Biography of Isabella Anjou Queen Jerusalem 1172-1205

In 1157 [her father] Almaric I King Jerusalem [aged 21] and [her step-mother] Agnes Courtenay Queen Jerusalem [aged 21] were married. She by marriage Queen Jerusalem. She the daughter of Joscelin Courtenay II Count Edessa. He the son of [her grandfather] Fulk "Young" King Jerusalem and [her grandmother] Melisende Queen of Jerusalem [aged 52]. They were third cousins.

In 1167 [her father] Almaric I King Jerusalem [aged 31] and [her mother] Maria Komnenos Queen Jerusalem [aged 13] were married. She by marriage Queen Jerusalem. He the son of [her grandfather] Fulk "Young" King Jerusalem and [her grandmother] Melisende Queen of Jerusalem.

In 1172 Isabella Anjou Queen Jerusalem was born to Almaric I King Jerusalem [aged 36] and Maria Komnenos Queen Jerusalem [aged 18].

On 11th July 1174 [her father] Almaric I King Jerusalem [aged 38] died. His son [her half-brother] Baldwin [aged 13] succeeded IV King Jerusalem.

On 16th March 1181 Henry Blois I Count Champagne [aged 53] died. His son [her future husband] Henry [aged 14] succeeded II Count Champagne.

In August 1186 [her nephew] Baldwin V King Jerusalem [aged 9] died. His mother [her half-sister] Sibylla [aged 26] succeeded Queen Jerusalem.

In August 1186 [her half-brother] Baldwin IV King Jerusalem [aged 25] died at Jerusalem [Map]. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre [Map]. His nephew Baldwin [aged 9] succeeded V King Jerusalem.

In August 1186 [her brother-in-law] Guy I King Jerusalem [aged 36] and [her half-sister] Sibylla Anjou Queen Jerusalem [aged 26] were married. She the daughter of [her father] Almaric I King Jerusalem and [her step-mother] Agnes Courtenay Queen Jerusalem.

In 1190 Conrad of Montferrat King of Jerusalem [aged 44] and Isabella Anjou Queen Jerusalem [aged 18] were married; see Ralph of Coggeshall. The difference in their ages was 26 years. She the daughter of Almaric I King Jerusalem and Maria Komnenos Queen Jerusalem [aged 36].

In 1190 [her half-sister] Sibylla Anjou Queen Jerusalem [aged 30] died. Her half sister Isabella [aged 18] succeeded Queen Jerusalem.

On 28th April 1192 [her husband] Conrad of Montferrat King of Jerusalem [aged 46] died.

On 6th May 1192 Henry of Champagne [aged 25] and Isabella Anjou Queen Jerusalem [aged 20] were married eight days after the assassination of her husband Conrad of Montferrat [deceased]. She the daughter of Almaric I King Jerusalem and Maria Komnenos Queen Jerusalem [aged 38]. He the son of Henry Blois I Count Champagne and Marie Capet Countess Champagne [aged 47]. They were half third cousin twice removed. He a great x 2 grandson of King William "Conqueror" I of England.

On 10th September 1197 [her husband] Henry Blois II Count Champagne [aged 31] died.

On 5th April 1205 Isabella Anjou Queen Jerusalem [aged 33] died.

Chronicum Anglicanum by Ralph Coggeshall. After these things had been done, King Philip wished to hand over that city [Acre], and the other cities which were to be taken, to the marquis of Montferrat¹, and to establish him as king in the land of Jerusalem, since he had married the younger daughter of King Amalric, whose sister, namely the queen, had already died. But King Richard altogether opposed this plan, asserting that it would be more just to restore the kingdom, long since despoiled, to King Guy, rather than to substitute another while he was still living, since it was clear that Guy had not lost the kingdom through cowardice or sloth, but in hard battle, when, because of the number of the enemy and the fewness of his own forces, he had been captured by the Saracens together with the Lord's Cross. This, indeed, is recognised as having been the seed of an inexorable discord between the aforesaid princes. Yet this discord had first sprouted earlier, at the city of Messina in Sicily, when King Richard had taken that city by armed force, and slain many, while King Philip was staying there, on account of the insults and vexations which the army of the king of France was inflicting on his own army.

His itaque gestis, voluit rex Philippus urbem illam, et reliquas quas capturi erant urbes, marchisio de Monteferrato tradere, eumque in terra Hierosolymitana regem constituere, eo quod juniorem filiam regis Amalarii duxisset in uxorem, sorore ejus, regina scilicet, jam defuncta. Cujus voluntati rex Ricardus prorsus obstitit; asserens justius fore regi Guidoni, regno jampridem spoliato, regnum suum restituere, quam alium, illo adhuc vivente, substituere, cum constaret hunc non per ignaviam vel socordiam regnum amisisse, sed in gravi belli certamine, ob inimicorum numerositatem ac sui exercitus paucitatem, simul cum cruce Dominica a Sarracenis fuisse captum. Quod nimirum inexorabilis discordiæ inter prædictos principes seminarium ibidem fuisse dinoscitur. Cum tamen hæc discordia primo apud Messanam Siciliæ civitatem inter eosdem pullulaverat, cum rex Ricardus eamdem urbem armata manu cepit, plurimosque prostravit, rege Philippo in ea commorante, ob convitia et vexationes quæ exercitus regis Francorum exercitui suo inferebat.

Note 1. Conrad of Montferrat King of Jerusalem had married Isabella following the death of her sister [her half-sister] Sibylla Anjou Queen Jerusalem in 1190 and so became, jure uxoris i.e. by right of his wife, King of Jerusalem. King Richard's plan to reinstate Guy had no basis in the laws of succession since Guy was King by right of his wife who had died.

Chronicum Anglicanum by Ralph Coggeshall. The wife¹ of the marquis King Richard gave to his nephew Henry, count of Troyes, together with the kingdom of Jerusalem, for she was the heiress of the whole kingdom, her sister the queen being now dead, with King Guy of Lusignan gladly consenting to this arrangement for the sake of establishing peace. But the island of Cyprus, which he had taken from the emperor, he granted to King Guy, having received his homage.

Uxorem vero marchisii dedit rex Ricardus Henrico nepoti suo, comiti Trecensium, cum regno Hierosolymitano, utpote hæredem totius regni, sorore ejus regina jam defuncta, rege Guidone de Lezinan hoc ipsum pro pacis stabilitate libenter annuente. Insulam autem Cypri, quam ab imperatore obtinuerat, regi Guidoni concessit, accepto ejus homagio.

Note 1. Isabella Anjou Queen Jerusalem and Henry of Champagne were married eight days after her husband Conrad's murder. He, Henry, was a son of Henry I, Count of Champagne, and Marie of France, one of two daughters of King Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine.