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Sibylla of Jerusalem (c. 1160 - 1190) was Queen of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1190. She was the eldest daughter of Amalric I of Jerusalem and Agnes of Courtenay and sister of Baldwin IV. Her grandmother Queen Melisende had provided an example of successful rule by a queen regnant earlier in the century. Dynasty Sibylla was raised by her great-aunt, the abbess Ioveta of Bethany, sister of former Queen Melisende of Jerusalem, who founded the convent of St. Lazarus in Bethany for her sister in 1138, and died there in 1163. In the convent Sibylla was taught scripture and other church traditions. Though not raised by her mother, Sibylla would later become closer with Agnes and inherit her political supporters. Once her brother became king as Baldwin IV, she was his heir and her choice of husband was of paramount concern in the kingdom. Raymond III of Tripoli, in his capacity as regent during Baldwin's minority (and beyond, as the king suffered from leprosy), arranged for Sibylla to marry William Longsword of Montferrat, the newly created count of Jaffa and Ascalon. In autumn 1176 they were married. William died by June the following year, leaving Sibylla widowed and pregnant. In the tradition of the dynasty, Sibylla named her son Baldwin. The widowed princess remained a prize for ambitious nobles and adventurers seeking to advance themselves and take control of Jerusalem. Philip of Flanders, a distant cousin of Sibylla, arrived in 1177 and demanded to have the princess married to one of his own vassals. By marrying Sibylla to his vassal, Philip could control the kingship of Jerusalem. The Haute Cour of Jerusalem, led by Baldwin of Ibelin, rebuffed Philip's advances. Affronted, Philip left Jerusalem to campaign in Antioch. Additionally, the Ibelin family manoeuvered to have the princess marry one of their own. Baldwin of Ibelin certainly was among the courtiers who called upon the princess, and a relationship may have developed between them. The chronicler Ernoul wrote a romantic passage in which Baldwin was captured and imprisoned in 1179 by Saladin. According to Ernoul, Sibylla wrote to Baldwin suggesting they wed when he was released. Perhaps knowing of the relationship between the princess and his prisoner, Saladin demanded a large ransom. Baldwin himself could not pay the ransom, but was released with the promise to pay Saladin later. Once free Baldwin went to the court of the Byzantine emperor. There he received a grant from Emperor Manuel, the emperor previously receiving confirmation from his niece, the dowager queen Maria Comnena, of the likelihood of the Sibylla-Baldwin match. According to Bernard Hamilton, it could be assumed the emperor was investing in the future good-will of the king-consort of Sibylla. All these plans were wrecked however, when on Easter, 1180, Raymond III of Tripoli (the former regent) and Bohemund III of Antioch entered the kingdom with the intent of choosing a husband for Sibylla themselves. Baldwin IV's reign Agnes of Courtenay, now back at court, advised her son to have Sibylla married to the newly-arrived Frankish knight Guy of Lusignan, her client. Guy was brother of her personal constable, Amalric of Lusignan, a rumored lover of hers. Guy offered Agnes his loyalty; in exchange Agnes promoted his interests. By this Agnes hoped to foil any attempt by Raymond and Bohemund, her own political rivals, from marrying her daughter into the rival court faction, led by the Ibelins. At any rate, Baldwin of Ibelin was himself still in Constantinople and unable to wed Sibylla. With pressure mounting to have the Heir Presumptive wed, the marriage was hastily arranged. Sibylla bore her new husband two daughters, Alice and Maria. Initially Baldwin IV vested much authority in Guy, appointing him his regent during times of his own incapacitation. But within a year the king was offended and enraged by Guy's behaviour as regent. Guy overlooked his favourite Raynald of Chatillon's harassment of trade caravans between Egypt and Syria. Raynald of Chatillon threatened the accord between Jerusalem and Egypt. Baldwin IV deposed Guy as regent in 1183 and attempted to have Sibylla's marriage annulled through-out 1184. Though her husband was in disgrace for his behaviour as regent, it does not seem that Sibylla herself was held in disfavour. Ultimately unsuccessful in his attempt to break his sister free of Guy, the king and the factional leaders agreed to a solution advanced by Agnes of Courtenay. Elderly Agnes was herself disgruntled with Guy's behavior, and was willing to reach an accord with her one-time rivals. The king, Agnes, and other court leaders reached an agreement that would place Baldwin V, Sibylla's infant son from her first marriage, on the throne over Sibylla herself, with Raymond III of Tripoli as regent. If the infant Baldwin V were to expire, a council was to convene to determine the next monarch: Sibylla or Isabella. Additionally, a clause also allowed for the rulers of England, France, and Germany to have a say in the next monarch. Throughout these internal political conflicts, an even greater external threat was on the horizon: Saladin, the sultan of Egypt and Syria. The kingdom had managed to maintain peace with Saladin until Raynald of Chatillon's attacks on the caravans in 1182. Meanwhile, Agnes died at her estates in Acre, sometime in 1184. Baldwin IV himself expired by early 1185, leaving Sibylla's son as king and Raymond as regent. Baldwin V, never a healthy child, died by early 1186. Succession Sibylla attended her son's funeral, arranged by her uncle Joscelin III of Courtenay. For security an armed escort garrisoned Jerusalem. Raymond III, who was jealous to protect his own influence and his political ally, the dowager queen Maria Comnena, left for Nablus to make arrangements to summon the Haute Cour when Sibylla was crowned queen by Patriarch Heraclius. Raynald of Chatillon gained popular support for Sibylla by affirming that she was "li plus apareissanz et plus dreis heis dou roiaume". Sibylla's detractors resurrected the claim that Sibylla was illegitimate and intended to hold a rival coronation for Isabella. However, in 1163 the Latin Church of Jerusalem had ruled Sibylla was a legal heir and successor to her father. Either way, Sibylla's claim held strong as the Haute Cour negotiated to recognize her as queen. Sibylla's position was further strengthened when Isabella's husband and loyal Courtenay ally, Humphrey IV of Toron, left Nablus to swear fealty to Sibylla. Sibylla was crowned alone, as sole Queen. Before her crowning Sibylla agreed with oppositional court members that she would annul her own marriage to please them, as long as she would be given free rein to choose her next husband. The leaders of the Haute Cour agreed, and Sibylla was crowned thereafter. However, to the astonishment of the court, Sibylla took Guy as her "new" husband. Of Queen Sibylla's right to rule, Bernard Hamilton wrote "there is no real doubt, following the precedent of Melisende, that Sibylla, as the elder daughter of King Amalric, had the best claim to the throne; equally, there could be no doubt after the ceremony that Guy only held the crown matrimonial." Sibylla's reign Sibylla had shown great cunning and political prowess in her dealings with the members of the opposition faction. She inherited her mother's factional supporters, the Courtenay family (the former dynasty of the County of Edessa) and their allies and vassals, while her rivals were led by the Ibelin family and the dowager queen in Nablus. Queen Sibylla's chief concern was to check the progress of Saladin's armies as they advanced into the kingdom. Guy and Raymond were dispatched to the front with the entire fighting strength of the kingdom, but their inability to cooperate was fatal, and Saladin routed them at the Battle of Hattin on July 4, 1187. Guy was among the prisoners. The dowager queen joined her step-daughter in Jerusalem as Saladin's army advanced. By September, 1187, Saladin was besieging the Holy City, and the queen personally led the defense, along with Patriarch Heraclius and Balian of Ibelin, who had survived Hattin. Jerusalem capitulated on October 2, and Sibylla was permitted to escape to Tripoli with her daughters. Death Guy was released from his imprisonment in Damascus in 1188, when Saladin realized that returning him would cause strife in the crusader camp and that Guy was a less-capable leader than certain others who now held sway. The queen joined him when they marched on Tyre in 1189, the only city in the kingdom that had not fallen. Conrad of Montferrat, brother of Sibylla's first husband William, had taken charge of the city's defenses, and denied them entrance, refusing to recognize Guy's claim to the remnant of the kingdom, as Guy had lost the battle of Hattin. After about a month spent outside the city's walls, the queen followed Guy when he led a vanguard of the newly arrived Third Crusade against Muslim-held Acre, desiring to make that town the seat of kingdom. Guy besieged the town for two years. There, during the standstill in July or August, possibly July 25, 1190, Sibylla died of an epidemic which was sweeping through the military camp. Her two infant daughters had also died of the same epidemic some days earlier. (Acre was afterwards conquered in July 1191, mostly by troops brought by Philip II of France and Richard I of England.) Bernard Hamilton wrote "had Sibylla lived in more peaceful times she would have excercised a great deal of power since her husband's authority patently derived from her," and that only the conquest by Saladin brought her rule to a speedy end. A largely fictionalized version of Sibylla is played by Eva Green in the 2005 movie Kingdom of Heaven. http://en.wikipedia.org
William B.
