the oldest of the children of Agnes and Amalric, born before 1161 when her brother Baldwin was born. She was named after Sibylla of Anjou, her father's half-sister, who at the time of the younger's birth had come to Jerusalem on pilgrimage and decided to abandon her husband and children and be a nun.

When Amalric was forced to put Agnes aside, the palace did not have a queen/mother for awhile, so the child Sibylla was sent to be raised by her great aunt, Ioveta, abbess of the Convent of Saint Lazarus (where the elder Sibylla had taken up residence, in fact).

Amalric wanted a good husband for Sibylla and asked the archbishop of Tyre to find someone suitable among the nobility of Western Europe, someone who was outside the orders of consanguinity (that was one reason why he had to give up Agnes). A brother-in-law of King Louis VII of France was available, Count of Sancerre Stephen I, who came to Jerusalem and was well thought of, but who ultimately rejected the marriage. William of Tyre claimed that Stephen backed out "disgracefully and foully"; William also said Stephen was "a man noble in flesh, but not so behavior." Perhaps Stephen was looking to, but not guaranteed to, become king, since other heirs existed.

Upon Amalric's death in 1174, his only son became King Baldwin IV, known as The Leper King because of his illness, with Raymond III of Tripoli as regent. (See illustration) The other option was Sibylla, who was 15.

One thing Raymond did as regent was allow Agnes of Courtenay back to court to be reunited with her children. As the current king's leprosy advanced and he became increasingly unable to function, urgency increased to find Sibylla a husband. Raymond chose William of Montferrat, called "Longsword" (not to be confused with William Longsword).

William was a cousin of both Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and King Louis VII of France, an excellent connection to the powers of Western Europe. By the time William arrived in Jerusalem, however, the connection was looking less useful, because Barbarossa had suffered some military setbacks and was unlikely to be able to spare his military to help in the Holy Land. Sibylla had been jilted once, however, and her prospects would look less and less favorable if she were to be jilted a second time, so the marriage had to be accepted by the Jerusalem court.

Baldwin made William Count of Jaffa and Ascalon. Shortly after the marriage, the two conceived a son, Baldwin. Succession seemed assured. Unfortunately, shortly after the couple conceived, William fell ill. He died months later, leaving Sibylla as Countess of Jaffa and Ascalon 

Once again needing a husband, claimants for Sibylla's hand arose, but weren't always acceptable to the Court, so they declared that she needed a year of mourning. We'll see tomorrow how she finally found a husband who would last.

Amalric and the Assassins

In 1173 King of Jerusalem Amalric I tried to make an alliance with the Order of Assassins. They were a sect of Shi'ite Islam whose goals were political as well as religious: they went after the Abbasid Caliphate as well as Christians. They had been subdued by the Templars and were forced into an annual tribute.

Amalric made them a deal: convert to Christianity, and you won't have to pay tribute to the Templars anymore. An envoy from the Order of Assassins to Amalric's court agreed to this. (Yes, hard to believe that this was a serious agreement on the part of the Order, since their entire identity was being faithful to their Shi'ite leader, the "Old Man of the Mountain" Rashid al-Din Sinan.)

Anyway, the envoy was returning from the negotiations when he was discovered by a patrol of Templars led by Walter of Mesnil. Despite being granted safe conduct by Amalric, the Templars killed him. William of Tyre and Walter Map both wrote about the incident, claiming it was a great loss of the chance to convert more Muslims to Christianity. (Walter Map suggested that the Templars did not want the Assassins to convert because it would make the Templars superfluous, but this imagines (quite wrongly) that there weren't plenty of non-Christians for the Templars to guard against and take tribute from.

Amalric was furious and demanded from the Templar master, Odo of Saint Armand, that Walter be turned over to him for punishment. Odo refused, saying that he had already given Walter penance to do and that Walter was being sent to the pope.

Amalric would have none of it. He went to where Walter was staying before heading to the pope and captured him, imprisoning him in Tyre.

On 15 May in 1174, Amalric's rival Nur ad-Din died. Amalric felt this was the best chance to (again) try to conquer Egypt. His first attack on a city there failed, but he accepted money to retreat. Heading back to Jerusalem, he fell ill. By the time he got to Jerusalem, it seemed clear that he had contracted dysentery. No treatment helped, and he died on 11 July. He left behind two daughters and a son, Baldwin, a sickly boy of 13 years. The illustration shows Amalric dying and the boy being crowned.

There were concerns about the young Baldwin IV. He did not seem to feel pain, which meant he was likely suffering from leprosy. In fact, I've talked about him as The Leper King, and that he was the only viable candidate, but he was fairly soon replaced by Baldwin V, his nephew through Sibylla of Jerusalem.

Since all that has been covered before, I want to turn to the mother of Baldwin V and sister of Baldwin IV, Sibylla of Jerusalem.

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.

Replacing Baldwin

I've written many times before about the importance of marriages in noble families, forging alliances with other powerful families through marriage. In the case of Baldwin IV, King of Jerusalem, finding a husband for his sister was even more crucial, because he needed to secure the succession, and he wasn't going to get an heir himself.

Baldwin had leprosy, which did not stop him from trying to be an effective king, but it meant marriage and procreation was out of the question. The best route was his sister, Sibylla. She had already been married, to William of Montferrat, and had a son named Baldwin, but William died from malaria. Sibylla herself was in the line of succession, but they wanted to make sure it would last beyond her.

Baldwin himself had become ill when visiting William, and although he survived for several more years, it became important to make sure Sibylla had a husband who could help raise her son to be the next king, and who could be trusted to perform as regent for that son so that Baldwin could safely abdicate, since he was becoming increasingly unable to perform his duties.

The High Court wanted her to marry Duke Hugh III of Burgundy, who was now a vassal of King Philip II of France after Philip invaded Burgundy. Baldwin was so desperate to get Sibylla married that he sent a message to Philip, empowering him to choose another suitor if Hugh refused. Hugh accepted, and intended to sail to Jerusalem in early 1180 for an Easter wedding. Unfortunately, internal strife in France prevented Hugh from leaving.

William of Tyre, who had helped raise Baldwin IV and wrote a history of the lands controlled by the Crusades, recorded that Count Raymond III of Tripoli and Prince Bohemond III of Antioch set out for Jerusalem, sensing Baldwin's weakness and looking to usurp his throne. There is a belief that Raymond's intent was to force Baldwin to marry Sibylla to Baldwin of Ibelin, an important noble and close friend of Raymond, then force Baldwin to abdicate.

Their plan was foiled when Sibylla hastily married Guy of Lusignan, a French knight from Poitou, in 1180. (The illustration is of their marriage.) (His older brother, Aimery of Lusignan, had married the daughter of Baldwin of Ibelin, which would have made family gatherings awkward.) Guy became, by marriage, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon and bailiff of Jerusalem.

In 1182, with his health declining, King Baldwin declared Guy regent, but doubts about how Guy and Raynald of Châtillon provoked Saladin with whom Baldwin had a truce disillusioned Baldwin, and he tried to have the marriage annulled. Baldwin died in 1185, having become blind and lame in his final years. Sibylla's son became Baldwin V, but died within the year.

The High Court agreed that she should be queen, but only on the condition that she would annul the marriage to Guy. Sibylla agreed, on the condition that she be allowed to choose her next husband. The marriage was annulled, Sibylla was crowned Queen of Jerusalem in Summer 1186, and she chose as her husband ... Guy of Lusignan, who was crowned King of Jerusalem in September 1186.

Guy has been mentioned a few times before, and I'd like to tell you a little more about his life before and after becoming King of Jerusalem.

The Leper Warrior

Although Baldwin IV of Jerusalem was confirmed to have leprosy, he was still the only viable candidate to succeed his father, Amalric, as King of Jerusalem. (The illustration shows his coronation.) He did everything he could as king, even going to war, despite the fact that the lack of sensation in his right arm and hand meant learning to guide a horse with his knees.

Jerusalem was essentially surrounded by the forces of the great sultan and warrior Saladin (c.1137 - 1193), with whom there was an unsteady truce. While Saladin himself was in Aleppo, Baldwin planned an attack on Egypt. Baldwin refused to stay behind, and planned to go to war himself.

Baldwin married his sister, Sibylla, to William of Montferrat, and named William count of Jaffa and Ascalon. In April 1177, Baldwin visited William in Ascalon, who had succumbed to malaria. Baldwin also fell ill. William died in June. Baldwin, still ill, could not command the army in the planned attack on Egypt. He had himself carried from Ascalon to Jerusalem in a litter. He handed the regency and leading of the army to Raynald of Châtillon, Prince of Antioch. Raynald's step-daughter had married Emperor Manuel I Komnenos in 1161, and Raynald was a link to the Byzantine Empire, whose navy would be helpful in the Egypt campaign.

On 18 November 1177, Saladin chose to attack Baldwin's territory in Ascalon. Baldwin rode out himself to Ascalon, but Saladin's superior numbers caused him to retreat. He sent a message to Gaza, where the Templar Knights were fighting, requesting their aid. Once the Templars arrived, Baldwin's army (with the king at the forefront) and the Templars soundly defeated Saladin's forces, killing his bodyguard and forcing Saladin to flee.

Baldwin did not fare so well at a future skirmish, however. In the spring of 1179, Saladin's nephew led a force to investigate reports that Baldwin was "stealing sheep." Baldwin was knocked off his horse and, unable to climb back on a horse without help, was carried to safety on a knight's back.

Before the death of William of Montferrat, Sibylla had become pregnant. She had given birth to a son, named Baldwin, and it seemed likely that he was going to be his uncle's successor. In fact, Baldwin IV was probably looking to abdicate, given his worsening health. To have his nephew raised properly, however, it was important to find Sibylla a new husband, one that brought good political connections and could be trusted to raise the next King of Jerusalem. There were those who were aware of the importance of Sibylla's next husband, and wanted that role for themselves. Tomorrow we'll look at the claimants, the winner, and Baldwin's departure from the public stage.

The Leper King

When William of Tyre was asked by King Amalric of Jerusalem to raise and tutor his son, Baldwin (1161 - 1185), he noticed something unusual, and ultimately disturbing. When he played with the other children, and the rough-and-tumble of kids involved pinching each other, Baldwin did not cry like the other children did. His right arm seemed impervious to the pain. (The illustration is from a French translation in the 1250s of a history by William of Tyre.)

Baldwin's riding teacher realized he did not have sensation in his right hand, and so learning to ride a horse was more difficult; Baldwin learned to control the horse with his knees. An obvious source of this problem was leprosy, but without any of the physical signs, they were reluctant to declare leprosy, since that would stigmatize the prince.

According to William, Baldwin had an excellent memory and was a quick learner, though he stuttered. His father was concerned about the boy's future and the succession. He wanted to marry Baldwin's sister, Sibylla, to Count Stephen I of Sancerre, who was chosen to be regent if Amalric died before Baldwin had attained his majority. The couple might have been also considered by Amalric to be a suitable heir to the throne of Jerusalem instead of Baldwin. Unfortunately, the match did not take place, and then Amalric died from dysentery on 11 July 1174.

The High Court met to consider the succession. Baldwin's limitation was known, but with no visible sign yet of leprosy, he was by default the heir and was crowned a few days after his father's death, on the 15th, which happened to be the 75th anniversary of the seizing of Jerusalem by the First Crusade.

Raymond III of Tripoli, a cousin of Amalric, was chosen as regent (after the man who wanted to be regent, the seneschal Miles of Plancy, was murdered in October having failed to get the cooperation of the military). Raymond made William of Tyre Chancellor, but did not replace the seneschal. When Baldwin turned 15 in 1176, Raymond returned to Tripoli.

By that time it was clear that Baldwin had leprosy. The condition advanced rapidly, affecting his limbs and his face, turning his once-good looks into a demeanor difficult to look at. As a confirmed leper, he was not allowed to marry or have children. Lepers were often segregated, but he remained on the throne. Marrying Sibylla to ensure a dynastic succession became a priority, but that becomes a long story in its own right.

Despite the leprosy, Baldwin still fought when necessary. Tomorrow I'll tell you about when Baldwin went to war.

William of Tyre

The First Crusade founded several Christian territories in the East. In order of their founding, they were the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the County of Tripoli.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem's first ruler was Godfrey of Bouillon. He and his successors expanded the borders of their kingdom, covering approximately where Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon are today.

This included the city of Tyre, the birthplace of William II of Tyre c.1130. Though growing up in Jerusalem, he went back to Europe to study Liberal Arts and canon law in the universities (where he knew a man named Hilary who studied Classical literature while William was there). He studied theology in Paris under Peter Lombard (whose writings became the standard for theological education) and Bologna (probably around the same time as Peter of Blois, who was the same age).

William came back to Jerusalem in 1165, where King Amalric I appointed him ambassador to the Byzantine Empire, and sent Amalric's son, the future king Baldwin IV, to live with and be tutored by William. Baldwin had been born in 1161, so was quite young. Over time, William was to notice something very different about the boy (but more on that later).

When Amalric died in 1174, William became Chancellor to the still-very-young Baldwin, appointed by the regent, Raymond III of Tripoli. William was also made Archbishop of Tyre. In 1179, William led the Jerusalem delegation to the Third Lateran Council, called by Pope Alexander, that declared education should be made free to those who could not afford it, and that expanded the Truce of God.

William also wrote. His account of the Third Lateran and a history of the Islamic states have not survived, but his Latin work called alternately Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum ("History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea") or Historia Ierosolimitana ("History of Jerusalem") was translated into French soon after his death and then into other languages, so has survived.

William's status was connected to his relationship with the king. There had been a brief regency after Amalric died, and Baldwin did not become king in his own right until 1176. There was some debate about his accession to the throne, but he was the only appropriate option at the time. What was the cause of the concern? It had been clear since his childhood that there was something different about him, something wrong, actually, and it would not necessarily prevent him from being king, but it would prevent him from extending the dynasty.

Tomorrow we'll look at Baldwin IV and the sad case of his illness that William noticed even when Baldwin was a child—especially when he was a child.