Henry I of Cyprus
Henry I (* March 13, 1217; † January 18, 1254 ) was from 1218 to 1254 a king of Cyprus from the house of Lusignan. He was the son of King Hugh I and Alice de Champagne. Due to his corpulence, he was called "the Fat " (le Gros ).
Life
Upon the death of his father on January 10, 1218 Henry was only a few months old. The regency in Cyprus took over for him at first his mother, but was ousted in 1223 from her Bailli Philip of Ibelin and went into voluntary exile in Tripoli. Ibelin enjoyed the support of the Haute Cour, prompting arbitrarily 1225, the solemn coronation of Henry. This, however, conflicts with Emperor Frederick II paved to who was the feudal lord of Cyprus and felt ignored in the regency question about the country. 1227 died Philip of Ibelin and his older brother John of Ibelin ( " the old man of Beirut " ) succeeded him as regent, also with the support of the Haute Cour.
On July 21, 1228 excommunicated Emperor landed on his crusade army in the port of Limassol. There he confirmed Henry as king of Cyprus, but put him in favor of Ibelin minded regency council led by Amalric Barlais from. Also had to accompany the emperor on his crusade in Palestine Heinrich. Before the Emperor in May 1229 left the Levant forever, he was responsible for the marriage of Henry with Alix of Montferrat. Immediately afterwards the barons of Cyprus levied under the leadership Ibelin against the imperial regent and defeated them on June 24, 1229 in Nicosia. Henry had, together with his sisters in the wake Amalric Barlais in the castle Dieu d' Amour experience a one-year siege until Barlais capitulated in summer 1230. Henry was now back in the care of John of Ibelin, who was the acknowledged ruler of Cyprus again.
In the following years Henry was always present in the wake of the Regent, during which struggle in the Kingdom of Jerusalem against the imperial governor Richard Filangieri. He was present at the liberation of Beirut in the spring of 1232 there and escaped in the defeat of Casal Imbert on May 2, 1232 just under captivity by fleeing to Acre. When Cyprus was attacked Henry sat with Ibelin return to the island on and defeated Filangieri on June 15, 1232 at the Battle of Agridi. Immediately afterwards Ibelin ended his reign and handed over the governance of the mature King Henry had become. In April 1233, finally, the last held by the Imperial castle was occupied Kyrenia and thus the influence of the Emperor Frederick II in Cyprus terminated definitively.
After his mother 's death in 1246 Henry formally assumed the regency in the Kingdom of Jerusalem for the absent King Conrad, but he Reserve left there the actual business of government in the hands of his bailiffs from the house of Ibelin. He belieh Philip of Montfort with the reign of Tyre and eight galleys sent to rescue the besieged by the Ayyubid Ashkelon, but no longer able to prevent the fall of the city on October 15, 1247. In the same year the Pope had liberated the Kingdom of Cyprus from the vassalage to the Roman Emperor.
In September 1248 landed King Louis IX. of France with his army on crusade to Cyprus and wintered until the spring of 1249 on the island. Henry took the Cypriot knighthood part in the capture of Damietta in June 1249 but then returned to Cyprus back while his Knights of the Ibelin brothers were continued.
Henry I was buried after his death in the Templar church in Nicosia.
Marriages and succession
Henry was married three times. His first marriage with Alix of Montferrat (* 1210, † before April 1233 ) was placed in May 1229 by the Emperor Frederick. The father of the bride, Margrave William VI. of Montferrat, was one of the most loyal followers of the emperor in northern Italy. It is unlikely that Henry had his wife ever met in person since they first came to Cyprus in 1231 while he was on the mainland in the fight against the Imperialists. When he returned to Cyprus in 1232 Alix was entrenched in the wake Filangieris in the castle of Kyrenia, where she died before the castle in April 1233 had to capitulate against Heinrich.
In 1237 he married Stephanie of Barberon (c. 1220/25, † 1249 ), a sister of King Hethums I of Armenia, the marriage remained childless.
In 1250 he eventually married Plaisance of Antioch (* 1235, † 1261 ), a daughter of Prince Bohemond V of Antioch. As an only child she bare him son and successor, Hugh II (* 1252), which, however, still died as a child king in 1267, without ever having ruled personally can. After he finally put Hugo Henry's nephew, Hugh of Antioch, as King of Cyprus against another nephew, of Brienne, by.