In May 1188, with
almost all of what had once been the Kingdom of Jerusalem under his control, Saladin
released the Lusignan brothers. Guy promised never to take up arms against
Saladin again, and he may also have promised to deliver the remaining
strongholds of his former (nominal?) kingdom to the enemy. Whatever the terms
were, Guy did not respect them. Whether Aimery was expected to swear a similar oath is not known.
After reuniting with his wife at Tortosa (or Tripoli, accounts vary), Guy (with Aimery) went to
Antioch, the only Crusader kingdom that was still more or less in-tact and
there raised some 700 knights and 9,000 other ranks to continue the fight
against Saladin and re-capture his lost Kingdom. Meanwhile, Guy and Aimery’s older brother,
Geoffrey, had arrived from the West. In August of 1189, Guy apparently felt he had sufficient strength to attempt recapturing his lost kingdom. He, naturally, headed for
the only city of his kingdom that was still free -- Tyre.
However, the man commanding the defense of Tyre, Conrad de Montferrat, refused
to admit him. Guy de Lusignan was persona non grata in his own kingdom!
Geoffrey de
Lusignan, however, knew that under the
Kings of England and France and the Holy Roman Emperor the West was mounting a new crusade. He advised Guy to “take action.” It was obvious to Guy’s elder
brothers, both Geoffrey and Aimery, that Guy would lose the last shreds of
respect and support if he did nothing. So Guy went with his knights and men to lay
siege to Acre — the most important port of his former kingdom, which had been
surrendered without a fight by Joceslyn de Courtney after the Battle of Hattin.
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| The City of Acre today |
It was an
apparently futile gesture, but one that attracted the support of almost every fighting man who was not prepared to accept defeat and every armed Christian
who was not prepared to abandon the Holy Land. Holding on to Tyre was critical
for survival, but "holding" it — now that it was no longer besieged — was too defensive a action for many men’s tastes. So although Guy started his siege of Acre
with roughly 10,000 men, the Christian camp around Acre grew steadily, swollen
by “armed pilgrims” who came from the West to recover the Holy Land without
waiting for the organized crusade. Guy’s forces soon reached an estimated
30,000 men of which 2,000 were mounted (knights, squire and turcopoles). Key to
Guy’s success was support from the Pisan fleet and, later, Danish and Frisian
ships as well, which enabled the besiegers to retain lines-of-communication and
supply with the West and Antioch.
On Oct. 4, 1189,
the Christians made an assault an Acre when Saladin himself was in the city assessing
the situation. In a day long battle close to 5,000 Christians were killed
including (finally) the Templar Grand Master Gerard de Rideford, who shared
much of the blame for the disaster at Hattin. Yet while the Christians failed in their
objective, they also convinced Saladin that his forces were too weak to drive
them away either, and an 18 month stalemate ensued — punctuated by sporadic
attacks. Whenever the Christians attempted to take Acre, the Saracens
surrounding them would attack from the rear, forcing them to return to their
camp and trenches.
Soon conditions in the Christian camp deteriorated and morale plummeted. In 1190,
disease took the lives of Queen Sibylla and her two daughters by Guy — their
only off-spring. With them died Guy’s sole claim to the throne of Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the
Third Crusade was approaching, led by Richard I of England and Philip II of
France. Despite past frictions between the Plantagenets and Lusignans, Richard
the Lionheart threw his weight behind Guy de Lusignan’s — now weaker than ever —
claim to the throne, and (predictably) Philip II of France backed Guy’s rival,
Conrad de Montferrat, who had married Sibylla’s younger sister, Isabella, and
claimed the crown of Jerusalem through her.
With the forces
of the two kings and Richard the Lionheart’s leadership, the siege of Acre was
brought to a successful conclusion: the Saracen garrison surrendered and the Christians
re-occupied the city. Philip of France then promptly sailed back to France (to
make trouble for Richard), but the barons and burghers of Outremer remained vehemently
opposed to Guy. So Richard fought Guy's battles for him. Finally, after retaking much of the coastline of the Holy Land and making two unsuccessful attempts to retake Jerusalem, Richard the Lionheart's time ran out. He had to return to his hereditary lands or risk losing them to Philip of France. He had to leave the rump state he had helped create in good hands. But by now, it was 1192, Richard the Lionheart knew that Guy de Lusignan was
untenable as King of Jerusalem any longer. He recognized Isabella as the
rightful Queen of Jerusalem and her husband (first Conrad de Montferrat and
then Henry of Champagne) as King.
But this is where
things get interesting for the Lusignans. On his way to the Holy Land, Richard
I had conquered Cyprus. This immensely wealthy island which had long been part
of the Byzantine Empire had been seized by a self-proclaimed “Emperor,” whose
tyrannical policies had so alienated his subjects that they welcomed and
cooperated with Richard of England. At the time, Richard was intent on rescuing the Holy Land, and had no interest in retaining the island for himself. Instead he had sold it to
the Knights Templar. They, however, had proved such oppressive and unpopular
overlords that by April 1192 the entire island was in rebellion against their
rule. The Templars, recognizing that
they did not have the resources to subdue the island and fight for the Holy
Land, returned the island to the King of England.
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| This Hospitaller Castle at Kolossi was build near the cite where Richard I is said to have defeated the tyrant Isaac Comnena |
By now Richard knew
that his younger brother John and the King of France were scheming to rob him
of his inheritance in England and France. He had no more time for or interest
in Cyprus than the Templars did. So he sold it to Guy de Lusignan!
That was all very
well for the King of England's purse, but the fact was, with the entire population
now up in arms against the rule of the crusaders, Guy first had to conquer the
kingdom he had bought. He set off with what few supporters he still had.
Curiously, at this stage his brother Aimery did not accompany him. Aimery
remained behind in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, where he was still technically
Constable. It was a bad move. The new king, Henry of Champagne, was clearly
suspicious of his loyalty and when he sided with the Pisans, who Henry
suspected of plotting against him, he was promptly imprisoned.
According to
Peter Edbury in his history The Kingdom
of Cyprus and the Crusades, 1191 – 1374, Aimery’s arrest “evoked protests from some
prominent figures in the kingdom….” This supports my earlier thesis that — in
contrast to Guy who seems to have been singularly adept at making enemies —
Aimery was still popular among his adopted countrymen. The fact that King Henry
gave in to the protests and released Aimery on the condition that he surrender
the office of Constable furthermore suggests that Aimery’s supporters were very influential
indeed. I can’t help but suspect that they included Balian d’Ibelin, who was
King Henry’s de jure father-in-law (he was married to Queen Isabella’s mother).
Balian was the leading baron in Henry of Champagne’s kingdom — and Aimery’s
wife was Balian’s niece. Aimery duly surrendered his office of Constable of
Jerusalem and promptly went to Cyprus to assist his brother Guy in taking
control of his new lordship.
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| The Byzantine Castle of Kantara on Cyprus |
Less than two years
later, Guy de Lusignan was dead. Notably, he designated his elder brother
Geoffrey — not Aimery who had been with him so long and through so much — as
his heir. The record is far too sketchy to know why, but there may have been
tension between the brothers all along. Aimery’s support of his brother, as I
noted before, was not necessarily indicative of genuine approval of his
policies or actions but rather the imperative of family loyalty and
self-interest. Fortunately for Aimery, Geoffrey de Lusignan had no interest in
Cyprus. So Guy’s vassals chose Aimery as his successor.
Within three
years of becoming the Latin/crusader overlord of Cyprus, Aimery had established
peace on the island, set up a Latin ecclesiastical hierarchy alongside the Orthodox one (evidently
following the model in the earlier crusader states that allowed the inhabitants
to follow their own faith but giving the Latin clergy valuable properties), and
raised Cyprus to the status of a kingdom. Thus while Guy de Lusignan was “Lord
of Cyprus,” Aimery was “King of Cyprus.” He obtained the dignity of kingship by
offering to do homage for Cyprus to the Holy Roman Emperor. This was to cause
trouble for his successors and lead to a bloody civil war a generation later,
but Cyprus remained a Kingdom for nearly 300 years — ruled by the direct
descendants of Aimery de Lusignan.
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| The Abbey of Bellapais built during the Lusignan rule of Cyprus |
Nor was that the
end of Aimery's astonishing life. In 1197, his first wife, Eschiva d’Ibelin died
having given him six children, three of whom had lived to adulthood. The eldest
son of this marriage, Hugh, was now his heir apparent and would in due time
inherit the Kingdom of Cyprus. When Henry of Champagne died in the same year,
however, Aimery was selected as fourth husband for Isabella of Jerusalem, allegedly with the “almost
unanimous” support of the barons and bishops of the rump-state.
Aimery promptly
used his Cypriot resources to help strengthen his new kingdom. In the same year
that he assumed the crown of the kingdom his brother had squandered, he
recaptured the key coastal city of Beirut from Saracen control with the support
of German crusaders as well as his Cypriot forces. The following year, he
concluded a five year truce with the Saracens that gave the kingdom much needed
breathing space to retrench and consolidate itself. It was also the year in
which he named Balian d’Ibelin’s son John to his old position of Constable of
Jerusalem — an exceptional mark of favor for a young man not yet 20 and one presumes
more a gesture of gratitude to his father than a mark of confidence in one so
young. (John was later to swap the
constableship for the lordship of Beirut.)
In 1204, with the
Fourth Crusade diverted to Constantinople, Aimery concluded a new truce with a
six year duration. This gave his kingdom the peace it needed for economic
recovery, but he did not live long enough to enjoy it. In February 1205, his son by Queen Isabella —
the only son she ever had — died, and Aimery followed him to the grave within two
months, Isabella shortly afterwards. The
crown of Cyprus passed to his son Hugh, and the crown of Jerusalem to Isabella’s
oldest surviving child, her daughter Maria of Montferrat.
Aimery de
Lusignan was King of Cyprus for eleven years and King of Jerusalem for eight — twice
as long as his brother Guy had been. To both kingdoms he had brought stability
and peace. His reign was looked back upon by subsequent generations as one of
justice and prosperity — in both kingdoms.
Aimery de Lusignan plays a major role in my three part biography of Balian d'Ibelin:
