Isabella of Cyprus

Isabella of Cyprus, also known as Isabelle de Lusignan (born before March, 1216 or after 1216 – 1264), was the Princess of Antioch by her marriage. She was also Regent of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Family

She was the daughter of Alice of Champagne and Hugh I of Cyprus, and the sister-in-law of Plaisance of Antioch, queen of Cyprus who married her brother. Her maternal grandparents were Isabella I of Jerusalem and her third husband Henry II, Count of Champagne. Henry was son of Count Henry I of Champagne and Marie of France, Countess of Champagne, daughter of Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Isabella's paternal grandparents were Amalric II of Jerusalem and his first wife Éschive d'Ibelin. Amalric was son of Hugh VIII of Lusignan. Eschive was daughter of Baldwin of Ibelin.

Life

She married in 1223 Henry of Antioch, brother of Bohemund V of Antioch and of Plaisance, with whom she had Hugh I of Jerusalem (Hugh III of Cyprus). Henry drowned at sea on June 18, 27 or 28, 1276. He was the son of Bohemund IV of Antioch and his first wife Plaisance Embriaco de Giblet.

Their descendants took the surname de Lusignan. They had two children:

• Hugh, King of Cyprus and Jerusalem
• Margaret of Cyprus (1244 – Cyprus, January 30, 1308), Lady of Tyre (1283–1290/1291), later Titular, and Titular Princess of Antioch, she died as a nun and was buried at the Dominican Church, at Nicosia, married on or after September 22, 1268 Jean de Montfort, Conte di Squillace, Lord of Toron and Lord of Tyre (ca. 1240 – November 27, 1289 at Tyre), son of Philip of Montfort, Lord of Tyre and his second wife Maria, Princess of Antioch, without issue

She was appointed de facto regent of Jerusalem at Acre in 1263 and in turn she appointed Henry bailli of the kingdom. She returned to Cyprus after her son was appointed bailli of Jerusalem in 1264.^[1]

Isabella died in 1264, sometimes after the February, she was buried at Nicosia.^[2]

Isabella's husband, Henry drowned at sea off Tyre in June, 1276 while sailing to Tripoli in a German ship. His body was recovered and, after the death of their son Hugh, both were returned to Nicosia for burial.

Ancestry

References