Eschive d'Ibelin (1253–1312)

Eschive d'Ibelin (1253–1312) was the daughter of Jean d'Ibelin (died 1264), lord of Beirut, and of Alice de la Roche sur l'Ognon.

She became lady of Beirut on the death of her sister Isabelle d'Ibelin in 1282.cite web | title=Nobility of Jerusalem | publisher=Foundation for Medieval Genealogy | url=http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/JERUSALEM%20NOBILITY.htm#EchiveIbelinBeirutM1HonroyMonfortM2 | accessdate=2008-07-18]

Marriages anc children

She first married, in 1274, Humphrey de Montfort, lord of Tyre (died 1284), and they had four children:
* Amaury de Montfort (died 1304)
* Rupen de Montfort (died 1313)
* Alix de Montfort
* Helvis de Montfort

After Humphrey's death, she remarried in 1291 to Guy of Lusignan, constable of Cyprus (died 1302), and they had two children:
* Hugh IV (1293–1286) king of Cyprus
* Isabelle de Lusignan (born 1298), who in 1322 married Eudes de Dampierre (died 1330)

Fall of Beirut

In 1291, Emir al-Shuja'i, a general under Al-Ashraf Khalil, marched to Beiru5. Beirut only had a small garrison. Eschive thought she was secure because she had signed a truce with Qalawun, father of Khalil. Al-Shuja'i summoned the commanders of the garrison and arrested them. Seeing the commanders arrested, everyone fled by sea. Beirut was taken by the Muslims on July 31. Al-Shuja'i ordered the razing of its walls and castles and turned its Cathedral to a Mosque.

Claimant to the Duchy of Athens

In 1308, Eschive's cousin Guy II de la Roche, Duke of Athens, died without issue, leaving a succession crisis in the duchy. Eschive was one of the two claimants, as the daughter of Guy's aunt Alice; her rival, Walter V of Brienne, was the daughter of Guy's aunt Isabel, a younger sister of Alice. Since Athens was a fief of the Principality of Achaea, the decision was in the hands of Philip I of Taranto, Prince of Achaea, and his suzerain and elder brother Robert of Naples. The two referred the question to the High Court of Achaea in 1309, which met at Glarentza and declared Walter the heir on the pragmatic grounds that he was male and an active soldier, better suited to defend the Duchy. The disappointed Eschive thereupon appealed to the Virgin Mary before the altar of St Francis at Glarentza, asking that Walter and the judges die without heirs of the body if they had wrongly judged against her. [cite book | last=Miller | first=William | title=The Latins in the Levant: A History of Frankish Greece (1204–1566) | pages=220–221 | location=London | year=1908 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=5UztIt_jIoUC | accessdate=2008-07-18] Eschive in fact outlived Walter, who was killed at the Battle of Halmyros in 1311, but died the following year in Nicosia and was buried there.

s-ttl|title=Lady of Beirut|years=1282 - 1291
regent1=Humphrey of Montfort|years1=1282-1284
regent2=Guy of Cyprus|years2=1291

ource