Amalric, Prince of Tyre

Amalric de Lusignan or Amaury II de Lusignan, Prince of Tyre (c. 1272 – June 5, 1310, Nicosia), of the Lusignan family, was a son of Hugh III of Cyprus and Isabella of Ibelin.

Life

Amalric was at the Fall of Tripoli in 1289, in which he led a company of knights and four galleys from Cyprus. He escaped the siege of Tripoli together with Lucia of Tripoli, and was made Constable of Jerusalem in April 1289.

In 1290, he became Lord of Tyre. He was the officer in command of the Accursed Tower at the siege of Acre in 1291, and escaped the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem with his brother, King Henry, thus becoming Titular Constable of Jerusalem and Titular Lord of Tyre.

In 1300 Amalric attempted combined military operations with the Mongols under Ghazan to retake the Holy Land. He and other Cypriots occupied the island of Ruad, but the Mongols did not appear and the Westerners withdrew, eventually losing the island entirely in the Siege of Ruad.

When his brother Henry became unpopular in Cyprus, Amalric overthrew him with the aid of the Knights Templar and some of the barons, assuming the titles of "Governor and Rector" and Regent of Cyprus and Titular Regent of Jerusalem on April 26, 1306. The overthrow was not violent; Henry had few supporters, and was simply taken away and confined at Strovolos.

Amalric's rule was initially popular, and he repaired relations with Venice, Genoa, and the Hospitallers.

However, when the Order of the Knights Templar was being suppressed in 1307, he was compelled to obey the Papal directive to arrest local Templars, which resulted in a small uprising in favor of Henry in January 1308. It quickly collapsed, but Amalric was forced to arrest a number of nobles, including Rupen of Montfort, John of Dampierre, and various members of the Ibelin family. In April, two of the Ibelins were exiled to Armenia, and John of Dampierre was mortally wounded by a mob after attempting to communicate with King Henry. In February 1310, Amalric sent Henry into exile in Armenia.

Amalric was murdered by Simon of Montolif at Nicosia on June 5, 1310, and buried at Santa Sophia, at Nicosia. On his death, his brother Aimery was proclaimed Governor of Nicosia, but was soon defeated and imprisoned, and Henry restored to his throne.

Family

In 1292/1293 Amalric married Cilician Armenian princess Isabella in the city of Nicosia. They had five sons and one daughter:

• Hugh of Lusignan (died between 1318 & April 9, 1323, Cilicia), Lord of Crusoche married to Eschiva of Ibelin (died after March 1324).
• Henry of Lusignan (murdered before April 9, 1323, Cilicia), unmarried
• Guy of Lusignan (d. April 17, 1344, Armenia), King of Armenia as Constantine II. He married firstly to a woman from Kantakouzenos family; secondly to Theodora Syrgiannaina. From his second marriage he had
  • Isabelle/Zampea Poitiers-Lusignan, who married Manuel Kantakouzenos despot of Morea.
• John of Lusignan (murdered August 7, 1343, Cilicia), sometime Constable and Regent of Cilicia, died 1346, children:
  • Bohemond of Lusignan (died Venice, 1364)
  • Leon V of Armenia, probably an extramarital child, whose mother Soldane was claimed by the chronicler Jean Dardel to have been John's wife and a daughter of a Georgian king.
• Bohémond of Lusignan (murdered April 17, 1344, Cilicia), Count of Corcyus, Lord of Korikos (1336), married in 1340 Euphemia of Neghir (1325 – aft. 1381, Jerusalem), daughter of Baldwin of Neghir, Marshal of Armenia, and had a bastard son:
  • Barthelemy of Lusignan, Co-Regent of Armenia (died after 1373), unmarried and without issue
• Agnes (Mary) of Lusignan (d. aft. 1309), married c. 1305 or 1305/1306 Leo III of Armenia (1297 – murdered 1307), without children

After Amalric's death, his widow and children remained in Armenia; only his daughter would die a natural death, his widow and sons all being murdered at various times.