Amalric II of Jerusalem

Amalric II of Jerusalem or Amalric I of Cyprus, born Amalric of Lusignan (1145 – 1 April 1205), King of Jerusalem 1197–1205, was an older brother of Guy of Lusignan.^[1]

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 soon after April 22, 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 and was crowned in Nicosia on September 22, 1197. After Eschiva's death in October 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 and crowned at Acre 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") or even poisoned at Saint Jean d'Acre on 1 April 1205, just after his son Amalric and four days before his wife, and was buried at Saint Sophia, Nicosia. 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, married before October 29, 1174, was Eschiva of Ibelin (c. 1160 – Cyprus in Winter 1196–1197), daughter of Baldwin of Ibelin and first wife Richilde de Bethsan or Bessan. They had six children:

1. Bourgogne of Lusignan (1176–1180 or c. 1178 – c. 1210), married as his third wife Raymond VI of Toulouse 1193, repudiated and divorced 1194 or 1196 without issue, married Gauthier I de Montfaucon aka Walter of Montbéliard (killed in action at the Battle of Satalia, June 20, 1212) 1197 or bef. 1205, by whom she had issue.
2. Guy of Lusignan, died young 1197–1205
3. John of Lusignan, died young 1197–1205
4. Hugh I of Lusignan (c. 1194–1218)
5. Héloise/Helvis of Lusignan (c. 1190 – 1216–1219, 1216/1219 or c. 1217), married firstly c. 1205 Eudes de Dampierre sur Salon, Lord of Chargey-le-Grey, div. 1210, married secondly before 1210 or in September 1210 Raymond-Roupen of Antioch
6. Alix de Lusignan, died young 1197–1205

His second wife was Queen Isabella of Jerusalem, married January 1198 in Acre. They had three children:

1. Sybilla of Lusignan (October–November 1198 – c. 1230 or 1252), married King Leo II of Armenia
2. Melisende of Lusignan (c. 1200 – aft. 1249), married January 1, 1218 Bohemund IV of Antioch
3. Amalric or Amaury of Lusignan (1201 – February 2, 1205, Acre])

References

Other sources

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.