Lucia of Tripoli
Encyclopedia
Lucia was the last 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...

.

She was the daughter of Bohemund VI, Prince of Antioch and Sibylla of Armenia
Sibylla of Armenia
Sibylla of Armenia was the daughter of Queen Isabella of Armenia and king Hethoum I of Armenia and was a member of the Hetoumid family....

. Her brother was Bohemund VII of Tripoli
Bohemund VII of Tripoli
Bohemond VII of Tripoli was the count of Tripoli and nominal prince of Antioch from 1275 to his death. The only part left of the once great Principality of Antioch was the port of Latakia. He spent much of his reign at war with the Templars .Bohemond VII was the son of Bohemond VI of Antioch and...

. When Bohemund VII died in 1287, their mother appointed as regent Bertrand of Gibelet. He proved to be very unpopular with the commune
Medieval commune
Medieval communes in the European Middle Ages had sworn allegiances of mutual defense among the citizens of a town or city. They took many forms, and varied widely in organization and makeup. Communes are first recorded in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, thereafter becoming a widespread...

 of the city, who created their own administration. Lucia then came to Tripoli from Auxerre
Auxerre
Auxerre is a commune in the Bourgogne region in north-central France, between Paris and Dijon. It is the capital of the Yonne department.Auxerre's population today is about 45,000...

, where she had married ca 1275 or 1278 Narjot de Toucy
Narjot de Toucy (died 1293)
Narjot de Toucy was the son of Philip of Toucy and of Portia de Roye. Narjot was therefore the grandson of his namesake who died in 1241....

, to take control of the county, although she was opposed by both the commune and the Genoese
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

. The Genoese, led by Benedetto Zaccaria, tried to install a podestà
Podestà
Podestà is the name given to certain high officials in many Italian cities, since the later Middle Ages, mainly as Chief magistrate of a city state , but also as a local administrator, the representative of the Emperor.The term derives from the Latin word potestas, meaning power...

, an official administrator from Genoa, which would have made Tripoli essentially a Genoese colony. At this the leader of the commune consented to acknowledge Lucia, but Lucia unexpectedly allied herself with the Genoese instead.

The Venetians
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...

 and Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...

ns, who also had trading links with Tripoli, were shocked at this and supposedly conspired with the Mameluk sultan Qalawun
Qalawun
Saif ad-Dīn Qalawun aṣ-Ṣāliḥī was the seventh Mamluk sultan of Egypt...

 to attack the city. Lucia allied with the Mongols
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...

, who, knowing that Tripoli was too weak to defend itself even with their help, asked for support from Europe, although no aid was to be found there. Qalawun started the Siege of Tripoli for one month in 1289 and captured it on April 26. Two years later Acre, the last Crusader outpost in the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...

 was also captured.

Although he could have claimed the county through her, Lucia's husband never came to Tripoli, as he was attending to business in the Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...

, where he died in 1292. The date of Lucia's death is unknown. Narjot and Lucia had one son, Philippe de Toucy, who inherited the lordship of Terza on Narjot's death and the claim to Antioch on Lucia's death.
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