Johann of Jaffa

John of Ibelin (* 1215 in Peristerona , † December 7, 1266 in Nicosia ) was Count of Jaffa (as such also John of Jaffa ), Lord of Ramla and Bailli (regent) of the Kingdom of Jerusalem .

Life

He was the son of Philipp von Ibelin , regent of Cyprus and his wife Alice von Montbéliard (Mömpelgard), the widow of Count Berthold von Katzenelnbogen . He was a nephew of the eponymous Johann von Ibelin , called "the old gentleman of Beirut". He was probably born in Cyprus, in Peristerona near Morphou , where his father had retired after a dispute with King John of Brienne . The village was a center of devotion to St. Barnabas and St. Hilarion .

Cyprus

From 1218 to 1227 his father Philipp was regent for the minor King Henry I of Cyprus (1218–1253). He died in 1227 when his son Johann was 13 years old. In 1229 Emperor Frederick II stopped on his crusade in Cyprus, deposed Philip, claimed control himself and transferred the government of the island to five of his followers as Baillis . When he left Cyprus again in 1229 and the Ibelins started a war against the imperial governors, Johann fled with his only sister Maria to the Templar castle Tortosa , where he fell into the hands of Count Steffen, a follower of the emperor.

Eventually he joined the troops of his uncle, John of Beirut. His first combat mission, in which he showed little tactical skill, is documented by Philipp von Novara in Casal Imbert , north of Akkon . The poorly defended camp of the Ibelins was conquered by imperial troops, and Henry, King of Cyprus, was only barely able to escape to Acre, "half-clothed". Johann was seriously wounded in the fighting. Shortly thereafter, he sold his land in the Acre and Caesarea area to the Templars and Hospitallers to raise money for a return to Cyprus. In 1232 he was involved in the battle of Aghirda (Agridi), on the pass over the Pentadaktylos between Nicosia and Kerynia against the imperial Bailli Richard Filangieri . He was then able to capture Walter von Manupello , hidden in the moat of the Templar castle of Gastria , where he had asked to be admitted in vain. After ten months of siege, Kerynia finally fell to the Ibelins in 1233, and King Henry rewarded them richly.

After that, Johann seems to have stayed mostly in Cyprus. He owned land in Nicosia , Morphou and Episkopi near Limassol and held the Vassa castle near Paphos . His sister entered the Cistercian monastery of St. Theodor in Nicosia around 1235 , which her mother had founded, but which was not recognized by the order until 1242.

Since 1232, Johann was regularly represented at the court of Cyprus as a close relative of King Heinrich I and often appears as a witness in the documents. Presumably he belonged together with his cousins ​​Balian, Balduin, Hugo, Johann and Guido, the sons of John of Beirut and with John of Caesarea to the close advisers of the young king.

Around 1238 he married Mary of Armenia, a sister of King Hethum I of Lesser Armenia , perhaps in a double wedding with the king himself.

Jaffa

In Palestine the House of Ibelin with the base in Accra and the Imperial Tire were still hostile to each other. Attempts to come to an amicable settlement through Simon V von Montfort , the son-in-law of Friedrich's wife, failed. As a result of the barons' crusade , Johann was able to regain the old fief of the Ibelin, the rule of Ramla , in 1241 . In 1242 he took part in a campaign by Balian of Beirut and Philip of Montfort against Tire, which ended with the expulsion of the imperial troops.

Between 1246 and 1247, Heinrich I enfeoffed John with the county of Jaffa , which Heinrich von Champagne had originally left as a morning gift to his daughters. After the death of Alice of Champagne , it fell to her daughter Maria of Champagne , who was married to Walter IV of Brienne . After Alice's death in 1246, it fell to her son, King Henry I. The title of "Count of Jaffa " had usually been the heir to the throne of Jerusalem in the previous century, and the county was still considered the most important in the entire kingdom. He took part in the Sixth Crusade and helped repel an attack by Sultan al-Salih Ayyub on Damietta in 1249 . In April 1250 he was also taken prisoner by the Mamluks , but was released a little later.

From 1254 to 1256 John succeeded his cousin John of Arsuf Bailli, the king of Jerusalem. Jaffa was expressly excluded from the armistice of 1255, and in 1256 Johannes and Gottfried von Sangines were able to gain rich booty by attacking a trade caravan. A new ten-year peace then also included Jaffa.

In the bitter skirmishes between Genoese , Pisan and Venetian merchants in Acre in 1256, the War of Saint-Sabas , John played a decisive role. After a Genoese murder attempt, he sided with the Venetians. In 1258 the Genoese gave up Acre in favor of Tire. But the Montforts and the Ibelins were enemies from then on.

Because of his affair with Plaisance of Antioch , the widowed Queen of Cyprus and regent of the kingdoms of Cyprus and Jerusalem († 1261), he was reprimanded personally by the Pope in 1261.

In 1261 Johann traveled to Sultan Baibars with his uncle Johann, the "old gentleman of Beirut", in order to enter into negotiations. In 1263 there was a second visit to Mount Tabor . However, the negotiations about the release of the prisoners failed because of the greed of the knightly orders.

John died on December 7, 1266 at the age of 52 in Nicosia and was buried in the Dominican church there. Two years after his death, Jaffa fell to the Mamluks in 1268.

Praised by Jean de Joinville as Johann a knight of exemplary virtue, on the one hand he proceeded with all severity against the Muslims, which Pope Urban IV was well known, but on the other hand did not see himself prevented from entering into a relationship with Queen Plaisance of Cyprus Urban loudly criticized.

progeny

With Mary of Armenia he had at least seven children:

• Jakob († 1276) was count of Jaffa from 1266, titular count from 1268;
• Philipp († after 1263, before Johann);
• Johann († after 1263, before 1276) died without offspring;
• Guido († 1304) was titular count of Jaffa from 1276;
• Margarete († after 1319) became abbess of the Benedictine monastery Notre Dame de Sur in Nicosia ;
• Isabella († after 1298) married in 1270 Sempad von Botha, "Lord of La Roche in Armenia" ( Sarventikar ), son of Gottfried von Sarventikar;
• Maria († after 1298) married Vahram von Hamus (X 1270/71 with Sis ) in her first marriage in 1269/70 and in her second marriage Gregor von Ladif, son of Vahran von Ladif.

Works

As a collaborator in the Assizes of Jerusalem (see Haute Cour of Jerusalem ), the code of law that was compiled for the kingdom, the Livre des Assises de la Cour des Barons , written around 1260, comes from him. It is considered to be one of the most important sources on the cultural and legal history of the late crusader states. It has come down to us in five manuscripts and is based on the author's experience at the high court (Haute Court) of Cyprus, Jerusalem and in its county of Jaffa. Presumably, as a participant in the uprising against Frederick II, it was most important for John to retain the privileges of the high nobility.

In 1531 the manuscript was translated into Italian in Cyprus by order of the Venetians. The book was also in use in Frankish-ruled Greece (references in the Assises de Romanie).

literature

• Arthur A. de Beugnot: Assises de Jérusalem ou recueil des ouvrages de jurisprudence composés pendant le XIII ^e siècle dans les royaumes de Jérusalem et de Chypre. Volume 1: Assises de la haute cour (= Recueil des Historiens des Croisades. Lois. Vol. 1). Imprimerie Royale, Paris 1841, ( digitized version ).
• Peter W. Edbury (Ed.): John of Ibelin. "Le Livre des Assises" (= The medieval mediterranean. Vol. 50). Brill, Leiden et al. 2003, ISBN 90-04-13179-5 .
• Peter W. Edbury: Kingdoms of the Crusaders. From Jerusalem to Cyprus (= Varium Collected Studies Series. Vol. 653). Ashgate, Aldershot 1999, ISBN 0-86078-792-3 .
• Wipertus-Hugo Rudt de Collenberg: Les Ibelin aux XIII ^e et XIV ^e siècles. Généalogie compilée principalement selon les registres du Vatican. In: Κέντρου Επιστημονικών Ερευνών. Επετηρίς. 9, 1977/1979, ZDB -ID 442840-7 , pp. 117-265.
• Steven Runciman : A history of the crusades. 3 volumes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1951-1954.
  • In German: History of the Crusades. Special edition in one volume without references to sources and literature. CH Beck, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-406-02527-7 .

Web links

• Johann von Ibelin at medieval-genealogie.de
• Jean Ibelin at fmg.ac (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Walter IV of Brienne	Earl of Jaffa 1247–1266	Jacob of Ibelin
-	Lord of Ramla 1241-1266	Jacob of Ibelin
Johann von Arsuf	Bailli of Jerusalem 1254–1256	Johann von Arsuf