Hugh II of Saint Omer (ca. 1150–1204) was a
Crusader knight and
titular Prince of
Galilee and Tiberias.
He was the eldest son of
Walter of Saint Omer
Walter of Saint Omer (french: Gautier de Saint-Omer; d 1174), also known as Walter of Fauquembergues or Walter of Tiberias, was the son of William II of Saint Omer and Melisinde of Picquigny, and Prince of Galilee and Tiberias.
Walter married ...
and
Eschiva of Bures
Eschiva of Bures, also known as Eschiva II (died in or after 1187), was Princess of Galilee in the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1158 to 1187.
Parentage
Eschiva's parentage is uncertain. Historian Martin Rheinheimer proposes that she was the daughte ...
.
[Bernard Hamilton, ''The Leper King and His Heirs: Baldwin IV and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem'', (Cambridge University Press, 2000), 94.] After the death of his father in 1174, Eschiva remarried to
Raymond III, Count of Tripoli, who thus succeeded Walter as Prince of Galilee.
Taken prisoner at the
Battle of Marj Ayyun against
Saladin in June 1179, he was later ransomed by his mother. In July 1182, he led the forces of Tripoli at the
Battle of Belvoir Castle (as Raymond III was ill at the time), helping secure a hard-fought but indecisive victory over Saladin.
[William of Tyre, XXII.16]
In 1187, the
Battle of Hattin
The Battle of Hattin took place on 4 July 1187, between the Crusader states of the Levant and the forces of the Ayyubid sultan Saladin. It is also known as the Battle of the Horns of Hattin, due to the shape of the nearby extinct volcano of t ...
signalled the end of the Principality of Galilee, and Raymond of Tripoli died soon after; Hugh thus succeeded to his father's title, but merely as a titular ruler. He married Margaret of
Ibelin, daughter of
Balian of Ibelin, but the marriage was childless. At his death in 1204, he was succeeded in his title by his brother
Raoul of Saint Omerl.
The tale of his imprisonment by Saladin was the inspiration of ''
Ordene de chevalerie
The ''Ordene de chevalerie'' (or ''Ordre de chevalerie'') is an anonymous Old French poem written around 1220. The story of the poem is a fiction based on historical persons and events in and around the Kingdom of Jerusalem before the Third Crusad ...
'', the first work on
chivalry
Chivalry, or the chivalric code, is an informal and varying code of conduct developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It was associated with the medieval Christianity, Christian institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlemen's behaviours we ...
.
Notes
Sources
* Etienne Barbazan,
L'Ordène de Chevalerie', 1759
* Thomas Delvaux, ''Le sang des Saint-Omer des croisades à la quenouille'', Tatinghem, 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hugh 02 of Saint Omer
1204 deaths
Christians of the Crusades
Princes of Galilee
Saint Omer family
Year of birth uncertain