Maria of Antioch (pretender)

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For the Byzantine Empress, see Maria of Antioch.
Maria of Antioch
Pretender Regent of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Reign1268-1277
Bornc. 1220
Died1307
HousePoitiers
FatherBohemond IV of Antioch
MotherMelisende of Lusignan

Maria of Antioch (c. 1220 – 1307) was a claimant to the throne of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1268 to 1277. In 1267 she laid claim to govern the kingdom as regent in the name of the absentee King Conrad III. Her legal case was solid, resting on the proximity of blood to the king, but she was rejected by the High Court of Jerusalem in favor of Hugh III of Cyprus. When Conrad died in 1268, she demanded to be crowned as his successor. Spurned yet again for Hugh, she moved to Europe and eventually sold her claim to Charles I of Anjou.

Family

Maria was born c. 1220.

Conrad II, but was rejected in favor of King Henry I of Cyprus, Alice's son.[3][4] Maria's older half-brother Henry married Isabella, daughter of Alice and sister of Henry I of Cyprus, and the couple had a son, Hugh.[2] Maria never married and had no children.[5]

High Court cases

In the 1260s, the thrones of the kingdoms of

Hugh of Brienne and Isabella's son Hugh of Antioch, with the latter being selected by the High Court of Jerusalem.[8]

Hugh II died in 1267, and was succeeded as king of Cyprus by Hugh of Antioch (Hugh III). In addition to the throne of Cyprus, Hugh III claimed the regency of the

Baibars. Maria, on the other hand, could offer them nothing. The acquisition of the regency marked Hugh as the heir presumptive to King Conrad.[5]

Conrad was executed on the orders of

Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, William of Agen,[14][15] but he "scornfully dismissed" her claim and "considered it worthless".[16] The Knights Templar supported her claim,[17] possibly because they expected her to be a weak ruler or to sell the kingdom to Charles.[18] A sale, rather than a wish to rule, may have been Maria's principal motivation for claiming the throne.[10] Hugh's coronation, held in the cathedral at Tyre,[5] was thus postponed until 24 September 1269.[11] Maria had a clerk and a notary interrupt it with a protest on her behalf,[19] after which they ran out of the cathedral.[15] She appealed to the Templars for support before leaving the Holy Land and launching a long litigation at the Holy See in Rome.[14][17]

Life in Europe

By 1270, Maria had come into contact with Charles. A ship carrying her goods sunk that year, prompting Charles to intervene for her. The loss may have caused lasting financial troubles for Maria.

quash the case because she was too poor to proceed.[21]

In March 1277, Maria sold her claim to Charles for annual payments of 4,000

Saracen bezants from Acre. He claimed, probably falsely, that Maria's offer of the kingdom had been refused by many princes before he accepted. The sale was unprecedented and breached the kingdom's inheritance laws.[21] After the sale, Charles promptly sent Roger of San Severino to occupy the kingdom for him.[22] Roger arrived in Acre with credentials signed by Charles, Maria, and Pope John XXI.[23] Frustrated by the opposition he faced, Hugh did not resist,[22] but Charles was never universally accepted as king.[24] Hugh's son Henry II regained Acre in 1285,[25] but when the city fell to the Egyptian sultan Al Asraf Khalil in 1291, the Kingdom of Jerusalem was permanently destroyed.[26] Maria's annuity was confirmed by Charles II, but it is doubtful if she did receive all the money.[27] She died in 1307.[1]

Genealogical table

Maria's kinship with the kings and queens, regents, and claimants to the throne of Jerusalem[1]
Isabella I (d. 1205)
queen of Jerusalem
Melisende of Cyprus

(d. c. 1249)
Isabella II (d. 1228)
queen of Jerusalem		Henry I of Cyprus (d. 1253)
regent of Jerusalem		Maria of Cyprus (d. c. 1250)Isabella of Cyprus (d. 1264)
regent of Jerusalem		Maria of Antioch
Hugh of Brienne
Hugh III of Cyprus
Conrad III
 (d. 1268)
king of Jerusalem

References

  1. ^ a b c Baldwin 2014, Claimants to the Thrones of Jerusalem and Cyprus.
  2. ^ a b Runciman 1989, p. Appendix III (Genealogical tree No. 1.).
  3. ^ Edbury 1994, p. 82.
  4. ^ a b Riley-Smith 1973, p. 220.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Edbury 1994, p. 90.
  6. ^ Edbury 1994, p. 86.
  7. ^ Edbury 1994, p. 88.
  8. ^ Edbury 1994, p. 89.
  9. ^ Baldwin 2014, p. 129.
  10. ^ a b c Baldwin 2014, p. 131.
  11. ^ a b c Edbury 1979, p. 15.
  12. ^ Edbury 1979, p. 16.
  13. ^ Baldwin 2014, p. 130.
  14. ^ a b c Edbury 1994, p. 93.
  15. ^ a b Riley-Smith 1973, p. 222.
  16. ^ a b Baldwin 2014, p. 132.
  17. ^ a b Baldwin 2014, p. 116.
  18. ^ Baldwin 2014, p. 117.
  19. ^ Edbury 1979, p. 1.
  20. ^ a b Baldwin 2014, p. 133.
  21. ^ a b c Riley-Smith 1973, p. 223.
  22. ^ a b Baldwin 2014, p. 136.
  23. ^ Runciman 1989, p. 345.
  24. ^ Edbury 1994, p. 95.
  25. ^ Edbury 1994, p. 97.
  26. ^ Runciman 1989, p. 427.
  27. ^ Runciman 1989, p. 329.

Sources

  • Baldwin, Philip Bruce (2014). Pope Gregory X and the Crusades. Boydell and Brewer Ltd.
    ISBN 978-1843839163
    .
  • ISBN 0-901050-47-4
    .
  • ISBN 0-521-45837-4
    .
  • ISBN 0-521-06163-6
    .
  • OCLC 656718775
    .
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