Humphrey IV of Toron
Encyclopedia
Humphrey IV of Toron was the lord of Toron
, Kerak
, and Oultrejordain
in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem
.
, heiress of Oultrejourdain, and grandson of Humphrey II
, constable of Jerusalem
. He was also a stepson of Stephanie's second and third husbands Miles of Plancy
and Raynald of Châtillon
. Humphrey's sister Isabella was married to Ruben III of Armenia
. Humphrey IV became lord of Toron when his grandfather Humphrey II died of wounds after saving King Baldwin IV
's life at Banias
in 1179.
In 1180 he became betrothed to Isabella of Jerusalem
, daughter of Amalric I
and half-sister to Baldwin, under the agreement that Toron would become a royal territory. This was arranged by the king to repay his debt of honour to Humphrey II, and to remove Isabella from the political camp of her stepfather, Balian of Ibelin
. She does not seem to have been allowed to contact with her parents after this. In November 1183 the teenage Humphrey and the eleven-year-old Isabella were married in the fortress of Kerak
(the seat of the lordship of Oultrejourdain), which was besieged
by Saladin
shortly afterwards. Humphrey's mother convinced Saladin not to bombard the tower in which the newly married young couple were lodged, although he continued to besiege the rest of the fortress; Kerak was eventually relieved by King Baldwin IV.
In 1186, when Baldwin V
died, Humphrey's stepfather Raynald tried to convince him to claim the throne in right of Isabella, whom her mother Dowager Queen Maria Comnena and the Ibelin
faction wanted to crown as soon as possible. However, Humphrey, who was then about twenty, chose to support Guy of Lusignan
, husband of Isabella's half-sister Sibylla
, to whom Humphrey swore fealty. Reluctantly, Raynald and the other nobles followed his support, as did the Ibelins, even though Guy, who had arrived in Outremer
after 1177, had previously been deprived of the regency by his dying brother-in-law Baldwin IV
due to his conduct at the 1183 siege of Kerak.
Guy proved to be an ineffective king, and Saladin conquered most of the kingdom in 1187. Humphrey was captured at the Battle of Hattin
that year, but was released and returned to Kerak to prepare for its defence. He was captured again when Kerak fell in 1189, but was again set free.
The barons of Jerusalem had only begrudgingly accepted Guy as king because of the lack of a rival candidate (due to Humphrey's diffidence), and after the fall of Jerusalem they turned against him. Sibylla's death in 1190, during the siege of Acre in the Third Crusade
, deprived Guy of his legal claim to the throne. Isabella was now the rightful queen, but Humphrey remained loyal to Guy, who was still determined to remain king.
Isabella's mother Maria, stepfather Balian and other prominent nobles, including Reginald of Sidon
, now supported Conrad of Montferrat
, Baldwin V's uncle, whose arrival in 1187 had saved the city of Tyre and, indeed, the kingdom. They determined that Isabella should be divorced from Humphrey in order to marry Conrad. Isabella protested because Humphrey had always been kind to her. Despite this, she was abducted from her husband and pressed by her mother to agree to an ecclesiastical annulment, on the grounds that she had married Humphrey when underage and had been coerced by the will of her half-brother King Baldwin IV. Humphrey was challenged to a trial by combat by Guy of Senlis, the Butler of France, over the issue of Isabella's consent to the marriage, but he refused to fight for her - possibly because she had indeed been under twelve years of age. Even Humphrey's sympathisers, such as the author of the Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi regarded him as weak and rather effeminate.
Ubaldo Lanfranchi
, Archbishop of Pisa (who was Papal legate
), and Philip of Dreux
, Bishop of Beauvais, (a kinsman of Conrad), annulled Humphrey's marriage to Isabella. Conrad then married her himself on 24 November 1190, despite claims of bigamy (his second wife was still alive in Constantinople
, but she had probably divorced him; his first wife had died before 1186). He claimed the throne of Jerusalem through her, with the support of the Ibelins and other barons. However, Isabella compensated Humphrey by restoring to him Toron, Chastel Neuf and other territories held by his grandfather and father.
Humphrey soon allied himself with Richard I of England
, first in the capture of Cyprus
and then against Saladin. As Humphrey was fluent in Arabic
, he was able to negotiate with Saladin on Richard's behalf. In 1192, when Conrad was assassinated
by the Hashshashin
, Humphrey, along with Richard and various others, was suspected of involvement, although this is unlikely. Isabella was then married off to Henry II of Champagne
.
Humphrey probably died soon after this, and the lordship of Toron was claimed by his sister Isabella (married to Ruben III of Armenia
) and her issue, rex iunior of Armenia prince of Antioch, and eventually the claim to the lordship was inherited by the Montfort family, lords of Toron and Tyre.
's The Knights of Dark Renown and The Kings of Vain Intent, he is depicted as a young romantic hero, in a doomed relationship with Isabella. In Manuel Mujica Láinez
's historical fantasy El unicornio (The Wandering Unicorn), he is portrayed as an effeminate homosexual, burdened by the expectation of living up to his grandfather's heroic reputation.
He appears briefly in the 2005 movie
Kingdom of Heaven
alongside his stepfather Raynald of Châtillon
at Kerak. He had a more substantial, but historically inaccurate, role in an early draft of the script, in which he was depicted as being brought over from France in the 1180s (in reality he lived his entire life in Outremer), and being murdered by Guy of Lusignan after swearing allegiance to him.
Toron
Toron, now Tibnin or Tebnine in southern Lebanon, was a major Crusader castle, built in the Lebanon mountains on the road from Tyre to Damascus....
, Kerak
Kerak
Kerak Castle is a large crusader castle located in Kerak in Jordan. It is one of the largest crusader castles in the Levant.Construction of the castle began in the 1140s, under Pagan, the butler of Fulk of Jerusalem. The Crusaders called it Crac des Moabites or "Karak in Moab", as it is frequently...
, and Oultrejordain
Oultrejordain
Lordship of Oultrejordain or Oultrejourdain was the name used during the Crusades for an extensive and partly undefined region to the east of the Jordan river, an area known in ancient times as Edom and Moab...
in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
.
Biography
He was the son of Humphrey III of Toron and Stephanie of MillyStephanie of Milly
Stephanie of Milly was Lady of Oultrejordain and an influential figure in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. She was also known as Stephanie de Milly, Etienette de Milly, and Etiennette de Milly...
, heiress of Oultrejourdain, and grandson of Humphrey II
Humphrey II of Toron
Humphrey II of Toron was lord of Toron and constable of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.Humphrey had become lord of Toron sometime before 1140, when he married the daughter of Renier Brus, lord of Banias . Through this marriage Banias was added to Toron...
, constable of Jerusalem
Officers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
There were six major officers of the kingdom of Jerusalem: the constable, the marshal, the seneschal, the chamberlain , the butler and the chancellor...
. He was also a stepson of Stephanie's second and third husbands Miles of Plancy
Miles of Plancy
Miles of Plancy , also known as Milon or Milo, was a noble in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.He was born in Champagne and came to the east in the 1160s, where he served King Amalric I, to whom he was distantly related. Amalric made him seneschal of Jerusalem, and in 1167 he participated in...
and Raynald of Châtillon
Raynald of Chatillon
Raynald of Châtillon was a knight who served in the Second Crusade and remained in the Holy Land after its defeat...
. Humphrey's sister Isabella was married to Ruben III of Armenia
Ruben III of Armenia
Ruben III , also Roupen III, Rupen III, or Reuben III, was the ninth lord of Armenian Cilicia or “Lord of the Mountains” .Roupen remained always friendly to the Crusaders in spirit...
. Humphrey IV became lord of Toron when his grandfather Humphrey II died of wounds after saving King Baldwin IV
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem , called the Leper or the Leprous, the son of Amalric I of Jerusalem and his first wife, Agnes of Courtenay, was king of Jerusalem from 1174 to 1185. His full sister was Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem and his nephew through this sister was the child-king Baldwin V...
's life at Banias
Banias
Banias is an archaeological site by the ancient city of Caesarea Philippi, located at the foot of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights...
in 1179.
In 1180 he became betrothed to Isabella of Jerusalem
Isabella of Jerusalem
Isabella I was Queen regnant of Jerusalem from 1190/1192 until her death. By her four marriages, she was successively Lady of Toron, Marchioness of Montferrat, Countess of Champagne and Queen of Cyprus....
, daughter of Amalric I
Amalric I of Jerusalem
Amalric I of Jerusalem was King of Jerusalem 1163–1174, and Count of Jaffa and Ascalon before his accession. Amalric was the second son of Melisende of Jerusalem and Fulk of Jerusalem...
and half-sister to Baldwin, under the agreement that Toron would become a royal territory. This was arranged by the king to repay his debt of honour to Humphrey II, and to remove Isabella from the political camp of her stepfather, Balian of Ibelin
Balian of Ibelin
Balian of Ibelin was an important noble in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century.-Early life:Balian was the youngest son of Barisan of Ibelin, and brother of Hugh and Baldwin. His father, a knight in the County of Jaffa, had been rewarded with the lordship of Ibelin after the...
. She does not seem to have been allowed to contact with her parents after this. In November 1183 the teenage Humphrey and the eleven-year-old Isabella were married in the fortress of Kerak
Kerak
Kerak Castle is a large crusader castle located in Kerak in Jordan. It is one of the largest crusader castles in the Levant.Construction of the castle began in the 1140s, under Pagan, the butler of Fulk of Jerusalem. The Crusaders called it Crac des Moabites or "Karak in Moab", as it is frequently...
(the seat of the lordship of Oultrejourdain), which was besieged
Siege of Kerak
The Siege of Kerak took place in 1183, with Saladin's forces attacking and being repelled from the Crusader stronghold.- Prelude :Kerak was the stronghold of Raynald of Châtillon, Lord of Oultrejordain, 124 km South of Amman. The fortress was built in 1142 by Pagan the Butler, Lord of Montreal...
by Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
shortly afterwards. Humphrey's mother convinced Saladin not to bombard the tower in which the newly married young couple were lodged, although he continued to besiege the rest of the fortress; Kerak was eventually relieved by King Baldwin IV.
In 1186, when Baldwin V
Baldwin V of Jerusalem
Baldwin V of Jerusalem was the son of Sibylla of Jerusalem and her first husband, William of Montferrat...
died, Humphrey's stepfather Raynald tried to convince him to claim the throne in right of Isabella, whom her mother Dowager Queen Maria Comnena and the Ibelin
Ibelin
Ibelin was a castle in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century , which gave its name to an important family of nobles.-The castle:...
faction wanted to crown as soon as possible. However, Humphrey, who was then about twenty, chose to support Guy of Lusignan
Guy of Lusignan
Guy of Lusignan was a Poitevin knight, son of Hugh VIII of the prominent Lusignan dynasty. He was king of the crusader state of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1192 by right of marriage to Sibylla of Jerusalem, and of Cyprus from 1192 to 1194...
, husband of Isabella's half-sister Sibylla
Sibylla of Jerusalem
Sibylla of Jerusalem was the Countess of Jaffa and Ascalon from 1176 and Queen of Jerusalem from 1186 to 1190. She was the eldest daughter of Amalric I of Jerusalem and Agnes of Courtenay, sister of Baldwin IV and half-sister of Isabella I of Jerusalem, and mother of Baldwin V of Jerusalem...
, to whom Humphrey swore fealty. Reluctantly, Raynald and the other nobles followed his support, as did the Ibelins, even though Guy, who had arrived in Outremer
Outremer
Outremer, French for "overseas", was a general name given to the Crusader states established after the First Crusade: the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli and especially the Kingdom of Jerusalem...
after 1177, had previously been deprived of the regency by his dying brother-in-law Baldwin IV
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem , called the Leper or the Leprous, the son of Amalric I of Jerusalem and his first wife, Agnes of Courtenay, was king of Jerusalem from 1174 to 1185. His full sister was Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem and his nephew through this sister was the child-king Baldwin V...
due to his conduct at the 1183 siege of Kerak.
Guy proved to be an ineffective king, and Saladin conquered most of the kingdom in 1187. Humphrey was captured at the Battle of Hattin
Battle of Hattin
The Battle of Hattin took place on Saturday, July 4, 1187, between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the forces of the Ayyubid dynasty....
that year, but was released and returned to Kerak to prepare for its defence. He was captured again when Kerak fell in 1189, but was again set free.
The barons of Jerusalem had only begrudgingly accepted Guy as king because of the lack of a rival candidate (due to Humphrey's diffidence), and after the fall of Jerusalem they turned against him. Sibylla's death in 1190, during the siege of Acre in the Third Crusade
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...
, deprived Guy of his legal claim to the throne. Isabella was now the rightful queen, but Humphrey remained loyal to Guy, who was still determined to remain king.
Isabella's mother Maria, stepfather Balian and other prominent nobles, including Reginald of Sidon
Reginald of Sidon
Reginald Grenier was Lord of Sidon and an important noble in the late-12th century Kingdom of Jerusalem.-Rise to fame:...
, now supported Conrad of Montferrat
Conrad of Montferrat
Conrad of Montferrat was a northern Italian nobleman, one of the major participants in the Third Crusade. He was the de facto King of Jerusalem, by marriage, from 24 November 1190, but officially elected only in 1192, days before his death...
, Baldwin V's uncle, whose arrival in 1187 had saved the city of Tyre and, indeed, the kingdom. They determined that Isabella should be divorced from Humphrey in order to marry Conrad. Isabella protested because Humphrey had always been kind to her. Despite this, she was abducted from her husband and pressed by her mother to agree to an ecclesiastical annulment, on the grounds that she had married Humphrey when underage and had been coerced by the will of her half-brother King Baldwin IV. Humphrey was challenged to a trial by combat by Guy of Senlis, the Butler of France, over the issue of Isabella's consent to the marriage, but he refused to fight for her - possibly because she had indeed been under twelve years of age. Even Humphrey's sympathisers, such as the author of the Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi regarded him as weak and rather effeminate.
Ubaldo Lanfranchi
Ubaldo Lanfranchi
Ubaldo Lanfranchi was an Italian Catholic archbishop.A member of the Lanfranchi family of Pisa, he is mentioned for the first time at his consecration on 11 April 1176. In 1998 he was confirmed as primate of Sardinian dioceses....
, Archbishop of Pisa (who was Papal legate
Papal legate
A papal legate – from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus – is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters....
), and Philip of Dreux
Philip of Dreux
Philip of Dreux was a French nobleman, Bishop of Beauvais, and figure of the Third Crusade.He was an active soldier, an ally in the field of Philip Augustus, the French king and his cousin, making him an opponent in campaigns in France and elsewhere of Richard I of England. He was in also in...
, Bishop of Beauvais, (a kinsman of Conrad), annulled Humphrey's marriage to Isabella. Conrad then married her himself on 24 November 1190, despite claims of bigamy (his second wife was still alive in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, but she had probably divorced him; his first wife had died before 1186). He claimed the throne of Jerusalem through her, with the support of the Ibelins and other barons. However, Isabella compensated Humphrey by restoring to him Toron, Chastel Neuf and other territories held by his grandfather and father.
Humphrey soon allied himself with Richard I of England
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
, first in the capture of Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
and then against Saladin. As Humphrey was fluent in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, he was able to negotiate with Saladin on Richard's behalf. In 1192, when Conrad was assassinated
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
by the Hashshashin
Hashshashin
The Assassins were an order of Nizari Ismailis, particularly those of Persia that existed from around 1092 to 1265...
, Humphrey, along with Richard and various others, was suspected of involvement, although this is unlikely. Isabella was then married off to Henry II of Champagne
Henry II of Champagne
Henry II of Champagne was count of Champagne from 1181 to 1197, and King of Jerusalem from 1192 to 1197, although he never used the title of king.- Early Life and Family :...
.
Humphrey probably died soon after this, and the lordship of Toron was claimed by his sister Isabella (married to Ruben III of Armenia
Ruben III of Armenia
Ruben III , also Roupen III, Rupen III, or Reuben III, was the ninth lord of Armenian Cilicia or “Lord of the Mountains” .Roupen remained always friendly to the Crusaders in spirit...
) and her issue, rex iunior of Armenia prince of Antioch, and eventually the claim to the lordship was inherited by the Montfort family, lords of Toron and Tyre.
Humphrey in fiction
Humphrey has appeared in several novels of the Crusades. In Graham ShelbyGraham Shelby
Graham Shelby is a British historical novelist. He worked as a copywriter and book-reviewer before embarking on a series of historical novels, mainly set in the twelfth century.-List of works:...
's The Knights of Dark Renown and The Kings of Vain Intent, he is depicted as a young romantic hero, in a doomed relationship with Isabella. In Manuel Mujica Láinez
Manuel Mujica Laínez
Manuel Mujica Láinez was an Argentine novelist, essayist and art critic.-Biography:...
's historical fantasy El unicornio (The Wandering Unicorn), he is portrayed as an effeminate homosexual, burdened by the expectation of living up to his grandfather's heroic reputation.
He appears briefly in the 2005 movie
2005 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
Kingdom of Heaven
Kingdom of Heaven (film)
Kingdom of Heaven is a 2005 epic action film directed by Ridley Scott and written by William Monahan. It stars Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Marton Csokas, Brendan Gleeson, Kevin McKidd, Alexander Siddig, Ghassan Massoud, Edward Norton, Jon Finch, Michael Sheen and Liam...
alongside his stepfather Raynald of Châtillon
Raynald of Chatillon
Raynald of Châtillon was a knight who served in the Second Crusade and remained in the Holy Land after its defeat...
at Kerak. He had a more substantial, but historically inaccurate, role in an early draft of the script, in which he was depicted as being brought over from France in the 1180s (in reality he lived his entire life in Outremer), and being murdered by Guy of Lusignan after swearing allegiance to him.
Sources
- Runciman, StevenSteven RuncimanThe Hon. Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman CH — known as Steven Runciman — was a British historian known for his work on the Middle Ages...
. A History of the Crusades, 1951–54, vols. 2-3.