Sibylle (Jerusalem)

Sibyl in a representation from the 13th century

Sibylle of Jerusalem (* around 1160 ; † July 25, 1190 before Acre ) from the house of Château-Landon was the daughter of Amalrich I , king of Jerusalem and Agnes of Edessa . She was the sister of King Baldwin IV and was brought up under the supervision of her great-aunt Ioveta in the Bethanien Monastery.

Her father had invited Count Stephan I of Sancerre to the Holy Land in 1171 to marry him to Sibylle, but for unclear reasons the marriage project failed and Stephan returned to France unmarried.

Raimund III. , Count of Tripoli , the regent for Baldwin IV during his minority, arranged for Sibylle to marry Wilhelm von Montferrat in 1177 . Wilhelm died a short time later, when Sibylle with the later Baldwin V was pregnant.

After Wilhelm's death, representatives of Flanders suggested that she marry a minor nobleman from the country, and in 1179 Baldwin of Ramla , head of the mighty Ibelin , offered her marriage. However, Baldwin IV arranged for her to marry Guido von Lusignan in 1180 , who had only recently come to the country. As a result, Baldwin lost so much of the support of the old families that he tried to dissolve the marriage. Guido resisted, as he was already on his way to gain control of the empire with Sibylle's help. In an attempt to push back Guido's influence, Raimund III took over . 1183 after the resignation of Baldwin IV, who was handicapped by his leprosy , took over the reign of the minor Balduin V.

Baldwin V died in 1186, less than ten years old. Sibylle, Guido and Rainald von Chatillon managed to usurp the scepter before Raimund could have the question of succession clarified through a consultation. Many nobles resisted this attack and asked for a divorce from Guido at the coronation of Sibylle. She agreed on the condition that she could choose a new husband. She then married Guido for the second time, to the displeasure of the nobility, who had not considered this possibility. Sibylle remained queen, Guido ruled from her right as king.

During the Battle of Hattin on July 4, 1187, the kingdom's army was destroyed and Guido was taken prisoner, so that Sibylle had to lead the defense of Jerusalem during Saladin's siege in September. The city capitulated on October 2nd, Sibylle was given safe conduct to Tripoli . In her husband's army camp, during the siege of Acre , she and her daughter died in an epidemic on July 25, 1190. Since Guido was only her prince consort, the crown nominally passed to her sister Isabella and in 1192 also to her second husband Konrad von Montferrat . On April 16, 1192, on the mediation of King Richard of England , Guido gave the two of them the crown.

Web links

• Sibylle at fmg.ac (English)

literature

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

predecessor	Office	successor
Balduin V.	Queen of Jerusalem 1186–1190	Guido of Lusignan ( de iure uxoris )