Hugh IX of Lusignan

Hugo IX. of Lusignan (* 1163 or 1168; † November 5, 1219 in Damietta ), called " the brown one " (le Brun ), was lord of Lusignan, Count of La Marche and Crusaders.

Family

He is the son of Hugh of Lusignan († 1169 ) and the Orengarde and paternal grandson of Hugo VIII of Lusignan. His father died before he received the news of the death of his grandfather, he became his official successor as Lord of Lusignan. To 1195 he was also lord of Château- Larcher and Couhé.

He is the older brother of Raoul de Lusignan, Lord of Issoudun and afterwards Earl of Eu.

In his first marriage he was married to Agathe von Preuilly, daughter of Peter II of Preuilly and Eleanor of Mauléon. His second wife he married 1200/1201 Matilda (* 1181, † 1233 ), daughter of Count Vulgrin III. Taillefer of Angoulême. With his first wife he had two children:

• Hugo X of Lusignan, Lord of Lusignan, Count of La Marche, Count of Angoulême
• Agathe -Lusignan of Angoulême ∞ 1220 Geoffrey V, Lord of Pons

Life

Hugo came of age around the year 1180 and was able to take over the leadership of the House of Lusignan. He belonged to the retinue of Richard the Lionheart on the Third Crusade, who was the Duke of Aquitaine his liege lord. On the crusade he probably met his uncle Geoffrey of Lusignan and the rest of the clan was staying in the Holy Land, including the other uncle Guy of Lusignan, the former King of Jerusalem. In 1193 Hugo returned with Gottfried in the Aquitanian to travel back home a year later with the Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine to Germany to redeem the prisoner held there Richard the Lionheart.

After the Lionheart was returned in 1194 to his French domains, the Lusignan he had hoped to settle an old Erbstreits, which included the possession of the county of La Marche. The Lusignan had an inheritance on this, but in 1177 the Count had once Aldebert IV sold them to King Henry II, the father of the Lionheart. The thought now actually the old feud to settle, but not by handing the Marche but by Hugo's younger brother Raoul endowed with ample possessions. The Lusignan had to be satisfied with it for the time being until the Lionheart died in April 1199. Hugo took advantage of the situation by putting the already captured elderly Duchess Eleonore, in their wake, he had found himself. Their younger son and heir of John Lackland was now ready for the investiture of Lusignan with the Marche and participated in the January 28, 1200 in Caen Hugo's fealty for the Marche.

For a generation gap seemed to be finally completed until John Lackland had kidnapped and married in August 1200 Isabella of Angoulême. This heiress was, however, already betrothed to Hugo, which is why the seemingly just enclosed feud of Lusignan against the Plantagenets set off again. The Lusignan sued the robber it to King Philip II of France to which a default judgment in 1204 spoke about Johann. In the subsequent fighting Johanns Hugo and his uncle Gottfried took part in the wake of Prince Arthur of Brittany. But at the siege of Mirebeau 1202 they came as Arthur in captivity Johanns. However, she was soon set free again, probably because John was looking for a peaceful settlement with the Lusignan. But Hugo remained an enemy of John until his death in 1216.

1217 Hugo joined with his son to the Crusade of Damietta (fifth crusade ) to. After he had besieged For twenty months with the Crusaders, the city of Damietta in Egypt, he died in the victorious assault on Damietta on 5 November 1219.