Page 163 - 1

It is (not only) the will of god»: the king-doms of Cyprus and Cilician Armenia... 163

political landscape of the East needed to be clearly articulated and
presented as legitimate. Guy had bought the island from Richard as a
possession but it was not clear if holding the possession meant that
Guy could legally pass the island as an inheritance to his next of kin.
After Guy’s marriage with Sibylla, regent to the throne of Jerusalem,
and appointment of his brother Aimery as the constable, «Leper King»
Baldwin IV had designated him lieutenant in 1183. However, upon
Saladin’s expansion, Guy fell from grace resulting in his removal from
the office. Nevertheless, upon the deaths of both Baldwin IV’s son,
Baldwin V and Sibylla’s son, in 1185 and 1186 respectively, Guy be-
came the king of Jerusalem, which did not last long as he was soon
defeated and taken captive at Hattin. After his release, Guy’s situation
worsened until he officially withdrew his claim on the throne. As com-
pensation, however, King Richard I (the Lionheart) sold Cyprus to Guy.
Meanwhile, Aimery, had also been taken captive by Count Henry of
Champagne, only to be released as a result of the protests by his bar-
ons and the military orders . When Guy died towards the end of 1194,
43
Richard had already returned home without making any claim on the
island, thus allowing Aimery to assume his brother’s position, being

43 P. Edbury, The Kingdom of Cyprus cit., p. 25; J. Phillips, The Latin East, 1098-
1291, cit., pp. 125-126; B. Hamilton, The Leper King and His Heirs, Baldwin IV and the
Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000, pp.
218-220. For the detailed information about the marriage and rumors that Sibylla and
Guy were already lovers, see J. Riley-Smith, The Feudal Nobility cit., p. 106. For the
division among the lords of the East, see Ivi, pp. 109-111; B. Hamilton, The Leper King,
cit., pp. 220-221; For the coronation date of Guy and Sybilla, see Ivi, p. 222. For the
worsened relations with Conrad of Montferrat, one of the survivors of Saladin and the
designated successor of Guy, and his supporters, see Rhc, Occ., vol. 2, pp. 154-155; J.
Riley-Smith, The Feudal Nobility cit., pp.114-117; P. Edbury, The Kingdom of Cyprus
cit., p. 27. For support to Conrad, see W. Stubs, (ed.), Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta
Regis Ricardi, London, 1864, pp. 334-335. On April 1192, Conrad was murdered by two
assassins, who were believed to be the followers of master Rashid-ad-Din Sinan of the
sect known as the Assassins. An alternatively and commonly held view is that Richard
instigated the murder, although this was denied by Rashid ad-Din himself when Philip’s
messengers visited him. See S. Painter, The Third Crusade: Richard the Lionhearted and
Philip Augustus in K.M. Setton, R. L. Wolff, H. Hazard, (eds.), A History of the Crusades:
The Later Crusades, 1189-1311, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Milwaukee,
London, 1969, p. 80. Another explanation asserts that Conrad had seized a ship and its
cargo belonging to the Assassins, and therefore was killed. See Ivi, pp. 80-81. Rashid-
ad-Din Sinan was also known as the Old Man of the Mountain, Vetus de Monte. See H.
E. Mayer, The Crusades, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1990, p. 148; B. M. Bolton, A
Matter of Great Confusion: King Richard I and Syria’s Vetus de Monte in A.D. Beihammer,
M.G. Parani, C. Schabel, (eds.), Diplomatics in the Eastern Mediterranean. 1000-1500
Aspects of Cross-Cultural Communication, Brill, Leiden, 2008, p. 172; To clear Richard’s
name, English writers fabricated a letter as if written by Rashid-ad-Din Sinan. For a
discussion, see Ivi, pp. 171-199. P. Edbury, The Kingdom of Cyprus cit., 29. See also
Idem, Kingdoms of the Crusaders cit., VII p. 121.

Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XIX - Aprile 2022
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)