Hodierna of Tripoli
Encyclopedia
Hodierna of Jerusalem was a Countess consort of Tripoli. She was the daughter of Baldwin II of Jerusalem
Baldwin II of Jerusalem
Baldwin II of Jerusalem , formerly Baldwin II of Edessa, also called Baldwin of Bourcq, born Baldwin of Rethel was the second count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118, and the third king of Jerusalem from 1118 until his death.-Ancestry:Baldwin was the son of Hugh, count of Rethel, and his wife Melisende,...

 and the Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

n noblewoman Morphia
Morphia of Melitene
Morphia of Melitene, or Morfia, or Moraphia was the wife of Baldwin II, king of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem....

. She was countess of Tripoli
County of Tripoli
The County of Tripoli was the last Crusader state founded in the Levant, located in what today are parts of western Syria and northern Lebanon, where exists the modern city of Tripoli. The Crusader state was captured and created by Christian forces in 1109, originally held by Bertrand of Toulouse...

 through her marriage to Raymond II of Tripoli
Raymond II of Tripoli
Raymond II of Tripoli was Count of Tripoli from 1137 to 1152.He was the son of Pons of Tripoli and Cecile of France. In 1137, he married Hodierna of Rethel, daughter of Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem. Later that year, he succeeded his father, after Pons was killed in a battle with the army of...

. Her maternal grandfather was the ruler of Melitene called Gabriel
Gabriel of Melitene
Gabriel of Melitene was the ruler of Melitene . Along with Thoros of Edessa, Gabriel was a former officer of Philaretos Brachamios. Philaretos had installed Gabriel as the ruler of Melitene. Following the death of Philaretos in 1086 Melitene became completely independent of Byzantine control with...

.

Biography

Hodierna was the third of four daughters; her older sisters were Melisende
Melisende of Jerusalem
Melisende was Queen of Jerusalem from 1131 to 1153, and regent for her son between 1153 and 1161 while he was on campaign. She was the eldest daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, and the Armenian princess Morphia of Melitene. She was named after her paternal grandmother, Melisende of...

 (wife of Fulk of Jerusalem
Fulk of Jerusalem
Fulk , also known as Fulk the Younger, was Count of Anjou from 1109 to 1129, and King of Jerusalem from 1131 to his death...

) and Alice
Alice of Antioch
Alice of Jerusalem was a Princess of Jerusalem. She later became Princess of Antioch.- Biography :Alice was the second daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Morphia of Melitene. She has three sisters...

 (wife of Bohemund II of Antioch
Bohemund II of Antioch
Bohemond II was the Prince of Taranto and Prince of Antioch from 1111. He was the son of the founder of the principalities, Bohemond I, and Constance, daughter of Philip I of France. Taranto was lost to Roger II of Sicily in 1128....

), and her younger sister was Ioveta
Ioveta of Bethany
Ioveta was the fourth and youngest daughter of King Baldwin II and Morphia of Melitene. She was the princess of Jerusalem.- Names :...

 (abbess of Bethany
Bethany (Israel)
Bethany is recorded in the New Testament as the home of the siblings Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, as well as that of Simon the Leper...

). The four sisters were close; Hodierna may have asked Melisende to arrange for the assassination of Alphonse I of Toulouse
Alphonse I of Toulouse
Alfonso Jordan was the Count of Tripoli from 1105 until 1109 and thereafter Count of Toulouse until his death. He was the son of Raymond IV of Toulouse by his third wife, Elvira of Castile, was born in the castle of Mont-Pelerin, Tripoli, in today's Lebanon...

, son of Raymond IV of Toulouse
Raymond IV of Toulouse
Raymond IV of Toulouse , sometimes called Raymond of St Gilles, was Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne, and Margrave of Provence and one of the leaders of the First Crusade. He was a son of Pons of Toulouse and Almodis de La Marche...

, in 1148, when Alphonse came to claim the County of Tripoli
County of Tripoli
The County of Tripoli was the last Crusader state founded in the Levant, located in what today are parts of western Syria and northern Lebanon, where exists the modern city of Tripoli. The Crusader state was captured and created by Christian forces in 1109, originally held by Bertrand of Toulouse...

. Hodierna supported Melisende in her struggle with her son (Hodierna's nephew) Baldwin III
Baldwin III of Jerusalem
Baldwin III was king of Jerusalem from 1143 to 1163. He was the eldest son of Melisende and Fulk of Jerusalem, and the grandson of Baldwin II of Jerusalem.-Succession:...

. Melisende ended up on the losing side by 1152, but she was given a small fief to rule in Nablus
Nablus
Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...

, where she and Hodierna were able to influence the election of the Latin Patriarch
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is the title possessed by the Latin Rite Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem. The Archdiocese of Jerusalem has jurisdiction for all Latin Rite Catholics in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Cyprus...

.

Around the same time, Hodierna was in the midst of a dispute with her husband Raymond II of Tripoli
Raymond II of Tripoli
Raymond II of Tripoli was Count of Tripoli from 1137 to 1152.He was the son of Pons of Tripoli and Cecile of France. In 1137, he married Hodierna of Rethel, daughter of Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem. Later that year, he succeeded his father, after Pons was killed in a battle with the army of...

, whom she had married around 1135. Hodierna, like her sisters, was very independent, but Raymond was a jealous man and kept her in seclusion. There were even rumours that their daughter Melisende
Melisende of Tripoli
Melisende of Tripoli was the daughter of Hodierna of Tripoli and Raymond II, count of Tripoli.- Biography :Melisende was named for her aunt, Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem. She was a cousin of Kings Baldwin III and Amalric I....

 (named for the queen) was fathered by a different man. Her sister Melisende and her nephew Baldwin came north to intervene in 1152. Hodierna and Raymond agreed to reconcile, but it was also decided that Hodierna should return to Jerusalem with Melisende for a short time. Almost as soon as they had left Tripoli
Tripoli, Lebanon
Tripoli is the largest city in northern Lebanon and the second-largest city in Lebanon. Situated 85 km north of the capital Beirut, Tripoli is the capital of the North Governorate and the Tripoli District. Geographically located on the east of the Mediterranean, the city's history dates back...

, Raymond was killed by the Hashshashin
Hashshashin
The Assassins were an order of Nizari Ismailis, particularly those of Persia that existed from around 1092 to 1265...

. Hodierna immediately returned to assume the regency of the county for her son Raymond III
Raymond III of Tripoli
Raymond III of Tripoli was Count of Tripoli from 1152 to 1187 and Prince of Galilee and Tiberias in right of his wife Eschiva.-Early life:...

, who was still a child. Baldwin ensured the support of the nobles of the county, and Hodierna allowed him to give the castle of Tortosa
Tortosa
-External links:* *** * * *...

 to the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...

, in order to defend from an attack by Nur ad-Din Zangi, who invaded when he heard of Raymond's death.

Hodierna remained by Melisende's side when Melisende lay dying in 1161. Now rid of the influence of his mother, Baldwin III took personal control of Nablus, exchanging it with Philip of Milly
Philip of Milly
Philip of Milly , also known as Philip of Nablus, was a baron in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the seventh Grand Master of the Knights Templar...

 who received the lordship of Oultrejordain in return. Hodierna gave her assent to this transaction on behalf of Melisende.

Her daughter Melisende was supposed to marry Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus; the deal seemed to be confirmed and the young Melisende was even referred to as "the future empress." However, Manuel learned of her supposed illegitimacy, and instead married Maria of Antioch
Maria of Antioch
Maria of Antioch was a Byzantine empress as the wife of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. She was the daughter of Constance of Antioch and her first husband Raymond of Poitiers...

.

In fiction

According to the legendary Vida of the troubadour
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....

 Jaufré Rudel
Jaufré Rudel
Jaufre Rudel was the Prince of Blaye and a troubadour of the early–mid 12th century, who probably died during the Second Crusade, in or after 1147...

 of Blaye
Blaye
Blaye is a commune and subprefecture in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Population:Its inhabitants are called Blayais or the Blayaises.-Geography:...

, the legend of her beauty, brought back to France by pilgrims, inspired Rudel's songs of amor de lonh — "distant love". The story claims that he took part in the Second Crusade
Second Crusade
The Second Crusade was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade by Baldwin of Boulogne in 1098...

 in order to see her, but fell sick and was brought ashore dying. Hodierna is said to have come down from her castle on hearing the news, and Rudel died in her arms. This romantic but unlikely story seems to have been derived from the enigmatic nature of Rudel's verse and his presumed death on the Crusade. Edmond Rostand
Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century...

 took it as the basis for his 1895 verse drama La Princesse lointaine, but reassigned the female lead from Hodierna to her jilted daughter Melisende.

Sources

  • Hans E. Mayer, The Crusades. Oxford, 1965.
  • Steven Runciman
    Steven Runciman
    The Hon. Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman CH — known as Steven Runciman — was a British historian known for his work on the Middle Ages...

    , A History of the Crusades, vol. II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University Press
    Cambridge University Press
    Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...

    , 1952.
  • William of Tyre
    William of Tyre
    William of Tyre was a medieval prelate and chronicler. As archbishop of Tyre, he is sometimes known as William II to distinguish him from a predecessor, William of Malines...

    , A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea, trans. E.A. Babcock and A.C. Krey. Columbia University Press
    Columbia University Press
    Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by James D. Jordan and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology,...

    , 1943.
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