Sybil, Queen of Jerusalem, 1186-1190

218 Pages·2022·6.885 MB·English

by  Helen J. Nicholson

Sybil, Queen of Jerusalem, 1186–1190
Queen Sybil of Jerusalem, queen in her own right, was ruler of the kingdom
of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1190. Her reign saw the loss of the city of Jerusalem
to Saladin, and the beginning of the Third Crusade. Her reign began with her
nobles divided and crisis looming; by her death the military forces of Christian
Europe were uniting with her and her husband, intent on recovering what
had been lost. Sybil died before the bulk of the forces of the Third Crusade
could arrive in the kingdom, and Jerusalem was not recovered. But although
Sybil failed, she went down fighting – spiritually, even if not physically.
This study traces Sybil’s life, from her childhood as the daughter of the heir
to the throne of Jerusalem to her death in the crusading force outside the city
of Acre. It sets her career alongside that of other European queens and
noblewomen of the twelfth century who wielded or attempted to wield power
and asks how far the eventual survival of the kingdom of Jerusalem in 1192
was due to Sybil’s leadership in 1187 and her determination never to give up.
Helen J. Nicholson is Professor in Medieval History, Cardiff University, UK.
Rulers of the Latin East
Series editors
Nicholas Morton, Nottingham Trent University, UK
Jonathan Phillips, Royal Holloway University of London, UK
Academics concerned with the history of the Crusades and the Latin East
will be familiar with the various survey histories that have been produced for
this fascinating topic. Many historians have published wide-ranging texts
that either seek to make sense of the strange phenomenon that was the
Crusades or shed light upon the Christian territories of the Latin East. Such
panoramic works have helped to generate enormous interest in this subject,
but they can only take their readers so far. Works addressing the lives of
individual rulers – whether kings, queens, counts, princes or patriarchs – are
less common and yet are needed if we are to achieve a more detailed under-
standing of this period.
This series seeks to address this need by stimulating a collection of political
biographies of the men and women who ruled the Latin East between 1098
and 1291 and the kingdom of Cyprus up to 1571. These focus in detail upon
the evolving political and diplomatic events of this period, whilst shedding
light upon more thematic issues such as: gender and marriage, intellectual
life, kingship and governance, military history and inter-faith relations.
Baldwin I
Susan B. Edgington
Godfrey of Bouillon
Duke of Lower Lotharingia, Ruler of Latin Jerusalem, c.1060-1100
Simon John
The Counts of Tripoli and Lebanon in the Twelfth Century
Sons of Saint-Gilles
Kevin James Lewis
Fulk and Melisende: King and Queen of Jerusalem
Danielle Park
Baldwin of Bourcq
Count of Edessa and King of Jerusalem (1100-1131)
Alan V. Murray
Sybil
Queen of Jerusalem, 1186–1190
Helen J. Nicholson
Sybil, Queen of Jerusalem,
1186–1190
Helen J. Nicholson
First published 2022
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2022 Helen J. Nicholson
The right of Helen J. Nicholson to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-63651-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-23466-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-20596-0 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781315205960
Typeset in Times New Roman
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
Contents
List of Figures vii
A Note on Names viii
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations x
Figures xi
Introduction 1
1 Who was Sybil? Family and sources 5
Sybil's cultural and family background 6
Sybil the person: personality, appearance and self-representation 8
Sybil in contemporary and near-contemporary eyes: the primary
sources 10
Sybil in modern eyes 15
2 Childhood (c. 1159–1171) 29
Parents 29
Birth and infancy 30
Daughter of the king 34
Upbringing and education 36
Initial marriage negotiations 42
3 Adolescence and marriage (1172–1177) 52
Family matters 52
The minority of King Baldwin IV 53
Marriage to William of Montferrat 57
4 Widow, countess and second marriage (1177–1180) 69
Countess of Jaffa and Ascalon 69
Count Philip of Flanders 70
Further marriage negotiations 79
Second marriage: Guy de Lusignan 82
vi Contents
5 Wife of Guy de Lusignan and mother of the child king (1180–1186) 92
The shifting balance of power 92
Baldwin IV: building up control 93
Sybil and Guy, countess and count of Jaffa-Ascalon 94
Guy de Lusignan: temporary regent of the kingdom 99
King Baldwin V, 1185–1186 109
6 Queen (1186–1187) 117
Coronation 117
Queen, but not regnant 124
The end of the truce 127
7 Sybil versus Saladin (1187–1189) 134
After Hattin 134
The sieges of Ascalon and Jerusalem 137
Former queen of Jerusalem 142
Reunion with Guy: taking the war to the enemy 148
8 The siege of Acre and the end of the reign (1189–1190) 158
The siege of Acre 158
Sybil's later reputation 165
Conclusion 169
Bibliography 177
Index 194
List of Figures
1 Family tree of the rulers of Jerusalem, 1118–1190 xi
2 Locations in the Middle East mentioned in the text.
© Nigel Nicholson xii
3 Locations in Europe mentioned in the text. © Nigel Nicholson xiii
A Note on Names
In an historical study drawing on evidence in more than one language, none
of them English, it is always difficult to know how best to render names of
persons and places, especially as contemporaries were inconsistent. Where
there is a general modern consensus on the rendering of a name into English
(such as Saladin, Tamar, Jerusalem), I have used that. So, for the name given
in Latin as Enfridus and in Old French as Hainfrois I have used Humphrey,
which is the modern consensus. Where there is a common equivalent in mod-
ern English usage (such as Eleanor, Guy, Henry, or Isabel), I have used it.
However, modern scholars working in English do not agree on a single ver-
sion of the name of King Amaury’s eldest daughter, variously rendering it as
Sibyl, Sibylla, Sybil or Sybilla. Here I render the name as ‘Sybil’, as that is the
most commonly used modern spelling. Likewise, there is no modern consen-
sus on how to render the name which is given in Latin as Reginaldus or
Renaldus, and in Old French as Rainaus or Renaut: I have used Reynald, the
version currently most commonly used by English- language scholars. In
some cases where there is no consensus on the name of a location I have given
the variant versions at first mention and subsequently used the version which
I hope is that most familiar to English- speaking readers.
Acknowledgements
I undertook the writing of this book following research on Sybil as part of
other projects. I thank Nicholas Morton for commissioning it for Routledge’s
‘Rulers of the Latin East Series’ and thus giving me the opportunity to
explore Sybil’s life more thoroughly. I am very grateful to Giuseppe Ligato
for generously providing me with a copy of his biography of Sybil, Sibilla
regina crociata (2005), to Richard A. Leson and Chris Mielke for kindly
sending me copies of material which would not otherwise have been available
to me, and to Tom Asbridge, Myra Bom, Andrew D. Buck, Kelly DeVries,
Peter Edbury, Marianne Gilchrist, Rudolf Hiestand, Ben Morris, Alan V.
Murray, Jonathan Phillips, Thomas W. Smith, Stephen Spencer and other
colleagues and friends researching crusading and medieval warfare for their
advice, opinions and comments on various points. Some of the material in
this book has been presented at conferences and seminars in the UK and the
USA, and I thank all those who made comments and suggestions in response
to these presentations. I am also very grateful to my colleagues in the History
Department at Cardiff University for granting me research leave in 2020–
2021 so that I could complete this study, and to the School of History,
Archaeology and Religion for confirming their decision. I am indebted to the
staff in Cardiff University Arts and Social Studies Library, especially the
staff in Inter- library Loan, and the staff in the library of the Institute of
Historical Research, University of London, for their assistance in obtaining
copies of research materials during the Covid- 19 restrictions. The resources
digitised online by the Internet Archive have also been invaluable. Regrettably
the Covid- 19 restrictions have meant that despite every effort some research
material has not been accessible to me. I also thank Cardiff University
Optometrists for their support in enabling me to complete this book despite
my deteriorating eyesight. My husband has patiently and generously pro-
vided computer assistance as required and drew the maps. I drew up the fam-
ily tree and made all the translations which are not otherwise attributed.