Aimery of Lusignan, erroneously referred to as Amalric in earlier scholarship, was the first king of Cyprus, reigning from 1196 to his death in 1205. He also reigned as the king of Jerusalem from his marriage to Queen Isabella I in 1197 to his death. He was a younger son of Hugh VIII of Lusignan, a nobleman in Poitou. After participating in a rebellion against Henry II of England in 1168, he went to the Holy Land and settled in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Guy of Lusignan was King of Jerusalem, first as husband and co-ruler of Queen Sibylla from 1186 to 1190 then as disputed ruler from 1190 to 1192. He was also Lord of Cyprus from 1192 to 1194.
John of Brienne, also known as John I, was King of Jerusalem from 1210 to 1225 and Latin Emperor of Constantinople from 1229 to 1237. He was the youngest son of Erard II of Brienne, a wealthy nobleman in Champagne. John, originally destined for an ecclesiastical career, became a knight and owned small estates in Champagne around 1200. After the death of his brother, Walter III, he ruled the County of Brienne on behalf of his minor nephew Walter IV.
Isabella I reigned as Queen of Jerusalem from 1190 to her death in 1205. She was the daughter of Amalric I of Jerusalem and his second wife Maria Comnena, a Byzantine princess. Her half-brother, Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, engaged her to Humphrey IV of Toron. Her mother's second husband, Balian of Ibelin, and his stepfather, Raynald of Châtillon, were influential members of the two baronial parties. The marriage of Isabella and Humphrey was celebrated in Kerak Castle in autumn 1183. Saladin, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt and Syria, laid siege to the fortress during the wedding, but Baldwin IV forced him to lift the siege.
Maria of Montferrat (1192–1212) was Queen of Jerusalem from 1205 until her death. She was the daughter of Isabella I of Jerusalem and her second husband, Conrad of Montferrat. Maria succeeded her mother under the regency of her half-uncle John of Ibelin. In 1210 Maria married John of Brienne and two became co-rulers of Jerusalem. She died giving birth to her successor, Isabella II.
Alice of Champagne was the queen consort of Cyprus from 1210 to 1218, regent of Cyprus from 1218 to 1232, and regent of Jerusalem from 1243 to 1246. She was the eldest daughter of Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem and Count Henry II of Champagne. In 1210, Alice married her stepbrother King Hugh I of Cyprus, receiving the County of Jaffa as her dowry. After her husband's death in 1218, she assumed the regency for their infant son, King Henry I, but her maternal uncle Philip of Ibelin became the actual head of state administration as bailli (governor).
Hugh I succeeded to the throne of Cyprus on 1 April 1205, underage upon the death of his elderly father Aimery, King of Cyprus and Jerusalem. His mother was Eschiva of Ibelin, heiress of that branch of Ibelins who had held Bethsan and Ramleh.
Henry I of Cyprus, nicknamed the Fat was King of Cyprus from 1218 to 1253. He was the son of Hugh I of Cyprus and Alice of Champagne. When his father Hugh I died on January 10, 1218, the 8-month-old Henry became king. His mother was the official regent, but delegated governing to her uncle, Philip of Ibelin. When Philip died, the effective regency passed to his brother John, Old Lord of Beirut.
Bohemond IV of Antioch, also known as Bohemond the One-Eyed, was Count of Tripoli from 1187 to 1233, and Prince of Antioch from 1201 to 1216 and from 1219 to 1233. He was the younger son of Bohemond III of Antioch. The dying Raymond III of Tripoli offered his county to Bohemond's elder brother, Raymond, but their father sent Bohemond to Tripoli in late 1187. Saladin, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt and Syria, conquered the county, save for the capital and two fortresses, in summer 1188.
Humphrey IV of Toron was a leading baron in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He inherited the Lordship of Toron from his grandfather, Humphrey II, in 1179. He was also heir to the Lordship of Oultrejourdan through his mother, Stephanie of Milly. In 1180, he renounced Toron on his engagement to Isabella, the half-sister of Baldwin IV of Jerusalem. The king, who had suffered from leprosy, allegedly wanted to prevent Humphrey from uniting two large fiefs. Humphrey married Isabella in Kerak Castle in autumn 1183. Saladin, the Ayyubbid sultan of Egypt and Syria, laid siege to Kerak during the wedding, but Baldwin IV and Raymond III of Tripoli relieved the fortress.
The House of Lusignan was a royal house of French origin, which at various times ruled several principalities in Europe and the Levant, including the kingdoms of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Armenia, from the 12th through the 15th centuries during the Middle Ages. It also had great influence in England and France.
The House of Ibelin was a noble family in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. They rose from relatively humble beginnings to become one of the most important families in the kingdom, holding various high offices and with extensive holdings in the Holy Land and Cyprus. The family disappeared after the fall of the Kingdom of Cyprus in the 15th century.
John of Ibelin, called the Old Lord of Beirut, was a powerful crusader noble in the 13th century, one of the best known representatives of the influential Ibelin family. The son of Balian of Ibelin and the dowager queen Maria Comnena, he had close ties with the nobility of both Cyprus and Jerusalem, since he was the half-brother of Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem. Before he was 20, he was appointed constable of Jerusalem, and a few years later became Lord of Beirut. John rebuilt Beirut after Saladin's conquest, and established the grand Ibelin family palace. He served as regent of Jerusalem on behalf of his niece Maria of Montferrat from 1205 to 1210 after her mother, Queen Isabella, died. He was also regent for his great-nephew Henry I of Cyprus from 1228 until Henry came of age in 1232. John was known as a principled man, and was seen as the natural leader of the Christian barons in the Holy Land. He resisted the power-seeking of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, in Cyprus, and opposed the imperial forces until King Henry came of age.
Maria Komnene, Latinized Comnena, was the queen of Jerusalem from 1167 until 1174 as the second wife of King Amalric. She occupied a central position in the Kingdom of Jerusalem for twenty years, earning a reputation for intrigue and ruthlessness.
Balian III of Beirut was the lord of Beirut, the second of his family, from 1236, and a son of the famous "Old Lord" John of Ibelin, by his second wife Melisende of Arsuf. From his father he assumed the leadership of the nobility in the War of the Lombards, fought against the agents of Emperor Frederick II.
The Battle of Agridi was fought on 15 June 1232 between the forces loyal to Henry I of Cyprus and the imperial army of Frederick II, composed mostly of men from Lombardy. It resulted in an Ibelin victory and the successful relief of the siege of Dieudamour, an Ibelin castle on Cyprus.
Henry of Antioch was a nobleman from the Latin East who governed the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1263 until 1264. He was made bailli by his wife, Isabella of Cyprus, who exercised regency on behalf of their nephew King Hugh II of Cyprus. He died in a shipwreck after their son, Hugh III, became king of both Cyprus and Jerusalem.
Walter III, sometimes called Walter de Brisebarre or Walter Grenier, was the Constable of the Kingdom of Cyprus from 1206 and Lord of Caesarea in the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1216. He was the eldest son of Juliana Grenier, Lady of Caesarea, and Guy de Brisebarre. Since he was witnessing royal charters by 1195, he must have been born no later than 1180. In the 1220s he was generally referred to as "the old lord of Caesarea", although probably only in his fifties. He took part in two Crusades and in two civil wars on the side of the House of Ibelin.
Gastria Castle is a ruined castle in Northern Cyprus. It is first mentioned in 1210 as a Knights Templar fortress. It was dismantled in 1279 by Hugh III of Cyprus. It passed into the possession of the Knights Hospitaller in 1308, falling into obscurity afterwards.
Amalric (Aimery) Barlais was a baron in the Kingdom of Cyprus, born in Jaffa. He was a son of Renaud Barlais, bailli of Jaffa in 1197 under Aimery of Cyprus, and Isabelle of Bethsan. Isabelle's birth and marriages are recorded in the Lignages d’Outremer as well as in the works of William of Tyre.
