Ioveta of Bethany

Ioveta von Bethanien (* 1120 ; † around 1170) was the fourth and youngest daughter of Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Morphia von Melitene . Your name appears in different forms, including Joveta, Yvette, Iveta, Ivetta or Juditta.

Ioveta was the only daughter of Baldwin, who was born after he became king in 1118. When Baldwin was captured by the Ortoquids near Edessa in 1123 , Ioveta was one of the hostages who had to be given for his release . She was imprisoned in Shaizar and was freed from her father in 1125 with a ransom of eighty thousand dinars . Baldwin took the money from his booty after winning the Battle of Azaz that year.

Ioveta's sisters were married well. The eldest, Melisende , married Fulk V of Anjou , who succeeded Baldwin to the throne of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Alice married Bohemond II of Antioch and Hodierna married Raymond II of Tripoli . However, Ioveta went to the monastery of St. Anne in Jerusalem. In 1143 Melisende had a monastery built in Bethany (today al-Eizariya ) dedicated to St. Lazarus on land that she had received from the "Church of the Holy Sepulcher", ie from the property of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem . After the death of the first abbess in 1144, Ioveta was chosen as her successor. Although she did not have as much influence as her sisters, in her position as abbess she had a certain position of power: In a contract of 1157 it is mentioned that she donated land to the Order of St. John .

Ioveta was responsible for the upbringing of her great-niece Sibylla , she was the daughter of her sister Melisende's son, Amalrich , and Agnes von Courtenay .

Ioveta was very close to her sisters. When Melisende was dying in 1161, Ioveta and Hodierna were by her side (Alice probably died earlier). After that, Ioveta disappears from the story; her date of death is unknown. But she was already dead in 1178, because at that time another abbess is mentioned in the monastery of St. Lazarus.

literature

• William, Archbishop of Tire: A history of deeds done beyond the sea (= Records of Civilization. No. 35, ISSN  0080-0287 ). Translated and annotated by Emily Atwater Babcock and August C. Krey. 2 volumes. Columbia University Press, New York NY 1943.
• Steven Runciman : A History of the Crusades. Volume 2: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1952.