Henry II (Champagne)

Henry II of Champagne (* July 29, 1166 , † September 10, 1197 in Akkon ) was Count of Champagne since 1181 and by marriage since 1192, as Henry I , King of Jerusalem from the House of Blois . He was the eldest son of Count Heinrich I of Champagne and Princess Marie , a daughter of King Louis VII of France († 1180) and Eleanor of Aquitaine († 1204).

Live and act

Heinrich was around 15 years old when his father died. His mother took over the reign until 1187. His mother's proposal to marry a daughter of Count Baldwin V of Hainaut he turned down in order to become engaged to the two-year-old Ermesinde of Luxembourg in 1189 . However, despite initial success, an inheritance in Luxembourg failed due to the rejection of Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa and Heinrich's inconsistency. He soon broke off his engagement with Ermesinde.

In 1190 Heinrich took the cross to go on the third crusade with his uncle and King Philip II . He swore his vassals in Sezanne in May 1190 to his younger brother Theobald III. as successor in case he should not return from the holy land . He led an advance division of the Crusaders and reached the Holy Land in the summer of 1190 . There he took command of the siege of Acre until the arrival of the kings of France and England .

He was a nephew of the English King Richard the Lionheart and contributed to understanding between the French and English crusaders throughout the crusade.

After the king of Jerusalem , Conrad of Montferrat , was murdered by assassins in Tire on April 28, 1192 , Heinrich was hurriedly urged by his uncle Richard the Lionheart to marry the king's widow, Isabella , making him the new king of Jerusalem from the right of his wife was. Isabella was heavily pregnant at the time. Imad al-Din al-Isfahani , an Islamic chronicler who attended the wedding, wrote:

Henry of Champagne married the margrave's wife that same night, claiming that he had the first right to the dead man's wife. She was pregnant, which didn't stop him from uniting with her, something even more disgusting than the union of the flesh. I asked one of her courtiers who would have paternity and he said, 'It will be the Queen's child.' You see the self-indulgence of these corrupt unbelievers.

The wedding took place eight days after the murder, but Heinrich was supposed to forego the title of king, he just called himself "Lord of Jerusalem". He came to terms with Amalrich von Lusignan , the brother of the former King Guido von Lusignan , from whom he took the post of constable of Jerusalem in 1194 and gave it to John of Ibelin . Furthermore, he ousted the Pisans from the mainland and was in conflict with the clergy over the investiture of the Patriarchal Office of Jerusalem , where he had to give way in 1194.

Heinrich died under mysterious circumstances in 1197 after falling from the window of a tower in Acre. He was buried in the Holy Cross Church in Acre.

Marriage and succession

From his marriage to Isabella of Jerusalem († May 1206) he had three daughters:

• Marie († before 1205)
• Alice (1196 - May 1246)

1. ⚭ first marriage in 1210 with King Hugo I of Cyprus (* 1195; † 1218)
2. ⚭ second marriage in 1225 to Prince Bohemond V of Antioch , annulled in 1227
3. ⚭ third marriage in 1241 to Raoul de Soissons, regent of Acre 1243–1244

• Philippa (* 1195/1197; † December 10, 1250) ⚭ 1213 or 1214 with Érard de Brienne († after 1244), Lord of Ramerupt

After Henry's death, the Jerusalem kingship was continued by his widow and her fourth husband, Amalrich von Lusignan, and after their death by his step-daughter Maria von Montferrat .

Heinrich's daughters were to play a particularly important role in his home legacy, Champagne . Because after his death his brother Theobald III followed him there. The daughters' inheritance claims were ignored by both their uncle and King Philip II August, which was also due to their weak legitimation. The first husband of Henry's wife, Humfried IV of Toron , had never recognized his forced divorce, so the legality of Henry's marriage to Isabella was called into question. At least the sisters' cousin, Count Theobald IV , later used this as an argument to defend himself against their claims.

Web links

• Henri at fmg.ac (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Heinrich I.	Count of Champagne 1181–1197	Theobald III.
Conrad I of Montferrat (de iure uxoris, with Isabella I )	King of Jerusalem (de iure uxoris , with Isabella I ) 1192–1197	Amalrich II of Lusignan (de iure uxoris, with Isabella I )