Humfried IV of Toron

Humfried IV of Toron (* around 1166 , † around 1192 ) was Lord of Toron within the Kingdom of Jerusalem .

He was the son of Humfried III. von Toron († 1173) from his marriage to Stephanie von Milly († around 1197), mistress of Oultrejordain . His paternal grandfather was Humfried II of Toron , Lord of Toron and constable of the Kingdom of Jerusalem . He was the stepson of Stephanie's second and third husbands, Miles of Plancy and Rainald of Chatillon . Humfried's sister Isabella married Ruben III. of Armenia . Since his father died before his grandfather, he became lord of Toron when the latter died in 1179.

As a member of one of the old families, Humfried IV was a specialty in the royal family; In 1180 he became engaged to Isabella of Jerusalem , the daughter of the former King Amalrich I, on the condition that Toron would become the royal domain. In November 1183, Humfried and the eleven-year-old Isabella were married in the fortress of Kerak , which was the center of the rule Oultrejordain, which at that time was besieged by Saladin ( Siege of Kerak ). Humfried's mother convinced Saladin not to attack the tower where the wedding took place, while the attacks on the rest of the castle continued. Kerak was later freed by King Baldwin IV .

In 1186, when Baldwin V died, Rainald tried to persuade him to claim the throne in the name of Isabella. Humfried, however, preferred to support Guido von Lusignan , the husband of Isabella's sister Sibylle ; Rainald and the other nobles followed him, although Guido was a newcomer.

Guido showed himself to be an unsuccessful king. Saladin invaded the kingdom in 1187, and Humfried's stepfather Rainald was captured and executed at the Battle of Hattin . Humfried was captured when Saladin conquered Jerusalem on October 2, 1187 . His mother obtained his release at Saladin by promising him to hand over the two key fortresses of Oultrejordain, Kerak and Montreal . When the Christian garrisons there refused to carry out their orders, they dutifully sent Humfried back to Saladin in captivity, from which he was released a few months later. After a long siege, Kerak and Montreal fell to Saladin in 1189, who finally destroyed the rule of Oultrejordain. Humfried's inheritance claim to Oultrejordain, which he could have claimed after the death of his stepfather Rainald, was de facto worthless.

The barons of Jerusalem had been reluctant to accept Guido as king due to Humfried's influence, and now turned against him after the fall of Jerusalem. In 1190, during the Third Crusade , the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem annulled Humfried and Isabella's marriage on the grounds given by Conrad von Montferrat that Isabella was a minor at the wedding. Humfried and Isabella didn't want the divorce, but Humfried didn't want a conflict with the other barons either, and was also intimidated by Guido von Senlis , a French nobleman, who had challenged him to a duel (which Humfried rejected). After all, through the annulment of the marriage, he regained the right to his rule Toron, which had been occupied by Saladin since 1187. Conrad married Isabella himself (although he was already married) and now claimed the throne of Jerusalem for himself with the support of the rest of the baron, especially the powerful Ibelin family .

Humfried allied himself with Richard the Lionheart , first in the conquest of Cyprus , then against Saladin. Since Humfried was fluent in Arabic , he was able to negotiate with Saladin on Richard's behalf. In 1192, when Conrad was murdered by assassins , Humfried, Richard, and others were suspected of being involved. Isabella was now married to Henry II of Champagne , against the protest of Humfried, who regarded the annulment of the marriage as invalid because of Konrad's bigamy .

Humfried probably died a short time later, childless. His claim to Toron passed to his sister Isabella (and her husband, Prince Ruben III of Lesser Armenia ).

literature

• Steven Runciman : History of the Crusades (= dtv. 4670). 3. Edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-423-30175-9 .

Web links

• Honfroy (IV) of Toron at fmg.ac

predecessor	Office	successor
Humfried II of Toron	Lord of Toron 1179–1183	Crown domain
Crown domain	Titular Lord of Toron 1190–1192	Isabella