- John of Ibelin (jurist)
John of Ibelin (1215 – December 1266),
count of Jaffa and Ascalon , was a noted jurist and the author of the longest legal treatise from theKingdom of Jerusalem . He was the son of Philip of Ibelin,bailli of theKingdom of Cyprus , and Alice of Montbéliard, and was the nephew of John of Ibelin, the "Old Lord of Beirut". To distinguish him from his uncle and other members of theIbelin family named John, he is sometimes called John of Jaffa. The chroniclerJean de Joinville describes his coat-of-arms as "or, a cross pateé gules".Family and early life
His family was the first branch of Ibelins to have their seat in Cyprus, due to his father's regency there 1218-1227. In 1229 John fled
Cyprus with his family whenFrederick II, Holy Roman Emperor seized the Ibelin territories on the island. They settled temporarily in northernPalestine , where the family had holdings. He was present at theBattle of Casal Imbert in 1232, when his uncle John of Beirut defeated Riccardo Filangiere, Frederick's lieutenant in the east. Around 1240 he married Maria of Barbaron (d. 1263), the sister ofHethum I of Armenia . In 1241 he was probably responsible for drafting a compromise between the Ibelins and the emperor, in whichSimon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester would govern the kingdom. This proposal was never implemented and Simon never came to the Holy Land; the Ibelins continued to quarrel with the representatives of theHohenstaufen s, and in 1242 they captured Tyre from their rivals. John participated in the siege.Participation in the Crusades
Shortly thereafter, sometime between 1246 and the beginning of the
Seventh Crusade , John became count of Jaffa andAscalon andlord of Ramla .Ramla was an old holding of the Ibelins, but Jaffa and Ascalon had belonged to others, most recently to the murderedWalter IV of Brienne , whose sonJohn of Brienne (king Henry's nephew) was supplanted by this Ibelin acquisition. This probably occurred when king Henry, John's first cousin, became regent of Jerusalem, and distributed continental lands to his Cypriot barons to create a loyal base there. Jaffa was by now a minor port and Ascalon was captured from theKnights Hospitaller by theMamluk s in 1247.In 1249 John joined the Seventh Crusade and participated in
Louis IX of France 's capture ofDamietta . Louis was taken prisoner when Damietta was recaptured, but John seems to have escaped the same fate. Louis was released in 1252 and moved his army to Jaffa; Louis' constable and chroniclerJean de Joinville portrays John very favourably. John was by now an extremely famous lord in the east, corresponding also withHenry III of England andPope Innocent IV , who had confirmed Henry I's grant to John.Henry I died in 1253, and Louis IX left for France in 1254, leaving John as bailli of Jerusalem. John made peace with
Damascus and used the forces of Jerusalem to attack Ascalon; the Egyptians besieged Jaffa in 1256 in response. John marched out and defeated them, and after this victory he gave up thebailliage to his cousin John of Arsuf.Meanwhile the Genoese and Venetian trading communities in Acre came into conflict, in the "
War of Saint Sabas ." John supported the Venetians. In order to bring some order back to the kingdom, John andBohemund VI of Antioch summoned Dowager QueenPlaisance of Cyprus to take over the regency of the kingdom for the absentee king,Conradin . Nevertheless the Venetians defeated the Genoese in a naval battle in 1258 and the Genoese left Acre. With Plaisance and Hugh in Acre, the Ibelin family began to decline in importance, but around 1263 John began a scandalous affair with Plaisance.John could do little while
Baibars , the Mamluksultan of Egypt , fought with theMongols in Palestine. Baibars may have reduced Jaffa to vassalage, and certainly used its port to transport food to Egypt. During this time, John wrote his detailed legal treatise, now known simply as the "Livre des Assises". This was the longest of the so-calledAssizes of Jerusalem , detailing the procedures of the "Haute Cour". John's truce with Baibars did not last, and he himself died in 1266. By 1268 Baibars had captured Jaffa.Marriage and children
With Maria of Armenia, John had the following children:
* James (c. 1240–July 18 ,1276 ), count of Jaffa and Ascalon 1266, married Marie of Montbéliard c. 1260
* Philip (d. aft. 1263)
* Guy (c. 1250–February 14 ,1304 ), titular count of Jaffa and Ascalon 1276, married his cousin Marie, Lady of Naumachia c. 1290
* John (d. aft. 1263)
* Hethum
* Oshin
* Margaret (c. 1245– aft. 1317), Abbess of Notre Dame de Tyre, Nicosia
* Isabelle (c. 1250– aft. 1298), married Sempad of Saravantikar c. 1270
* Marie (d. aft. 1298), married firstly Vahran of Hanousse, secondly Gregorios TardifOctober 10 ,1298 References
*Peter W. Edbury, "John of Ibelin and the Kingdom of Jerusalem." Boydell Press, 1997.
*Jonathan Riley-Smith , "The Feudal Nobility and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1174-1277." MacMillan Press, 1973.
*W.H. Rüdt de Collenberg, " _fr. Familles de l'Orient latin XXe-XIV siècles." Variorum Reprints, 1983
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