Alice of Champagne

Alice of Champagne
Queen consort of Cyprus
Tenure 1210–1218
Born c. 1193
Died 1246
Spouse Hugh I, King of Cyprus
Bohemond V, Prince of Antioch
Ralph of Nesle
Issue Mary
Isabella
Henry I, King of Cyprus
House House of Blois
Father Henry II, Count of Champagne
Mother Isabella I, Queen of Jerusalem

Alice of Champagne (c. 1193 – 1246) was a Queen consort of Cyprus from 1210 to 1218, and regent of Cyprus from 1218 to 1223 and of Jerusalem from 1243 to 1246. She was the eldest daughter of Henry II, Count of Champagne, and Isabella I of Jerusalem. Alice married her step-brother, Hugh I of Cyprus. She received the County of Jaffa as dowry. After her husband's dead in 1218, she assumed the regency for their infant son, Henry I of Cyprus. Before long, she began to make contacts in her father's counties in France, because she had a strong claim to Champagne and Brie against her cousin, Theobald IV of Champagne, although the kings of France never acknowledged it.

After a debate with Philip of Ibelin, bailli of Cyprus in 1223, she left the island. She married Bohemond, heir to Prince of Antioch and Count of Tripoli, but their marriage was annulled because of consanguinity. She laid claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem against the infant Conrad (the son of her niece, Isabella II of Jerusalem and the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II) who was absent from the kingdom in 1229, but the High Court of Jerusalem refused her. After her son reached the age of majority in 1232, Alice abandoned her title of regent and went to France to claim Champagne and Brie. Before long, she renounced her claim for a compensation and returned to the Holy Land.

She married Raoul of Nesle who was about half of her age at the time of their marriage in 1240. The High Court of Jerusalem proclaimed Alice and her husband regents for Conrad in 1243. However, their power was only nominal and Raoul of Nesle left the kingdom and Alice before the end of the year. Alice retained the title of regent until her death.

Childhood

Alice was the eldest daughter of Isabella I of Jerusalem and her third husband, Henry II, Count of Champagne.[1][2] She was born around 1193.[1] Her father and Aimery, Lord of Cyprus, agreed that Aimery's eldest surviving son was to marry Henry's eldest surviving daughter, stipulating that she would receive the County of Jaffa as dowry.[1] Henry of Champagne fell from a tower of his palace in Acre and died on 10 September 1197.[1][3] A month after his death, his widow married Aimery of Lusignan, who had recently been crowned king of Cyprus.[4][5]

Before his departure for the Holy Land, Henry of Champagne had bequeathed the Counties of Champagne and Brie to his brother, Theobald, if he died without issue.[6] Although Alice and her younger sister, Philippa, survived their father, Philip II of France invested their uncle, Theobald III, with Champagne and Brie, in January 1198.[6][7] Theobald III died on 24 May 1201, leaving Champagne and Brie to his posthumous son, Theobald IV, under the regency of his mother, Blanche of Navarre.[6][8] However, Theobald IV's position was not secure, because Alice and Philippa who had been born when their father was a count could challenge a posthumous son's right to rule the counties.[8]

Aimery of Cyprus died on 1 April 1205.[9][10] A few months later, Isabella I also died.[9] Her fourteen-year-old daughter from her second marriage, Maria, mounted the throne, with Isabella's half-brother, John of Ibelin, as regent.[9] As the new queen's eldest half-sister, Alice became heir presumptive.[9] She was allegedly placed under the guardianship of her maternal grandmother, Maria Komnene, according to historian to Bernard Hamilton.[9]

Cyprus

Queen consort

Maria Komnene conducted the negotiations about the marriage of Alice and Hugh I of Cyprus (who was Aimery of Cyprus's eldest surviving son and successor) in accordance with the agreement their fathers had concluded.[9][11] Since the marriage of Alice's mother and Hugh's father made them step-sister and step-brother, a special dispensation was needed which was granted by Pope Innocent III.[9] Blanche of Navarre provided Alice's dowry because she wanted to assure that Alice would stay in Cyprus instead of claiming Champagne and Brie for herself.[11] To strengthen her son's position, Blanche also persuaded Philip II of France in 1209 to promise that he would not allow anyone to challenge Theobald IV's right to the two counties before Theobald reached the age of majority.[12]

Alice and Hugh married in the first half of 1210.[9] On this occasion, she received the County of Jaffa.[9] Alice's sister, Philippa, married Erard of Ramerupt, who laid claim to Champagne and Brie on Philippa's behalf in 1213.[13] Blanche of Navarre soon approached the Holy See to demand an investigation about the validity of the second and third marriage of Alice's and Philippa's mother, stating that her first marriage with Humphrey IV of Toron had uncanonically been annulled.[13][14] The inquiry that Cardinal Robert of Courçon conducted on the pope's order established that both Humphrey and Isabella had sharply protested against the annulment of their marriage, which suggested that Isabella's two later marriages were unlawful.[14] However, the Holy See did not finish the investigation, thus the legitimacy of Alice (and her sister) was not questioned.[14]

Regent

An old coin depicting a building
Coin of Alice's son, Henry I of Cyprus

Hugh I died at Tripoli on 10 January 1218.[15][16] Alice assumed the regency for their infant son, Henry I.[15][16] She made her uncle, Philip of Ibelin, bailli.[15] According to the contamperonaeus lawyer, Philip of Novara, Hugh I had arranged the administration of his kingdom on his deathbed, while Ernoul's chronicle suggests that Alice acted independently.[15] Pope Honorius III instructed his legate, Cardinal Pelagius to protect Alice and her children against "certain men inspired with wicked fervour", suggesting that Alice had to face opposition at the beginning of her rule.[15]

Alice's brother-in-law, Erard of Ramerupt renounced his wife's claim to Champagne for a compensation,[17] even promising to support Theobald IV against Alice in 1218.[18] Alice sent envoys to Champagne, for which Blanche of Navarre protested against her at the Holy See on 23 June 1219.[18] Negotiations with Pelagius about the status of the Church in the Kingdom of Cyprus concluded with an agreement in October 1220.[19] On Alice's demand, the Greek Orthodox priests were exempted from taxation.[19] She also persuaded the pope, who had ordered the abolishment of the Orthodox hiearchy in the island, to allow the appointment of Orthodox suffragan bishops in the four Roman Catholic dioceses.[19] Before long, the agreement was revised, because the Cypriote noblemen did not want to pay tithe (as the agreement prescribed them), and the Holy See demanded that the estates that the nobles had seized from the Orthodox Church should be restored to the Catholic clerics.[19] However, the new agreement, which was completed in 1222, neither freed the noblemen from the tithe, nor prescribed the restoration of Church property.[19]

Rumours about Alice's marriages with William II of Dampierre, Constable of Champagne, spread in France in 1223.[18] On Theobald IV's demand, Pope Honorius prohibited the marriage in August, emphasizing that Alice and William were closely related.[18] According to the Chronicle of the Holy Land, Alice "spent the revenues of the kingdom liberally", which gave rise to a conflict with Philip of Ibelin.[18] After a debate with the bailli about the tithes payable to the Orthodox clergy, Alice left Cyprus and settled in Tripoli or Jaffa in 1224.[20][21]

In exile

Conflicts

Map of the Eastern Mediterraneum
Crusader states in the middle of the 13th century

She married Bohemond, the eldest son of Bohemond IV, Prince of Antioch and Count of Tripoli, in late 1224 or early 1225.[18][21] Pope Honorius ordered Eustorgius, Archbishop of Nicosia, to make inquiries about the legality of the marriage.[18] Alice, who continued to regard herself regent, wanted to make her new husband bailli, but Bohemond was opposed by all Cypriote barons.[21] Next Alice offered the office to Aimery Barlais, who was willing to accept it, but the High Court ruled that Alice could not replace Philip of Ibelin who had been made bailli for the whole period of her son's minority.[21][22] Barlais left the island to join Alice, while his supporter, Gavin of Chenichy came to see the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, who had decided to launch a crusade for the Holy Land.[21]

Frederick regarded himself the overlord of Cyprus, because his father, Henry VI, had sent the royal crown to Aimery of Lusignan, the first king of Cyprus.[23][24] On Philip of Ibelin's initiative, the High Court of Cyprus arranged the coronation of the eight-year-old Henry without the emperor's consent in 1225, which angered the emperor.[21][23] The marriage of Frederick and Isabella II, Queen of Jerusalem (who was the daughter and successor of Alice's half-sister, Mary) had been decided in 1223.[25] Alice attended the coronation of Isabella II in Tyre before the queen departed for Italy to meet Frederick in 1225.[23][26] Frederick persuaded the dying Pope Honorius to delegate two new judges (the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Bishop of Acre) to investigate the marriage of Alice and Bohemond, accusing Eustorgius of partiality.[23] Honorius's successor, Pope Gregory IX confirmed Honorius's decision.[23] Alice and her husband came to Limassol in summer 1227 to meet Frederick, but a disease had prevented Frederick from departing from Italy.[27] Pope Gregory stated that Frederick did not fulfil his crusader oath and excommunicated him.[28] Before long, Alice's and Bohemond's marriage was annulled.[29][30]

Before long, Philip of Ibelin died.[21] The High Court made his brother, John of Ibelin bailli, without consulting with the emperor or Alice.[28] Frederick landed at Limassol on 21 July 1228.[31] He ordered John of Ibelin to account for the administration of the revenues of Cyprus during his and his brother's time, but John refused, stating that they had paid the revenus to Alice.[31][28] Frederick dismissed Ibelin and forced Henry I of Cyprus to do homage to him.[28] He also demanded an oath of fidelity from the Cypriote noblemen, but they were only willing to do homage to him as their king's overlord, declaring that they only owed direct homage to Alice as regent for their king.[28] Frederick made Aimery Barlais, Gavin of Chenichy, Aimaury of Beisan, Hugh of Jebail and William of Rivet baillis of Cyprus without Alice's consent before departing for Italy in May 1229.[32][33] Peter I, Duke of Brittany declared that he wanted to marry Alice, but Pope Gregory forbade the marriage because of consanguinity on 29 May.[29]

Claims

Alice came to Acre to lay claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem against the infant Conrad (who was the son of her niece, Isabella II, and Frederick) in autumn 1229.[34][33] She appeared before the High Court of Jerusalem stating that Conrad forfeited his right to the kingdom because he had failed to personally take possession of it within a year and a day after the death of his mother, as local law required it in case of fiefs inherited by a heir who did not live in the kingdom.[30][33] The members of the High Court, who had recently did homage to Conrad's father, rejected Alice's claim, emphasizing that Conrad was a minor.[30][33] However, they sent their envoys to Italy, asking Frederick to send Conrad to the Holy Land within a year and a day.[30][33] Frederick informed the envoys that he would do what he thought best in Foggia in May 1230.[30][35]

Since Henry I of Cyprus reached the age of majority on 3 May 1232, Alice renounced her title of regent of Cyprus that she had retained even after her departure from Cyprus.[33] She went to France to personally advance her claim to Champagne and Brie in 1233.[29] However, only one local nobleman, Renier II of Nogent, supported her.[36] Before long, Theobald IV of Champagne captured the fortress of Nogent and confiscated Renier's estates.[37]

On Theobald's request, Pope Gregory urged Alice to come to Rome, because the legitimacy of her parents' marriage was to be investigated.[29] Alice refused to appear before the papal tribunal, but renounced her claim to Champagne and Brie for 40,000 livres tournois and estates yielding a yearly income of 2,000 livres in September 1234.[29][38] In the agreement with Theobald, she also stated that she would not erect fortresses in her estates in Champagne.[38]

Alice returned to the Holy Land in 1233.[29] She allegedly renounced the County of Jaffa in favor of her son-in-law, Walter IV of Brienne, who married her daughter, Mary, in the same year, because Walter was styled Count of Jaffa from there on.[39] Alice (who was about forty six) married Ralph of Nesle, a younger son of Ralph, Count of Soissons, who was less than thirty at the time of the marriage in 1240.[40][41][42]

Jerusalem

The citizens of Tyre, which was ruled by Richard Filangieri on Frederick's behalf, offered Balian of Ibelin, Lord of Beirut, and Philip of Montfort, Lord of Toron (who were the leaders of the barons opposing Frederick's rule) to help them to seize Tyre in 1242.[40] Marsilio Zorzi, the bailli of the Venetian community in the Holy Land offered naval support.[42][40] On the request of the members of the High Court, Philip of Novara, who was an outstanding jurist, stated that Frederick lost his right to administer the Kingdom of Jerusalem because his son, Conrad, reached the age of majority on 25 April 1243.[42][40] Novara also argued that Alice and her husband were entitled to rule the kingdom as regent for the absent Conrad because she was his closest relative who lived in the Holy Land.[43] The members of the High Court, the representatives of the clergy, the Military Orders and the Italian communities held a joint assembly where Alice and Ralph of Nesle were proclaimed regents on 5 June.[41][43][42] She agreed that Balian of Ibelin and Philip of Montfort would keep all royal castles in the kingdom.[43]

A crowned women on a horse, surrounded by mounted knights before the walls of a town
Alice's arrival at Acre

Frederick's troops were expelled from Tyre in mid-July.[43][44] Ralph of Nesle wanted to retain the town, but Ibelin and Montfort refused him.[43][44] After Ibelin and Montfort also refused to transfer Acre to him and Alice, Nesle angrily left the Holy Land, stating that he was only a "shadow” ruler in the kingdom.[43][44] Frederick refused to acknowledge Alice as regent and sent Thomas of Acera to administer the kingdom on Conrad's behalf, but Acera could not land in the kingdom.[43]

Actually, Jerusalem became a "sort of feudal republic", administered by the most powerful barons.[45] However, Alice exercised royal prerogatives.[43] She cancelled all grants and appointments that Frederick had made after the death of Queen Isabella II.[46] She granted a money-fief of 1,000 bezants to Philipp of Novara.[43] On the other hand, she also stated before Marsilio Zorzi, who demanded the confirmation of the rights of the Venetian commune in Tyre, that she could not restore rights that had been diminished by a monarch because "she was not the lawful ruler of the kingdon".[46] Alice died in 1246.[46][47] Her son, Henry of Cyprus, succeeded her as regent of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.[46]

Family

Alice's first husband, Hugh I of Cyprus, was the son of her stepfather, Aimery of Cyprus, and Aimery's first wife, Eschiva of Ibelin.[52] Hugh was born around 1195.[9][11] Alice gave birth to two daughters, Mary and Isabella, and a son, Henry.[14] Her children stayed behind in Cyprus after Alice left the island in 1224.[29]

Mary married Walter IV of Brienne in the early 1230s.[29] Isabella was engaged to Henry, the youngest son of Bohemond IV, Prince of Antioch and Count of Tripoli, in 1228 or 1229.[53] Their marriage took place only around 1233.[54] Isabella was regent of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1263 to her death in 1264.[55] Her son, Hugh, united Cyprus and Jerusalem in 1268.[55] Alice's and Hugh I's only son, Henry, was born on 3 March 2017.[14] He succeeded his father on 10 January 2018.[15] He started ruling Cyprus only after the four baillis appointed by Emperor Frederick were expelled from Cyprus in 1233.[56]

Alice's second husband, Bohemond, was the son of Bohemond IV and his first wife, Plaisance Embriaco.[57] He only succeeded his father in Antioch and Tripoli in 1233, after his marriage with Alice was annulled.[58] Alice's young third husband, Ralph of Nesle, came to the Holy Land during the crusade of Theobald IV of Champagne in September 1239.[40]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Hamilton 2016, p. 225.
  2. 1 2 Runciman 1989b, p. 84, Appendix III (Geneological tree No. 1.).
  3. ↑ Hardwicke 1969, p. 529.
  4. ↑ Hamilton 2016, pp. 225-226.
  5. ↑ Hardwicke 1969, p. 530.
  6. 1 2 3 Hamilton 2016, p. 227.
  7. ↑ Evergates 2007, p. 34.
  8. 1 2 Evergates 2007, p. 36.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hamilton 2016, p. 226.
  10. ↑ Hardwicke 1969, p. 532.
  11. 1 2 3 Runciman 1989b, p. 134.
  12. ↑ Evergates 2007, p. 38.
  13. 1 2 Evergates 2007, p. 39.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 Hamilton 2016, p. 228.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hamilton 2016, p. 229.
  16. 1 2 Runciman 1989b, p. 149.
  17. ↑ Evergates 2007, p. 41.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hamilton 2016, p. 231.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 Hamilton 2016, p. 230.
  20. ↑ Hamilton 2016, pp. 231, 235.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Runciman 1989b, p. 180.
  22. ↑ Hamilton 2016, pp. 231-232.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 Hamilton 2016, p. 232.
  24. ↑ Runciman 1989b, p. 85.
  25. ↑ Runciman 1989b, p. 174.
  26. ↑ Hardwicke 1969, p. 542.
  27. ↑ Hamilton 2016, pp. 232-233.
  28. 1 2 3 4 5 Hamilton 2016, p. 233.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Hamilton 2016, p. 235.
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 Runciman 1989b, p. 195.
  31. 1 2 Runciman 1989b, p. 181.
  32. ↑ Runciman 1989b, pp. 183, 192.
  33. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hamilton 2016, p. 234.
  34. ↑ Runciman 1989b, pp. 177, 195.
  35. ↑ Hardwicke 1969, p. 547.
  36. ↑ Evergates 2007, p. 44.
  37. ↑ Evergates 2007, p. 124.
  38. 1 2 Evergates 2007, p. 67.
  39. ↑ Hamilton 2016, pp. 235-236.
  40. 1 2 3 4 5 Hamilton 2016, p. 236.
  41. 1 2 Runciman 1989b, p. 221.
  42. 1 2 3 4 Hardwicke 1969, p. 553.
  43. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Hamilton 2016, p. 237.
  44. 1 2 3 Runciman 1989b, p. 222.
  45. ↑ Hardwicke 1969, p. 554.
  46. 1 2 3 4 Hamilton 2016, p. 238.
  47. ↑ Runciman 1989b, p. 223.
  48. ↑ Runciman 1989a, pp. 177, 233, Appendix III (Geneological tree No. 1.).
  49. ↑ Evergates 2007, p. 248.
  50. ↑ Treadgold 1997, p. 608.
  51. ↑ Dunbabin 2000, pp. 383-384.
  52. ↑ Runciman 1989b, p. 103.
  53. ↑ Runciman 1989b, p. 206, Appendix III (Genealogical tree No. 2.).
  54. ↑ Runciman 1989b, pp. 202, 206.
  55. 1 2 Runciman 1989b, p. 289.
  56. ↑ Runciman 1989b, p. 202.
  57. ↑ Runciman 1989b, p. 149, Appendix III (Genealogical tree No. 2.).
  58. ↑ Runciman 1989b, p. 206.

Sources

  • Dunbabin, Jean (2000). France in the Making, 843-1180. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-820846-4. 
  • Evergates, Theodore (2007). The Aristocracy in the County of Champagne, 1100-1300. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-4019-1. 
  • Hamilton, Bernard (2016). "Queen Alice of Cyprus". In Boas, Adrian J. The Crusader World. The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 225–240. ISBN 978-0-415-82494-1. 
  • Hardwicke, Mary Nickerson (1969). "The Crusader States, 1192-1243". In Setton, Kenneth M.; Wolff, Robert Lee; Hazard, Harry. A History of the Crusades, Volume II: The Later Crusades, 1189–1311. The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 522–554. ISBN 0-299-04844-6. 
  • Runciman, Steven (1989a). A History of the Crusades, Volume II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-06163-6. 
  • Runciman, Steven (1989b). A History of the Crusades, Volume III: The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-06163-6. 
  • Treadgold, Warren (1997). A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-2630-2. 
Royal titles
Preceded by
Isabella I of Jerusalem		 Queen consort of Cyprus
1210–1218 		Succeeded by
Alix of Montferrat
Regnal titles
Vacant
Title last held by
Aimery		 Countess of Jaffa
1210–1233 		Succeeded by
Walter
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