Amalric I of Cyprus
Amalric I (1145 – April 1, 1205), King of Cyprus (1194-1205) and King of Jerusalem (as Amalric II) 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 in 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. After Eschiva's death in 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 in January, 1198.
In 1198 he was able to procure a five years' truce with the Muslims, 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") in 1205, just after his son Amalric and just before his wife. 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.
Wives and Children
His first wife was Eschiva of Ibelin, married in 1174. They had six children:
- Bourgogne (c. 1178 – c. 1210), married Raymond VI of Toulouse 1193, div. 1194, married Walter of Montbéliard 1197
- Guy, died young
- John, died young
- Hugh I of Cyprus (c. 1194–1218)
- Helvis (c. 1190 – c. 1217), married c. 1205 Eudes of Dampiere, Lord of Chargey-le-Grey, div. 1210, married September 1210 Raymond-Roupen of Antioch
- Alix, died young
His second wife was Isabella of Jerusalem, married January, 1198 in Acre. They had three children:
- Sibylla of Lusignan (1198-1230), married King Leo II of Armenia
- Melisende of Lusignan (1200 – aft. 1249), married January 1, 1218 Bohemund IV of Antioch
- Amalric (1201–February 2, 1205, Acre)
| Preceded by: Guy |
King of Cyprus 1194–1205 |
Succeeded by: Hugh I |
References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
A portion of content for this article is credited to Wikipedia. Content under GNU Free Documentation License(GFDL)
