Constance of Antioch

Constance

Coat-of-arms of the House of Hauteville
Princess of Antioch
together with Raymond (1136-1149) and Raynald (1153-1160 or 1161)
Reign 1130 to 1163
Predecessor Bohemond II
Successor Bohemond III
Regent Alice of Jerusalem
Baldwin II of Jerusalem
Fulk of Anjou
Baldwin III of Jerusalem
Born 1128
Died 1163 (aged 34–35)
Spouse Raymond of Poitiers
Raynald of Châtillon
Issue Bohemond III
Maria
Philippa
Baldwin
Agnes (or Anna)
House House of Hauteville
Father Bohemond II
Mother Alice of Jerusalem
Religion Catholicism

Constance of Antioch (1128–1163) was ruling Princess of Antioch from 1130 to 1163. She was the only child of Bohemond II of Antioch by his wife, Alice of Jerusalem. Constance succeeded her father, who fell in a battle, at the age of two, although his cousin, Roger II of Sicily, laid claim to Antioch. Alice of Jerusalem assumed the regency, but the Antiochene noblemen replaced her with her father (Constance's grandfather), Baldwin II of Jerusalem. After he died in 1131, Alice tried to again took control of the government, but the Antiochene barons acknowledged the right of her brother-in-law, Fulk of Anjou, to rule as regent for Constance.

Constance was given in marriage to Raymond of Poitiers in 1136. During the subsequent years, Raymond ruled Antioch while Constance gave birth to four children. After Raymond was murdered in a battle in 1149, Fulk of Anjou's son, Baldwin III of Jerusalem, assumed the regency. He wanted to persuade Constance to remarry, but she did not accept his candidates. She also refused to marry to a middle-aged relative of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenus. Finally, she made a love match when married to Raynald of Châtillon, a knight from France, in 1153.

After her husband fell into captivity in 1160 or 1161, Constance wanted to rule Antioch alone, but Baldwin III of Jerusalem declared her fifteen-year-old son, Bohemond III, the lawful prince. Constance did not obey and took control of the administration of the principality with the assistance of Emperor Manuel who married her daughter, Maria. Constance was dethroned in favor of her son shortly before her death.

Early life

Constance was the only child of Bohemond II of Antioch and Alice of Jerusalem.[1][2] She was born in 1128.[1][3] Her mother, Alice, was the second daughter of Baldwin II of Jerusalem.[1][4]

Bohemond II of Antioch was massacred in a battle at the Ceyhan River in February 1130.[5][3] After learning of her husband's death, Alice assumed the regency for Constance without consulting with her father who was the overlord of the Principality of Antioch.[3] According to rumours spreading in Antioch, Alice was planning to send Constance to a monastery, or to marry her off to a commoner.[3] Bohemond's cousin, Roger II of Sicily, regarded himself Bohemond's lawful successor, because he was the senior member of the House of Hauteville.[6]

The Antiochenes sent envoys to Baldwin II, urging him to come to the principality.[5] Alice decided to resist and sought assistance from Imad ad-Din Zengi, Atabeg of Aleppo.[3] However, the soldiers of Baldwin II, who had meanwhile reached Antioch, captured her envoy.[3] Before long, Alice was forced to beg for mercy from her father.[3] He deprived Alice from the regency, ordering her to leave Antioch.[5][7]

Reign

Childhood

The crusader states around 1135
A dozen armed horsemen fight against each other on a field covered by bodies at a large castle on a hill
Constance's first husband, Raymond of Poitiers, dies in the Battle of Inab
A naked man is hung out from the top of a tower while three men talking at the tower
Constance's second husband, Raynald of Châtillon, tortures Aimery of Limoges, Latin Patriarch of Antioch, to seize his wealth

The Antiochene noblemen acknowledged Baldwin II as regent, swearing fealty to him and Constance.[7] He made Joscelin I, Count of Edessa, her guardian to rule the principality until her marriage.[5][7] Baldwin II died on 21 August 1131, and Joscelin I a week later.[8][9]

Constance's mother laid claim to the regency.[10] However, most Antiochene lords remained hostile to the idea of a female ruler and sent envoys to Baldwin II's successor, Fulk of Anjou (who was Alice's brother-in-law).[10][11] Alice made an alliance with Joscelin II, Count of Edessa, and Pons, Count of Tripoli in early 1132.[12][11] Fulk had to travel by sea, because Pons did not allow him to march through the County of Tripoli.[10][11] Fulk landed at St Symeon where the Antiochene lords acknowledged him as regent.[11][13] He appointed Reynald Mazoir, Constable of Antioch, to administer the principality.[13]

Fulk returned to Antioch when Zengi dispatched Sawar, governor of Aleppo, to invade the principality in 1132 or 1133.[14] After defeating the invaders, Fulk entered Antioch.[15] Since the principality needed a firm government, the Antiochene noblemen approached Fulk to select a husband for Constance.[16] He chose Raymond of Poitiers, the younger son of William IX, Duke of Aquitaine.[16][17] He did not announce his decision in public, because he wanted to prevent Alice and Roger II of Sicily from intervening.[17]

Alice's sister, Melisende, who was Fulk's wife, persuaded Fulk to allow Alice to return to Antioch in 1135.[15] Alice wanted to tighten the relationship of the principality and the Byzantine Empire and offered Constance's hand to Manuel, a son of the Byzantine Emperor, John II Komnenos.[15] To prevent the Byzantine marriage, Fulk sent his envoy to Raymond of Poitiers to France to urge him to come to Antioch.[18] He travelled in disguise, because Roger II of Sicily wanted to capture him in Southern Italy.[6][18]

First marriage

Raymond of Poitiers arrived at Antioch in April 1136.[18] Ralph of Domfront, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, made Alice believe that Raymond came to Antioch to marry her instead of her nine-year-old daughter.[19] However, Constance was kidnapped from the palace and Ralph of Domfront blessed her marriage to Raymond in the cathedral.[20] With the marriage, Raymond became the ruler of the principality and Alice retired to Lattakieh.[20]

In early 1147, Roger II of Sicily offered Louis VII of France to transport the French crusaders to the Holy Land during the Second Crusade.[21] Fearing that Roger only wanted to assert his claim to Antioch, Louis VII, whose wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was the niece of Raymond of Poitiers, declined.[22] Louis and his crusaders came to the principality in March 1148.[23] Before long, rumours spread among the crusaders about a love affair between Raymond and Eleanor.[24] Raymond and Eleanor tried to convince her husband to launch a campaign against Aleppo, the capital of Nur ad-Din, but Louis VII decided to leave Antioch to Jerusalem, forcing Eleanor to accompany him.[23]

Widowhood

Raymond was killed in the Battle of Inab during an expedition against Nur ad-Din Zangi on 29 June 1149.[25] Since Raymond's and Constance's four children were still underage, there was no one to "perform the duties of a prince and raise the people from despair", according to William of Tyre.[26] Nur ad-Din invaded the principality and seized all Antiochene territories to the east of the Orontes River.[27] Aimery of Limoges, Latin Patriarch of Antioch, directed the defence, but most noblemen preferred a secular ruler.[27][28] After learning of Raymond's fate, Constance's cousin, Baldwin III of Jerusalem, hurried to Antioch and assumed the regency.[27][29] He also concluded a truce with Nur ad-Din.[27]

Baldwin III returned to Antioch in summer 1150.[29] He wanted to persuade Constance to remarry, proposing her three candidates (Yves, Count of Soissons, Walter of Saint Omer, and Ralph of Merle), but she declined.[29] Urged by Baldwin III, Constance went to Tripoli in early 1152 to meet him and her two aunts, Melisende and Hodierna.[30] The two ladies tried to persuade Constance to choose among the three candidates of Baldwin, but she returned to Antioch without making a promise to remarry.[30][31][32] According to William of Tyre, Patriarch Aimery convinced Constance to resist, because he wanted to control the government of the principality.[32][33] The Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos sent his widowed brother-in-law, the middle-aged John Rogerios Dalassenos, to Antioch to marry Constance.[34][32] However, because of his age, she "regarded him with displeasure", according to the contemporaneous John Kinnamos, and refused to marry to him.[34]

Historian Steven Runciman say that Constance may have refused the candidates whom Baldwin III or Manuel I proposed because she had met Raynald of Châtillon, a knight from France.[35] William of Tyre described Raynald as a "knight of common sort", but Constance decided to marry to him.[36] Their betrothal was kept secret because Constance wanted to obtain Baldwin III's permission to the marriage.[37]

Second marriage

After Baldwin sanctioned the marriage, Constance and Raynald married in early 1153.[37] Raynald took charge of the administration of the principality.[35] However, he was unpopular, because his subjects regarded him as an upstart.[35] His frequent attempts to raise funds brought him into conflicts with Patriarch Aimery and Emperor Manuel I during the subsequent years.[37] The emperor forced Raynald to do homage to him in spring 1159.[38] Raynald was captured and imprisoned by Majd al-Din, governor of Aleppo, during a plundering raid in November 1160 or 1161.[36][39]

After her husband fell into captivity, Constance announced her intention to administer the principality, but most Antiochene noblemen preferred a male ruler.[40] Baldwin III of Jerusalem again hurried to Antioch and declared Constance's fifteen-year-old son, Bohemond III, the lawful prince, charging Patriarch Aimery with the administration of the principality.[40][41] Constance did not accept Baldwin's decision and protested against this decision to Emperor Manuel.[42]

Manuel dispatched his nephew, Alexios Bryennios Komnenos, and John Kamateros to Antioch to start negotiations about his marriage to Constance's daughter, Maria.[43] The marriage contract was signed and the emperor's delegates confirmed Constance's position as the ruler of the princpality.[43] Baldwin III who had come to Antioch to meet the imperial envoys also accepted the decision.[43]

Constance's son, Bohemond, reached the age of majority in 1163.[44][45] To strengthen her position against her son, Constance sought assistance from Constantine Kalamanos, Byzantine governor of Cilicia.[46] However, the Antiochene barons made an alliance with Thoros II of Cilician Armenia and forced her to leave Antioch.[41] After Constance's removal, Bohemond III took control of the principality.[41] Before long, Constance died, most probably in Lattakieh or Jebail, according to Steven Runciman.[47]

Family

Constance's first husband, Raymond of Poitiers, was the second son of William IX, Duke of Aquitaine and his second wife, Philippa of Toulouse.[51][52] He was born in 1114.[53] According to William of Tyre, Constance was left with "two sons and as many daughters still underage" when her husband died in 1149.[54][55] Their elder son, Bohemond, was five at the time of Raymond's death.[55] He seized Antioch from his mother in 1163. Constance's and Raymond's elder daughter, Maria, who was born in the late 1140s, was famed for her beauty.[56] She married to the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople on Christmas Day 1161.[56] Her younger sister, Philippa of Antioch, was given in marriage to Humphrey II of Toron in the late 1160s.[57]

Whether Raymond of Poitiers or Raynald of Châtillon was the father of Constance's second son known by name, Baldwin, cannot be decided based on the sources.[58][59] He died fighting at the head of a Byzantine cavalry regiment in the Battle of Myriokephalon on 17 September 1176.[60] It is certain that Raynald fathered Agnes who was the wife of Béla III of Hungary.[61] Raynald's and Constance's second daughter, Alice, became the third wife of Azzo VI of Este in 1204.[62]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hodgson 2007, p. 182.
  2. ↑ Runciman 1989, p. 183, Appendix III (Genealogical tree No. 2.).
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Runciman 1989, p. 183.
  4. ↑ Runciman 1989, p. 176.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Nicholson 1969, p. 431.
  6. 1 2 Norwich 1992, p. 473.
  7. 1 2 3 Runciman 1989, p. 184.
  8. ↑ Runciman 1989, p. 185.
  9. ↑ Barber 2012, p. 152.
  10. 1 2 3 Runciman 1989, p. 188.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Nicholson 1969, p. 433.
  12. ↑ Runciman 1989, pp. 188, 190.
  13. 1 2 Runciman 1989, p. 190.
  14. ↑ Runciman 1989, p. 195.
  15. 1 2 3 Runciman 1989, p. 198.
  16. 1 2 Nicholson 1969, p. 434.
  17. 1 2 Barber 2012, p. 153.
  18. 1 2 3 Runciman 1989, p. 199.
  19. ↑ Runciman 1989, pp. 199-200.
  20. 1 2 Runciman 1989, p. 200.
  21. ↑ Norwich 1992, pp. 484-486.
  22. ↑ Norwich 1992, p. 486.
  23. 1 2 Runciman 1989, p. 278.
  24. ↑ Barber 2012, p. 188.
  25. ↑ Baldwin 1969, pp. 532-533.
  26. ↑ Hodgson 2007, pp. 182-183.
  27. 1 2 3 4 Baldwin 1969, p. 533.
  28. ↑ Runciman 1989, pp. 330-331.
  29. 1 2 3 Runciman 1989, p. 331.
  30. 1 2 Runciman 1989, p. 333.
  31. ↑ Hodgson 2007, p. 187.
  32. 1 2 3 Barber 2012, p. 208.
  33. ↑ Runciman 1989, p. 331 (note 1).
  34. 1 2 Runciman 1989, p. 332.
  35. 1 2 3 Runciman 1989, p. 345.
  36. 1 2 Barber 2012, p. 206.
  37. 1 2 3 Baldwin 1969, p. 540.
  38. ↑ Baldwin 1969, pp. 543-544.
  39. ↑ Runciman 1989, p. 357.
  40. 1 2 Runciman 1989, p. 358.
  41. 1 2 3 Barber 2012, p. 215.
  42. ↑ Runciman 1989, p. 359.
  43. 1 2 3 Runciman 1989, p. 360.
  44. ↑ Baldwin 1969, p. 547.
  45. ↑ Runciman 1989, p. 364.
  46. ↑ Runciman 1989, pp. 364-365.
  47. ↑ Runciman 1989, p. 365 (note 1).
  48. ↑ Norwich 1992, pp. 285, 332.
  49. ↑ Runciman 1989, pp. 48-49, 176, Appendix III (Genealogical trees No. 1-2.).
  50. ↑ Dunbabin 2000, p. 383.
  51. ↑ Meade 1991, pp. 8, 22.
  52. ↑ Dunbabin 2000, p. 384.
  53. ↑ Meade 1991, pp. 18, 22.
  54. ↑ Runciman 1989, p. 330.
  55. 1 2 Hodgson 2007, p. 183.
  56. 1 2 Garland 1999, p. 201.
  57. ↑ Runciman 1989, p. 378.
  58. ↑ Hamilton 2000, pp. xviii, 40-41.
  59. ↑ Runciman 1989, p. 365, Appendix III (Genealogical tree No. 2.).
  60. ↑ Runciman 1989, p. 413.
  61. ↑ Runciman 1989, p. 365 (note 2).
  62. ↑ Chiappini 2001, p. 31.

Sources

  • Baldwin, Marsall W. (1969). "The Latin States under Baldwin III and Amalric I, 1143-1174". In Setton, Kenneth M.; Baldwin, Marshall W. A History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Hundred Years. The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 528–561. ISBN 0-299-04844-6. 
  • Barber, Malcolm (2012). The Crusader States. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11312-9. 
  • Chiappini, Luciano (2001). Gli Estensi: Mille anni di storia [The Este: A Thousand Years of History] (in Italian). Corbo Editore. ISBN 88-8269-029-6. 
  • Dunbabin, Jean (2000). France in the Making, 843-1180. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-820846-4. 
  • Garland, Lynda (1999). Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium, AD 527-1204. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-61944-8. 
  • Hamilton, Bernard (2000). The Leper King and His Heirs: Baldwin IV and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-64187-6. 
  • Hodgson, Natasha R. (2007). Woman, Crusading and the Holy Land in Historical Narrative. The Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1-84383-332-1. 
  • Meade, Marion (1991). Eleanor of Aquitane: A Biography. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-015338-1. 
  • Nicholson, Robet L. (1969). "The Growth of the Latin States, 1118-1144". In Setton, Kenneth M.; Baldwin, Marshall W. A History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Hundred Years. The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 528–561. ISBN 0-299-04844-6. 
  • Norwich, John Julius (1992). The Normans in Sicily. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-015212-8. 
  • Runciman, Steven (1989). 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. 

Further reading

  • Hamilton, Bernard (1978). "The Elephant of Christ: Reynald of Châtillon". Studies in Church History (15): 97–108. ISSN 0424-2084. 
Constance of Antioch
Born: 1128 Died: 1163
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Bohemond II		 Princess of Antioch
1130-1163
With: Raymond and Raynald		 Succeeded by
Bohemond III
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