Sibylla (Old French: Sibyl; c. 1159 - 25 July 1190) was the queen of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1190. Her father was elected King of Jerusalem in 1118. . The reason for this is the Falcon that is engraved into the ivory back cover, which is a word-play on the word Fulk. [59] She and Guy garrisoned the city with their strong armed escort. In 1138 she founded the large convent of St. Lazarus in Bethany where her younger sister Ioveta would rule as abbess. She was the eldest daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, and the Armenian princess Morphia of Melitene . As the eldest child, Melisende was raised as the Crown Princess, her father's successor. Melisende of Jerusalem, the eldest daughter of Baldwin II, was married to Fulk, Count of Anjou in 1129, and even before the marriage took place he was demanding better terms than that of a mere consort of the queen. Eleanor had herself been designated by her father, William X, to succeed him in her own right, just as Melisende had been designated to succeed her father. Both Matilda of England and Sibylla of Jerusalem were hampered by consorts who were unpopular with their subjects; this was certainly a factor in why both 12. [65], Due to the distortion of her image by contemporary gender ideals, resourcefulness and loyalty remain Sibylla's chief traits in modern historiography. My name is Moniek and I am from the Netherlands. Agnes and Amalric made their home in the royal court, where Queen Melisende acted as regent for her son Baldwin III while he was on campaign. @hadasshtaif. When Melisende bore a son and heir in 1130, the future Baldwin III, her father took steps to ensure Melisende would rule after him as reigning Queen of Jerusalem. [2][7] Fulk's autocratic style contrasted with the somewhat collegic association with their monarch that native Eastern Franks had come to enjoy. Accompanying Louis was his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, with her own vassal lords in tow. Melisende, by law the heir to the kingdom, succeeded her father with Fulk as her co-ruler. Melisende, the mellifluous name of a 12th century queen of Jerusalem, gave rise to the more modern (but less lovely) Millicent. King Fulk started to look for ways to sideline his queen. This loyalty now extended to Melisende, though Hugh, by strict male succession, held a better claim to the throne. Red Devils. Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem (public domain) Melisende was born in 1105 in Edessa (modern-day Turkey) to the future Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Morphia of Melitene. [2:] Thus, when Fulk died in a hunting accident in 1143, his eldest son Baldwin succeeded him as king, with his mother Melisende as regent and co-ruler, since she was already queen in her own right. Five of the twenty charters were granted with Melisende's consent, and in 1159 Baldwin III granted a charter at her request.<25> So, it seems that Queen Melisende did hold political authority of some level throughout her son's reign as king. Through what amounted to a palace coup, the queen's supporters overcame Fulk, and from 1135 onwards Fulk's influence rapidly deteriorated. Melisende (1105 - 11 September 1161) was Queen of Jerusalem from 1131 to 1153, and regent for her son between 1153 and 1161 while he was on campaign. Though Baldwin had been encouraged to set aside Morphia to make a better political marriage and perhaps father a male heir, he refused and even postponed his coronation so Morphia and their daughters could be there. [6] Baldwin may have offered to abdicate in William's favour, but William would have declined because he knew he lacked support among the nobility. [22] Sibylla was left as the suo jure countess of Jaffa and Ascalon. She died on 11 September 1161 after a reign of 30 years. Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem (public domain) Melisende was born in 1105 in Edessa (modern-day Turkey) to the future Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Morphia of Melitene. Jerusalem in 1149, King Louis and his Queen left the Holy Land, setting sail for Italy. A power struggle with her husband, Fulk V, led to a divided Kingdom. [1] Both of her parents stood as role models for the young Princess Melisende, half Frankish and half Armenian, growing up in the Frankish East in a state of constant warfare. Who were melisende parents? An epidemic struck the crusaders' camp in 1190. Melisende had hitherto only partially associated Baldwin in her rule. [19] A brother-in-law was quickly sought. Jerusalem had recently been conquered by Christian Franks in 1099 during the First Crusade, and Melisende's paternal family originally came from the County of Rethel in France. Fulk did, in fact, win the battle: that's why he had been imported as a husband for Melisende, after all. [55], On Baldwin IV's deathbed in early 1185, the right to rule the kingdom as regent in the name of Baldwin V, then a sickly child, was offered to the count of Tripoli. She had one more son, Amalric, before Fulk's death in 1143. [59] Possibly in an attempt to appease Raymond and his party, Guy was not mentioned in it;[63] Sibylla proclaimed that the kingdom had passed to her by right of inheritance. This decision would prevent a civil war but also divide the kingdom's resources. However, Baldwin II also thought that he would have to marry Melisende to a powerful ally, one who would protect and safeguard Melisende's inheritance as Queen and her future heirs. [26] The opposition to Philip was led by the lord of Ramla, Baldwin of Ibelin, who hoped to be the chosen suitor. The meeting ended with Damascus as their target. Asked through: Arely Pacocha. Name variations: Melesend; Mlisande; Melissande; Melisend; Mlisende or Melisende; Melisinda, Mlisinde, or Melisinde. King Baldwin III of Jerusalem was one of a number of kings that ruled Jerusalem in the twelfth century. Her father was elected King of Jerusalem in 1118. The crisis reached a boiling point early 1152 when Baldwin demanded the patriarch Fulcher to crown him in the Holy Sepulchre, without Melisende present. [1] As a mark of his love for his wife, Baldwin II had postponed his coronation until Christmas Day 1119 so that Morphia and his daughters could travel to Jerusalem, and so that Morphia could be crowned alongside him as his queen. In 1129 she married Fulk V of Anjou . Although Queen Melisende of Jerusalem, the greatest Crusader female personality, had an Armenian mother and strengthened the Armenian presence in the Holy Land, few people know about her or that she is buried in the Church of Virgin's Tomb ("Asdvadzamayr" in Armenian), adjacent to the Garden of Gethsemane. In her day and age, this meant that she was the official successor to king Baldwin II. Melisende came to power in 1143, after the death of her husband, Fulk. Historian Bernard Hamilton disagrees with Ernoul's characterization of Sibylla as fickle, foolish, and sentimental, arguing that the portrayal "bears little relation to the known facts". [14] Sibylla's 13-year-old brother, Baldwin, would have been the obvious successor had there not been for fears of his incipient leprosy. In order to prevent Guy's accession to the throne, he had Sibylla's son crowned as co-king and attempted to separate Sibylla from Guy, but she refused. The boy king died the next year, and Sibylla moved quickly to claim the throne against Raymond's ambitions. She was married to Fulk from Anjou, on the . Rebuilding the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher had started before her time, but when husband Fulk had passed away, Melisende received full powers, albeit as regent to her son of thirteen. Name variations: Melesend; Mlisande; Melissande; Melisend; Mlisende or Melisende; Melisinda, Mlisinde, or Melisinde. Baldwin was not happy with this decision, and he launched an invasion into his mothers Kingdom. Melisende and Baldwin were mostly reconciled by 1153, and he realised he needed her while he was on a military campaign. Hugh was sent into exile, but as he was waiting for a ship to take him, he was suddenly attacked by a French knight from a region suspiciously close to Anjou. Things did not go well between the couple almost from the beginning. [27] Hugh intended to sail to the East in early 1180[28] and marry Sibylla at Easter. Medieval Podcasts, Podcast. The king so desperately needed a brother-in-law that he wrote to the king of France, empowering him to choose an alternative candidate if Hugh refused. [45] Baldwin retained only the royal title and the city of Jerusalem. Christian crusaders had wrested Jerusalem from the Muslims in 1099. Continue Reading. Again she is seen in the historical record granting titles of nobility, fiefdoms, appointments and offices, granting royal favours and pardons and holding court. Melisende was buried next to her mother Morphia in the shrine of Our Lady of Josaphat. Morphia was the daughter of an Armenian nobleman named Gabriel, he was the ruler of the city of Melitene. Or it might have been Jerusalem or Bethlehem. The name Melisende is girl's name of German origin meaning "strong in work". Eventually Agnes's proposal that Sibylla's five-year-old son, Baldwin V, be crowned co-king was accepted because his was the next strongest claim after Sibylla's. Melisende was accused of being the mistress, or lover, of the count of Jaffa, a rival to Fulk, whose name was derived from the port of . [23] Philip's only goal was to arrange for Sibylla and her half-sister Isabella to marry Robert and William, respectively, sons of his favourite liegeman Robert V of Bthune. Hugh was a cousin of Melisende, and also a member of the royal family. Sibylla's brother, Baldwin IV, died in 1185, having named Raymond to rule as regent for Baldwin V instead of Sibylla or Guy. [37], From 1180, Sibylla held Jaffa and Ascalon with Guy,[38] and had four daughters with him. Who were melisende parents? When Baldwin II died the next year in 1131, Melisende and Fulk ascended to the throne as joint rulers. She had three younger sisters: Alice, princess . The High Court accepted the conditions and swore an oath to him in the presence of Baldwin IV. Learn how your comment data is processed. King Fulk died three . Baldwin grew up to be a capable, if not brilliant, military commander. Try 6 issues for only 9.99 when you subscribe to BBC History Magazine or BBC History Revealed. When it became clear that 13-year-old Baldwin had contracted leprosy, the matter of Sibylla's marriage became urgent. Melisende was accused of being the mistress, or lover, of the count of Jaffa, a rival to Fulk, whose name was derived from the port of Jerusalem. Eleanor was the elder daughter of William, tenth Duke of Aquitaine. [79] Sibylla instead joined her stepmother, Queen Maria, in Tripoli. Melisende was queen of Jerusalem and she was good at her job. [32] Historian Bernard Hamilton argues that Ernoul's account, though accepted in older historiography,[32] is biased in favour of the Ibelins. Soon the kingdom was split into two camps: those who supported Melisende and those who supported her husband. [68] Roger des Moulins and Heraclius mediated peace, and all the barons except Raymond of Tripoli and Baldwin of Ibelin came to Jerusalem to submit. The result of this breach of treaty was that Damascus would never trust the Crusader states again, and the loss of a sympathetic Muslim state was a blow from which later monarchs of Jerusalem could not recover. ,Sitemap,Sitemap, Phone: 908-523-7282 Melisende as Queen regnant and her husband Fulk V of Anjou were anointed and crowned, the first coronation in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on September 14, 1131. One historian wrote that Fulk's supporters "went in terror of their lives" in the palace. She was named after her paternal grandmother, Melisende of Montlhry, wife of Hugh I, Count of Rethel. [39] In the months following the Battle of Hattin, all of the kingdom except Tyre fell to Saladin. 3. Melisende's connections, especially to her sister Hodierna, and to her niece Constance of Antioch, meant that she had direct influence in northern Syria, a priceless connection since Baldwin had himself broken the treaty with Damascus in 1147. The coronation took place on 20 November, and the boy received the homage of all the barons except his stepfather. This time, Melisende, already sharing the rule of Jerusalem with her husband, pleaded with him not to interfere, and William again refers that 'she had the support of certain nobles'.40 The arrival of Raymond of Poitou to the country and his marriage to the still underaged Constance finally ended Alice's control of 38 WT, 14.9, (p. Footnote 10 The primary exemplar, however, is Queen Melisende of Jerusalem, who from 1131 to 1143 co-ruled with her husband, Fulk v of Anjou, and later acted as regent for, and co-ruler with, her son, Baldwin iii (d.1163). [36] Baldwin of Ibelin had never been approved by Sibylla's brother, possibly because his family had only recently risen to lordly rank. When Fulk died in 1143, Melisende remained Queen of Jerusalem, and ruled jointly with her eldest son, Baldwin III. Hodierna's daughter, Melisende of Tripoli, was named in honor of the queen. She was the eldest daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, and the Armenian princess Morphia of Melitene. Finally in 1143 she became the sole ruler of Jerusalem, but . [54] Raymond summoned the High Court to Nablus. New Homes For Sale In Gainesville, Ga, (Fulk's son by a previous marriage, Geoffrey of Anjou, was married to a woman--and would-be ruling queen--whom we have met before, Matilda of England.) The city was abuzz with the news that the previously-undocumented third son of Godfrey of Ibelin had arrived, and what an arrival it had been. I wanted to do a game with a Queen of Jerusalem, specifically Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem. She was the eldest daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, and the Armenian princess Morphia of Melitene.She was named after her paternal grandmother, Melisende of Montlhry, wife of Hugh I, Count of Rethel. The victory entrenched Zengi as leader of the Muslims in the Holy Land, a mantle that would be taken up by his son Nur ad-Din and then by Saladin. The couple married in November, and he was granted the County of Jaffa and Ascalon. Fulk was already a father by his first marriage. Queen Melisende's powerful and charismatic personality cast its influence across the Levant for over two decadesa remarkable achievement in the most war-torn environment in Christendom and in such a male-dominated age. Baldwin II held a coronation ceremony investing the kingship of Jerusalem jointing between his daughter, his grandson Baldwin III, and with Fulk. She had three younger sisters . In the year of 1161 Queen Melisende fell ill and died. Tension between mother and son mounted between 1150 and 1152, with Baldwin blaming Manasses for alienating his mother from him. "Much better. [44] Having developed a life-threatening fever, the king summoned the High Court in June and made Guy regent. [1] As the new king, Baldwin II had been encouraged to put away Morphia in favor of a new younger wife with better political connections- one that could yet bear him a male heir. By Jennifer Edie. In 1161 Melisende appeared to have had a stroke, where her memory was greatly impaired. Melisende's victory was complete. [81] The city's defender, Conrad, refused to allow the king and queen into the city, forcing them to spend months outside its walls. In Jerusalem: from Herod the Great, who killed his beloved wife and three sons, to the great Crusader queen Melisende and the Arab conqueror Saladin. 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