Embriaco | |
---|---|
Parent family | Spinola |
Country | Gibelletto, Crusader states |
Place of origin | Republic of Genoa |
Founded | XI century |
Founder | Guglielmo Embriaco |
Titles | Lord of Gibelletto |
Estate(s) | Embriaci Tower Byblos Castle |
Dissolution | XV century |
The Embriaco family were a prominent Genoese family, who played an important role in the history of the Crusader states. It also gave consuls, admirals and ambassadors to the Republic of Genoa. [1]
The family ruled the city of Byblos (in present-day Lebanon), styling themselves "Lord (Signore) of Gib(e)let" or "Gibelletto", the name which the city was called at the time. Their rule lasted for almost 200 years, from 1100 to the late 13th century. [2]
They arrived in the Kingdom of Jerusalem as early as 1099, with Guglielmo Embriaco and his brother Primo di Castello. [3] They had Byblos, given to Ugo I Embriaco by Bertrand of Toulouse, from about 1110, thanks to Embriaco's military assistance in the creation of the Crusader states, on behalf of the Republic of Genoa.
Guglielmo Embriaco's son, Ugo I, was the first administrator of "Gibelletto" in the name of the Genoese republic, he then obtained the city as a hereditary fief, undertaking to pay an annual fee to Genoa and to the church of San Lorenzo. [1]
The family always protected the Genoese traders in the Levant, exempting them from all duties. [1] Their power in Byblos lasted, apart from occupation by Saladin 1187–1197, to the end to the thirteenth century, when they were defeated by Bohemond VII of Tripoli, and finally pushed out by Muslim advances.
The Embriacos were Lords of lands in Liguria and in Lunigiana. And had properties and a square in Genoa. The male line of the family died out in the middle of the 15th century. [1]
The County of Tripoli (1102–1289) was one of the Crusader states. It was founded in the Levant in the modern-day region of Tripoli, northern Lebanon and parts of western Syria. When the Frankish Crusaders, mostly southern French forces – captured the region in 1109, Bertrand of Toulouse became the first count of Tripoli as a vassal of King Baldwin I of Jerusalem. From that time on, the rule of the county was decided not strictly by inheritance but by factors such as military force, favour and negotiation. In 1289, the County of Tripoli fell to the Muslim Mamluks of Cairo under Sultan Qalawun, and the county was absorbed into Mamluk Sultanate.
James I was the youngest son of King Hugh IV of Cyprus and by 1369 held the title "Constable of Jerusalem." When his nephew Peter II died in 1382, he became King of Cyprus. James was also crowned King of Jerusalem in 1389 and assumed the title of King of Armenia in 1393, which was formally given to him in 1396.
The Kingdom of Jerusalem, one of the Crusader states that was created in 1099, was divided into a number of smaller seigneuries. According to the 13th-century jurist John of Ibelin, the four highest crown vassals in the kingdom proper were the count of Jaffa and Ascalon, the prince of Galilee, the lord of Sidon, and the lord of Oultrejordain.
Bohemond VII was the count of Tripoli and nominal prince of Antioch from 1275 to his death. The only part left of the Principality of Antioch was the port of Latakia. He spent much of his reign at war with the Templars (1277–1282).
The House of Ibelin was a noble family in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. They rose from 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.
Balian of Ibelin, also known as Barisan the Younger, was a crusader noble of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. He was lord of Ibelin from 1170 to 1193. As the leader of the defense of the city during the siege of Jerusalem in 1187, he surrendered Jerusalem to Saladin on 2 October 1187.
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 Isabella's grandson 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.
The principality of Galilee was one of the four major seigneuries of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, according to 13th-century commentator John of Ibelin, grandson of Balian. The direct holdings of the principality centred around Tiberias, in Galilee proper, but with all its vassals, the lordship covered all Galilee and southern Phoenicia. The independent Lordship of Sidon was located between Galilee's holdings. The principality also had its own vassals: the Lordships of Beirut, Nazareth, and Haifa.
Philip Ι of Montfort was Lord of La Ferté-Alais and Castres-en-Albigeois 1228–1270, Lord of Tyre 1246–1270, and Lord of Toron aft. 1240–1270. He was the son of Guy of Montfort and Helvis of Ibelin.
The Ramnulfids, or the House of Poitiers, were a French dynasty of Frankish origin ruling the County of Poitou and Duchy of Aquitaine in the 9th through 12th centuries. Their power base shifted from Toulouse to Poitou. In the early 10th century, they contested the dominance of northern Aquitaine and the ducal title to the whole with the House of Auvergne. In 1032, they inherited the Duchy of Gascony, thus uniting it with Aquitaine. By the end of the 11th century, they were the dominant power in the southwestern third of France. The founder of the family was Ramnulf I, who became count in 835.
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 the Emperor Frederick II.
John of Lusignan was a regent of the Kingdom of Cyprus and titular Prince of Antioch. He was son of King Hugh IV of Cyprus and his second wife Alix of Ibelin. He was a member of the House of Lusignan.
Maria of Antioch-Armenia (1215–1257) was lady of Toron from 1229 to her death. She was the elder daughter of Raymond-Roupen, prince of Antioch, and of Helvis of Lusignan. She derived her title of Lady of Toron and claim to the throne of Armenia from her father.
Isabella of Ibelin (1241–1324) was queen of Cyprus and Jerusalem by marriage to Hugh III of Cyprus.
Helvis of Ibelin was a daughter of Balian of Ibelin and his wife, Maria Komnene, who was the dowager Queen of Jerusalem. Helvis was a member of the House of Ibelin. She was Lady of Sidon by her first and second marriage.
Helvis of Brunswick-Grubenhagen was the queen consort of Cyprus and titular queen consort of Armenia as the wife of King James I of Cyprus. She was styled Queen of Cyprus from 1382 to 1398; although at the time of his ascension to the Cypriot throne, she and James were imprisoned in Genoa after they had been captured by the Genoese on the island of Rhodes. Almost all of Helvis 11 children were born to her while she was held prisoner. In 1385, after negotiations and many ruinous concessions to the Genoese, they were released and James was crowned king. In 1393, she became Queen of Armenia.
Guido I Embriaco or Guy I of Gibelet was "Lord (Signore) of Gib(e)let" or "Gibelletto", the modern and historic Byblos in Lebanon. He belonged to the Embriaco family.
Werner of Egisheim was a German Crusader, better known by his French name of Garnier l’Aleman.
Philip of Ibelin was Seneschal of the Kingdom of Cyprus. As one of the sons of Philippa Barlais and her husband Guy of Ibelin, he was a member of the house of Ibelin.
Guy II or Guido II, surnamed Embriaco, was the lord of Gibelet from about 1271 until his death.