Amalric II of Jerusalem
Encyclopedia
Amalric II of Jerusalem or Amalric I of Cyprus, born Amalric of Lusignan (1145 – 1 April 1205), King of Jerusalem
1197–1205, was an older brother of Guy of Lusignan
.
The Lusignan
family was noted for its many Crusaders. Amalric and Guy were sons of Hugh VIII of Lusignan
, who had himself campaigned in the Holy Land in the 1160s. After being expelled from Poitou
by their overlord, Richard the Lion-hearted
, for the murder of Patrick of Salisbury, 1st Earl of Salisbury
, Amalric arrived in Palestine c. 1174, Guy possibly later. Amalric married Eschiva, daughter of Baldwin of Ibelin
. He then took service with Agnes of Courtenay
, wife of Reginald of Sidon
and mother of Baldwin IV of Jerusalem
. The pro-Ibelin Chronicle of Ernoul
later claimed that he was her lover, but it is likely that she and Baldwin IV were attempting to separate him from the political influence of his wife's family. He was appointed Constable of Jerusalem
soon after April 22, 1179. Guy married the king's widowed older sister, Sibylla of Jerusalem
in 1180, and so gained a claim to the kingdom of Jerusalem.
Amalric was among those captured with his brother after the disastrous Battle of Hattin
in 1187. In 1194, on the death of Guy, he became King of Cyprus
as Amalric I. By his first wife, Eschiva of Ibelin, he was the father of Hugh I of Cyprus
and was crowned in Nicosia
on September 22, 1197. After Eschiva's death in October 1197 he married Isabella
, the daughter of Amalric I of Jerusalem
by his second marriage, and became King of Jerusalem
in right of his wife and crowned at Acre
in January 1198.
In 1198 he was able to procure a five years' truce with the Muslim
s, owing to the struggle between Saladin
's brothers and his sons for the inheritance of his territories. The truce was disturbed by raids on both sides, but in 1204 it was renewed for six years.
Amalric died of dysentery (allegedly brought on by "a surfeit of white mullet") or even poisoned at Saint Jean d'Acre on 1 April 1205, just after his son Amalric and four days before his wife, and was buried at Saint Sophia
, Nicosia. The kingdom of Cyprus passed to Hugh
, his son by Eschiva, while the kingdom of Jerusalem
passed to Maria
, the daughter of Isabella by her previous marriage with Conrad of Montferrat
.
in Winter 1196–1197), daughter of Baldwin of Ibelin
and first wife Richilde de Bethsan or Bessan. They had six children:
His second wife was Queen Isabella of Jerusalem
, married January 1198 in Acre. They had three children:
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
1197–1205, was an older brother of Guy of Lusignan
Guy of Lusignan
Guy of Lusignan was a Poitevin knight, son of Hugh VIII of the prominent Lusignan dynasty. He was king of the crusader state of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1192 by right of marriage to Sibylla of Jerusalem, and of Cyprus from 1192 to 1194...
.
The Lusignan
Lusignan
The Lusignan family originated in Poitou near Lusignan in western France in the early 10th century. By the end of the 11th century, they had risen to become the most prominent petty lords in the region from their castle at Lusignan...
family was noted for its many Crusaders. Amalric and Guy were sons of Hugh VIII of Lusignan
Hugh VIII of Lusignan
Hugh VIII the Old of Lusignan or Hugh III of La Marche or Hugues VIII le Vieux de Lusignan was the eldest son of Hugh VII and of Sarrasine or Saracena de Lezay. He became Seigneur de Lusignan, Couhé, and Château-Larcher and Count of La Marche on his father's death in 1151...
, who had himself campaigned in the Holy Land in the 1160s. After being expelled from Poitou
Poitou
Poitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
by their overlord, Richard the Lion-hearted
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
, for the murder of Patrick of Salisbury, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Patrick of Salisbury, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Patrick of Salisbury, 1st Earl of Salisbury was an Anglo-Norman nobleman, and the uncle of the famous William Marshal.His parents were Walter of Salisbury and Sibilla de Chaworth. Before 1141, Patrick was constable of Salisbury, a powerful local official but not a nobleman...
, Amalric arrived in Palestine c. 1174, Guy possibly later. Amalric married Eschiva, daughter of Baldwin of Ibelin
Baldwin of Ibelin
Baldwin of Ibelin, also known as Baldwin III of Ramla , was an important noble of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. He was the second son of Barisan of Ibelin, and was the younger brother of Hugh of Ibelin and older brother of Balian of Ibelin...
. He then took service with Agnes of Courtenay
Agnes of Courtenay
Agnes of Courtenay was the daughter of Joscelin II of Courtenay by his wife Beatrice , and the mother of king Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and queen Sibylla of Jerusalem.-Dynasty:...
, wife of Reginald of Sidon
Reginald of Sidon
Reginald Grenier was Lord of Sidon and an important noble in the late-12th century Kingdom of Jerusalem.-Rise to fame:...
and mother of Baldwin IV of Jerusalem
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem , called the Leper or the Leprous, the son of Amalric I of Jerusalem and his first wife, Agnes of Courtenay, was king of Jerusalem from 1174 to 1185. His full sister was Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem and his nephew through this sister was the child-king Baldwin V...
. The pro-Ibelin Chronicle of Ernoul
Ernoul
Ernoul is the name generally given to the author of a chronicle of the late 12th century dealing with the fall of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.-Biography:Ernoul himself is mentioned only once in history, and only in his own chronicle...
later claimed that he was her lover, but it is likely that she and Baldwin IV were attempting to separate him from the political influence of his wife's family. He was appointed Constable of Jerusalem
Officers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
There were six major officers of the kingdom of Jerusalem: the constable, the marshal, the seneschal, the chamberlain , the butler and the chancellor...
soon after April 22, 1179. Guy married the king's widowed older sister, Sibylla of Jerusalem
Sibylla of Jerusalem
Sibylla of Jerusalem was the Countess of Jaffa and Ascalon from 1176 and Queen of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1190. She was the eldest daughter of Amalric I of Jerusalem and Agnes of Courtenay, sister of Baldwin IV and half-sister of Isabella I of Jerusalem, and mother of Baldwin V of Jerusalem...
in 1180, and so gained a claim to the kingdom of Jerusalem.
Amalric was among those captured with his brother after the disastrous Battle of Hattin
Battle of Hattin
The Battle of Hattin took place on Saturday, July 4, 1187, between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the forces of the Ayyubid dynasty....
in 1187. In 1194, on the death of Guy, he became King of Cyprus
Kingdom of Cyprus
The Kingdom of Cyprus was a Crusader kingdom on the island of Cyprus in the high and late Middle Ages, between 1192 and 1489. It was ruled by the French House of Lusignan.-History:...
as Amalric I. By his first wife, Eschiva of Ibelin, he was the father of Hugh I of Cyprus
Hugh I of Cyprus
Hugh I of Cyprus succeeded to the throne of Cyprus on April 1, 1205 underage upon the death of his elderly father Amalric of Lusignan, King of Cyprus and Jerusalem...
and was crowned in Nicosia
Nicosia
Nicosia from , known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. Nicosia is the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line...
on September 22, 1197. After Eschiva's death in October 1197 he married Isabella
Isabella of Jerusalem
Isabella I was Queen regnant of Jerusalem from 1190/1192 until her death. By her four marriages, she was successively Lady of Toron, Marchioness of Montferrat, Countess of Champagne and Queen of Cyprus....
, the daughter of Amalric I of Jerusalem
Amalric I of Jerusalem
Amalric I of Jerusalem was King of Jerusalem 1163–1174, and Count of Jaffa and Ascalon before his accession. Amalric was the second son of Melisende of Jerusalem and Fulk of Jerusalem...
by his second marriage, and became King of Jerusalem
Kings of Jerusalem
This is a list of kings of Jerusalem, from 1099 to 1291, as well as claimants to the title up to the present day.-Kings of Jerusalem :...
in right of his wife and crowned at Acre
Acre, Israel
Acre , is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country....
in January 1198.
In 1198 he was able to procure a five years' truce with the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s, owing to the struggle between Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
's brothers and his sons for the inheritance of his territories. The truce was disturbed by raids on both sides, but in 1204 it was renewed for six years.
Amalric died of dysentery (allegedly brought on by "a surfeit of white mullet") or even poisoned at Saint Jean d'Acre on 1 April 1205, just after his son Amalric and four days before his wife, and was buried at Saint Sophia
Selimiye Mosque (Nicosia)
Selimiye Mosque or Agia Sofia Cathedral, formerly Cathédrale Sainte Sophie, is located in the Turkish controlled northern part of the walled city of Nicosia. It is the main mosque in the city. It is housed in the largest and oldest surviving gothic church in Cyprus possibly constructed on the site...
, Nicosia. The kingdom of Cyprus passed to Hugh
Hugh I of Cyprus
Hugh I of Cyprus succeeded to the throne of Cyprus on April 1, 1205 underage upon the death of his elderly father Amalric of Lusignan, King of Cyprus and Jerusalem...
, his son by Eschiva, while the kingdom of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
passed to Maria
Maria of Montferrat
Maria of Montferrat was Queen of Jerusalem, the daughter of Conrad of Montferrat and Isabella, Queen of Jerusalem...
, the daughter of Isabella by her previous marriage with Conrad of Montferrat
Conrad of Montferrat
Conrad of Montferrat was a northern Italian nobleman, one of the major participants in the Third Crusade. He was the de facto King of Jerusalem, by marriage, from 24 November 1190, but officially elected only in 1192, days before his death...
.
Wives and children
His first wife, married before October 29, 1174, was Eschiva of Ibelin (c. 1160 – CyprusCyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
in Winter 1196–1197), daughter of Baldwin of Ibelin
Baldwin of Ibelin
Baldwin of Ibelin, also known as Baldwin III of Ramla , was an important noble of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. He was the second son of Barisan of Ibelin, and was the younger brother of Hugh of Ibelin and older brother of Balian of Ibelin...
and first wife Richilde de Bethsan or Bessan. They had six children:
- Bourgogne of Lusignan (1176–1180 or c. 1178 – c. 1210), married as his third wife Raymond VI of ToulouseRaymond VI of ToulouseRaymond VI was count of Toulouse and marquis of Provence from 1194 to 1222. He was also count of Melgueil from 1173 to 1190.-Early life:...
1193, repudiated and divorced 1194 or 1196 without issue, married Gauthier I de Montfaucon aka Walter of Montbéliard (killed in action at the Battle of Satalia, June 20, 1212) 1197 or bef. 1205, by whom she had issue. - Guy of Lusignan, died young 1197–1205
- John of Lusignan, died young 1197–1205
- Hugh I of LusignanHugh I of CyprusHugh I of Cyprus succeeded to the throne of Cyprus on April 1, 1205 underage upon the death of his elderly father Amalric of Lusignan, King of Cyprus and Jerusalem...
(c. 1194–1218) - Héloise/Helvis of Lusignan (c. 1190 – 1216–1219, 1216/1219 or c. 1217), married firstly c. 1205 Eudes de Dampierre sur Salon, Lord of Chargey-le-Grey, div. 1210, married secondly before 1210 or in September 1210 Raymond-Roupen of AntiochRaymond-Roupen of AntiochRaymond-Roupen of Antioch or Raimond Rupen de Poitiers was Prince of Antioch between 1205 and 1208 and between 1216 and 1219/1221 and "Rex Iunior" of Armenia between 1199 and 1221/1222....
- Alix de Lusignan, died young 1197–1205
His second wife was Queen Isabella of Jerusalem
Isabella of Jerusalem
Isabella I was Queen regnant of Jerusalem from 1190/1192 until her death. By her four marriages, she was successively Lady of Toron, Marchioness of Montferrat, Countess of Champagne and Queen of Cyprus....
, married January 1198 in Acre. They had three children:
- Sybilla of LusignanSybilla of LusignanSibylla of Lusignan was the daughter of Amalric II of Jerusalem and Isabella of Jerusalem. She was a member of the House of Lusignan....
(October–November 1198 – c. 1230 or 1252), married King Leo II of ArmeniaLeo II of ArmeniaLeo II , also Leon II, Levon II or Lewon II was the tenth lord of Armenian Cilicia or “Lord of the Mountains” , and the first king of Armenian Cilicia .During his reign, Leo succeeded in establishing Cilician Armenia as a powerful and a unified Christian... - Melisende of LusignanMelisende of LusignanMelisende de Lusignan, Princess of Antioch , was the youngest daughter of Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem by her fourth and last marriage to King Amalric II of Jerusalem. She had a sister Sibylla of Lusignan, a younger brother, Amalric who died as a young child...
(c. 1200 – aft. 1249), married January 1, 1218 Bohemund IV of AntiochBohemund IV of AntiochBohemond IV of Antioch , also known as the One-Eyed , was ruler of the Principality of Antioch between 1201 and 1205, again between 1208 and 1216, and again from 1219 until his death... - Amalric or Amaury of Lusignan (1201 – February 2, 1205, Acre])