Alice of Champagne

Maria Komnene conducted the negotiations for the marriage of Alice to Hugh I of Cyprus, Aimery of Lusignan's eldest surviving son and successor, in accordance with the agreement their fathers had reached.[9][11] Since the marriage of Alice's mother and Hugh I's father made them step-sister and step-brother, a special dispensation was needed. This was granted by Pope Innocent III.[9] Blanche supplied her niece's dowry to ensure that she would stay in Cyprus rather than attempt to lay claim to Champagne and Brie.[11] To strengthen her son's position, Blanche also persuaded Philip II of France in 1209 to promise that he would not allow anyone to challenge Theobald IV's right to the two counties before Theobald reached the age of majority.[12]

Alice and Hugh I married in the first half of 1210,[9] with Alice receiving the County of Jaffa as the agreed upon dowry.[9] They had two daughters, Maria and Isabella, and a son, Henry.[13] Alice's sister, Philippa, married Erard of Ramerupt, who laid claim to Champagne and Brie on Philippa's behalf in 1213.[14] Blanche soon approached the Holy See to demand an investigation into the validity of the second and third marriage of Alice's and Philippa's mother, stating that her first marriage to Humphrey IV of Toron had not been canonically annulled.[14][13] The inquiry conducted by Cardinal Robert of Courçon at the pope's order concluded that both Humphrey IV and Isabella I had protested against the annulment of their marriage, which suggested that Isabella I's two subsequent marriages were unlawful.[13] However, the Holy See did not complete the investigation and thus the legitimacy of Alice and Philippa was not questioned.[13]

Coin of Alice's son, Henry I of Cyprus

After Hugh I died in Tripoli on 10 January 1218, Alice assumed the regency for their infant son, Henry I, and installed her uncle Philip of Ibelin as bailli.[15][16] The administration of the kingdom was, according to the contemporaneous lawyer Philip of Novara, arranged by Hugh I on his deathbed, although Ernoul's chronicle suggests that Alice acted independently.[15] Pope Honorius III instructed his legate, Cardinal Pelagius to protect Alice and her children against "certain men inspired with wicked fervour", suggesting that Alice faced some opposition at the beginning of her regency.[15]

In 1218, Alice's brother-in-law Erard of Ramerupt renounced his wife's claim to Champagne in return for compensation,[17] even promising to support Theobald IV against Alice.[18] This led Alice to send envoys to Champagne, against which her aunt Blanche protested at the Holy See on 23 June 1219.[18]

Negotiations with Pelagius about the status of the Church in the Kingdom of Cyprus concluded with an agreement in October 1220.[19] One of Alice's demands was for Greek Orthodox priests to be exempt from taxation.[19] She also persuaded the pope, who had ordered the abolition of the Orthodox hierarchy on the island, to permit the appointment of Orthodox suffragan bishops in the four Roman Catholic dioceses.[19] In time, the agreement was revised, as the Cypriot noblemen opposed the payment of a tithe (as prescribed by the agreement). The Holy See had also demanded that the estates the nobles had seized from the Orthodox Church be restored to the Catholic clerics.[19] However, this new agreement, reached in 1222, neither freed the noblemen from the tithe nor prescribed the restoration of Church property.[19]

Rumours surrounding Alice's marriage to William II of Dampierre, Constable of Champagne, spread in France in 1223.[18] In August that year, Pope Honorius forbade the marriage, at Theobald IV's behest, emphasizing that Alice and William were closely related.[18] According to the Chronicle of the Holy Land, Alice "spent the revenues of the kingdom liberally", resulting in conflict with Philip of Ibelin.[18] After some debate with the bailli about the tithes payable to the Orthodox clergy, Alice left Cyprus and settled in either Tripoli or Jaffa in 1224.[20][21] Her children remained on the island.[22]

Crusader states in the middle of the 13th century

Around late 1224 or early 1225, Alice married Bohemond, eldest son of Bohemond IV, Prince of Antioch and Count of Tripoli.[18][21] Pope Honorius ordered Eustorgius, Archbishop of Nicosia, to inquire into the legality of the marriage.[18] Alice, who continued to regard herself as regent, wanted to appoint her new husband as bailli, but this appointment was opposed by all Cypriot barons.[21] Alice then offered the office to Aimery Barlais, who was amenable, but the High Court ruled that Alice could not replace Philip of Ibelin who had been made bailli for the duration of her son's minority.[21][23] Barlais left the island to join Alice, while his supporter, Gavin of Chenichy visited with Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, who had decided to launch a crusade for the Holy Land.[21]

Frederick regarded himself as overlord of Cyprus as his father, Henry VI, had sent the royal crown to Aimery of Lusignan, the first king of Cyprus.[24][25] On Philip of Ibelin's initiative, the High Court of Cyprus arranged the coronation of the eight-year-old Henry without the emperor's consent in 1225, drawing the ire of the emperor.[21][24] The marriage of Frederick and Isabella II of Jerusalem, daughter and successor of Alice's half-sister Maria, had been decided in 1223.[26] Alice attended the coronation of her niece in Tyre before the queen departed for Italy to meet Frederick in 1225.[24][27] Frederick persuaded the dying Pope Honorius to delegate two new judges (the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Bishop of Acre) to investigate the marriage of Alice and Bohemond, accusing Eustorgius of partiality.[24] Honorius' successor, Pope Gregory IX confirmed Honorius' decision.[24] Alice and her husband came to Limassol in summer 1227 to meet Frederick, but a disease prevented Frederick from departing Italy.[28] Pope Gregory declared that Frederick did not fulfill his crusader oath and excommunicated him.[29] Alice and Bohemond's marriage was subsequently annulled.[22][30]

When Philip of Ibelin died,[21] the High Court appointed his brother, John of Ibelin, as bailli without consulting the emperor or Alice.[29] Frederick departed for Cyprus, landing at Limassol on 21 July 1228.[31] Upon arriving, he ordered John of Ibelin to account for the administration of the revenue of Cyprus during his and his brother's time, but John refused, stating that the revenue had been paid to Alice.[31][29] Frederick dismissed Ibelin and forced Henry I of Cyprus to swear fealty to him.[29] He also demanded an oath of fealty from the Cypriot noblemen, but they were only willing to submit to him as their king's overlord, declaring that they only owed fealty to Alice who served as regent to their king.[29] Frederick made Aimery Barlais, Gavin of Chenichy, Aimaury of Beisan, Hugh of Gibelet and William of Rivet baillis of Cyprus without Alice's consent before departing for Italy in May 1229.[32][33] Peter I, Duke of Brittany, declared that he wanted to marry Alice, but this was refused on 29 May by Pope Gregory because of consanguinity.[22]

In autumn 1229, Alice arrived in Acre, whereupon she laid claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem against the infant Conrad, son and successor of her niece Isabella II and Frederick.[34][33] She appeared before the High Court of Jerusalem declaring that Conrad had forfeited his right to the kingdom as he had failed to personally take possession of it within a year and a day of the death of his mother, as required by a local law regarding fiefs inherited by a non resident heir.[30][33] The members of the High Court, who had recently pledged fealty to Conrad's father, rejected Alice's claim, emphasizing that Conrad was a minor.[30][33] However, they sent their envoys to Frederick in Foggia, Italy, requesting that he send Conrad to the Holy Land within a year and a day.[30][33] Frederick informed the envoys that he would do what he thought best in May 1230.[30][35]

When Henry I of Cyprus reached the age of majority on 3 May 1232, Alice abdicated from her regency of Cyprus, which she had retained despite having left Cyprus.[33] She went to France to personally advance her claim for Champagne and Brie in 1233,[22] but only one local nobleman, Renier II of Nogent, supported her.[36] Theobald IV of Champagne later captured the fortress of Nogent and confiscated Renier's estates.[37]

At Theobald's request, Pope Gregory urged Alice to come to Rome, because the legitimacy of her parents' marriage was to be investigated.[22] Alice refused to appear before the papal tribunal, but renounced her claim to Champagne and Brie for 40,000 livres tournois and estates yielding a yearly income of 2,000 livres in September 1234.[22][38] In the agreement with Theobald, she also stated that she would not erect fortresses in her estates in Champagne.[38]

Alice returned to the Holy Land in 1233.[22] She allegedly renounced the County of Jaffa in favor of her son-in-law, Walter IV of Brienne, who married her daughter, Mary, in the same year, because Walter was styled Count of Jaffa from there on.[39] Alice (who was about 46) married Ralph of Nesle, a man in his twenties who had come to the Holy Land during her cousin Theobald's crusade.[40][41][42]