Melisende of Lusignan

Melisende de Lusignan, Princess of Antioch (1200 Holy Land- after 1249), was the youngest daughter of Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem by her fourth and last marriage to King Amalric II of Jerusalem. She had a sister Sibylla of Lusignan, a younger brother, Amalric who died as a young child. By her mother's previous marriages, Melisande had three half-sisters, Maria of Montferrat, who succeeded their mother as queen of Jerusalem on 5 April 1205; Alice of Champagne, and Philippa of Champagne.

Marriage and issue

In January 1218, Melisande married as his second wife,^[1] Bohemond IV, Prince of Antioch, son of Bohemond III, Prince of Antioch and Orgueilleuse de Harenc. The marriage produced three daughters:

• Isabelle of Antioch (died young)
• Marie of Antioch (died after 10 December 1307), she was childless.
• Helvis of Antioch (died young)

Melisende protested the succession of her nephew King Henry I of Cyprus as Regent of Jerusalem on the death of her half-sister, Alice in 1246.^[2] Alice had been Queen-consort of Cyprus and regent of Jerusalem for Conrad IV of Germany.

She died sometime after 1249. Upon the childless death of her only surviving daughter, Marie sometime after December 1307, the direct line of Melisende became extinct. Her half-sister Maria's line died out in 1268; however her full sister Sibylla, who married King Leo I of Armenia, had many descendants, and the direct lines of Alice and Philippa continue in the 21st century; their many descendants include the British Royal Family.

References

• Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Jerusalem