Alice of Champagne

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Alice of Cyprus (1195/11961246) was queen consort of Hugh I of Cyprus, and regent of Jerusalem for Conrad IV of Germany from 1243 to 1246.

She was the daughter of Isabella, Queen of Jerusalem and Henry II, Count of Champagne (Henry I of Jerusalem), born Adela or Alice of Champagne, also of Jerusalem.

In 1208, Alice's grandmother Maria Comnena, dowager queen of Jerusalem, conducted the marriage negotiations with Cyprus on behalf of 12-year-old Alice, and arranged her marriage to Hugh I of Cyprus, who was Alice's stepbrother. Blanche of Navarre, Regent and Countess of Champagne, widow of Alice's paternal uncle, provided the dowry for Alice.

She and Hugh wed in September 1210 at Nicosia. They had three children:

  1. Maria (died c. 1252), who married Walter IV of Brienne. Their son Hugh of Brienne claimed the regency of Jerusalem in 1264, but was passed over by the Haute Cour in favor of his cousin Hugh III of Cyprus. He was later an ally of Charles of Anjou. This claim fell to his son Walter V of Brienne, Duke of Athens, and his descendants.
  2. Isabella, who married Henry of Antioch, and who was the mother of Hugh III of Cyprus.
  3. Henry I, who became King of Cyprus on his father's death in 1218. Alice acted as regent.

Shortly before January 10, 1223 Alice married Bohemund V of Antioch, which was dissolved by annulment on July 5, 1227. She then married Raoul de Couevres de Soissons in 1241.

From 1243 to 1246 she served as regent of Jerusalem for Conrad IV of Germany, her half-sister Maria's grandson.