The Embriaco family were a prominent Genoese family, who played an important role in the history of the

Crusader states The Crusader states, or Outremer, were four Catholic polities established in the Levant region and southeastern Anatolia from 1098 to 1291. Following the principles of feudalism, the foundation for these polities was laid by the First Crusade ...

. It also gave consuls, admirals and ambassadors to the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( ; ; ) was a medieval and early modern Maritime republics, maritime republic from the years 1099 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italy, Italian coast. During the Late Middle Ages, it was a major commercial power in ...

. The family ruled the city of

Byblos Byblos ( ; ), also known as Jebeil, Jbeil or Jubayl (, Lebanese Arabic, locally ), is an ancient city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. The area is believed to have been first settled between 8800 and 7000BC and continuously inhabited ...

(in present-day

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

), styling themselves "Lord (Signore) of Gib(e)let" or "Gibelletto", the name which the city was called at the time. Their rule lasted for almost 200 years, from 1100 to the late 13th century.

History

They arrived in the

Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Crusader Kingdom, was one of the Crusader states established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1 ...

as early as 1099, with Guglielmo Embriaco and his brother Primo di Castello. They had Byblos, given to Ugo I Embriaco by Bertrand of Toulouse, from about 1110, thanks to Embriaco's military assistance in the creation of the

, on behalf of the

. Guglielmo Embriaco's son, Ugo I, was the first administrator of "Gibelletto" in the name of the Genoese republic, he then obtained the city as a hereditary fief, undertaking to pay an annual fee to Genoa and to the church of San Lorenzo. The family always protected the Genoese traders in the Levant, exempting them from all duties. Their power in Byblos lasted, apart from occupation by

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

1187–1197, to the end to the thirteenth century, when they were defeated by Bohemond VII of Tripoli, and finally pushed out by

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

advances. The Embriacos were Lords of lands in

Liguria Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...

and in

Lunigiana The Lunigiana () or Lunesana is a historical territory of Italy that today falls within the provinces of Massa Carrara, Tuscany, and La Spezia, Liguria. Its borders derive from the ancient Roman settlement, later the medieval diocese of Luni, ...

. And had properties and a square in Genoa. The

male line Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...

of the family died out in the middle of the

15th century The 15th century was the century which spans the Julian calendar dates from 1 January 1401 (represented by the Roman numerals MCDI) to 31 December 1500 (MD). In Europe, the 15th century includes parts of the Late Middle Ages, the Early Re ...

Embriaco family tree

* Guglielmo I Embriaco of Gibelletto, Lord of Gibelletto (b. 1040) (r. 1109 – after 1118) ** Ugo I Embriaco of Gibelletto ( de), Lord of Gibelletto (c. 1110 – ?) (r. before 1127 – 1135), married Adelasia ***Guglielmo II Embriaco of Gibelletto ( de), Lord of Gibelletto (r. 1135−1157), married Sancha from

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

****Ugo II Embriaco of Gibelletto ( de), Lord of Gibelletto (r. 1157−1184) (d. 1184) ***** Ugo III Embriaco, Lord of Gibelletto ( de) (r. 1184−1187) (d. 1196), married Stephanie of Milly, and had: ****** Guido I Embriaco, Lord of Gibelletto (1197–1241) (d. 1241), married Alice, daughter of

Bohemond III of Antioch Bohemond III of Antioch, also known as Bohemond the Child or the Stammerer (; 1148–1201), was Prince of Antioch from 1163 to 1201. He was the elder son of Constance of Antioch and her first husband, Raymond of Poitiers. Bohemond ascended to the ...

, in 1204 and had: *******Maria (born before October 1214) ******* Enrico I Embriaco of Gibelletto, Lord of Gibelletto (r. 1241−1271) (d. c. 1271), married c. 1250 Isabelle d'Ibelin, and had: ********Baliano Embriaco of Gibelletto (d. 26 August 1313,

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

) ******** Guido II Embriaco of Gibelletto, Lord of Gibelletto (r. 1271−1282) (d. 1282 in Nephin) married Margaret Grenier of Sidon, daughter of Julian Grenier, Lord of Sidon *********Maria Embriaco of Gibelletto ( es) (d. Nicosia 1331/4, buried there), married c. 1295 Philip of Ibelin, Seneschal of Cyprus and

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

(1253–1318) **********Juan de Ibelin (1302 – after 1317) ********** Guy of Ibelin, married Margaret of Ibelin, with whom he had: ***********John of Ibelin (d. after 1367) ***********Alice of Ibelin (d. after 1374), married John of Lusignan, with whom she had: James of Lusignan (died 1395/1397), Peter of Lusignan (died February 10, 1451, who had an illegitimate son Phoebus of Lusignan), Eleanor of Lusignan (died c. 1414), married c. 1406 her cousin Henry of Lusignan and Loysia of Lusignan married her cousin Eudes/Odo of Lusignan ***********Margaret of Ibelin **********Balinese of Ibelin (died 1349), married a woman also named Margaret of Ibelin **********Isabel de Ibelin (1300 – after 1342), married Ferdinand of Majorca **********Helvis de Ibelin (1307 – after 1347), married

Henry II, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen Henry II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, (before 1296 – after 1351), also called ''de Graecia'' ("of Greece"), was the eldest son of Henry I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Agnes of Meissen. On their father's death in 1322, his sons agreed ...

, with whom she had:

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Macedonian Old Koine language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominen ...

(c. 1332 – 4 August 1369/70), Riddag (c. 1334 – 1364/67), Balthazar (c. 1336 – aft. 14 January 1384), Thomas (c. 1338 – c. 1384), Melchior (c. 1341 – 6 June 1381) and Helvis, married Louis de Nores *********Catherine Embriaco of Gibelletto, married Jean of Antioch ********* Peter Embriaco of Giblet (r. 1282−1289) (d. after 1310), the last Lord of Gibelletto married Douce de Gaurelée, then Agnes Embriaco of Gibelletto *********Silvestre Embriaco of Gibelletto ********Giovanni Embriaco of Gibelletto (d. January 1282 in Nephin), married daughter of Hugh l'Aleman ********Baldovino Embriaco of Gibelletto (d. January 1282 in Nephin) ********Maria Embriaco of Gibelletto (d. c. 1290), married Balian II Grenier, titular Lord of Sidon *******Raimondo Embriaco of Gibelletto ( es) (died after 1238) *******Bertrando Embriaco of Gibelletto (died after 1271) *******Agnes Embriaco of Gibelletto, married Barthelemy of Saint Simeon, Lord of Soudin ******Ugo Embriaco of Gibelletto ****** Plaisance Embriaco of Gibelletto (d. c. 1217), married

Bohemond IV of Antioch Bohemond IV of Antioch, also known as Bohemond the One-Eyed (; 11751233), was Count of Tripoli from 1187 to 1233, and Prince of Antioch from 1201 to 1216 and from 1219 to 1233. He was the younger son of Bohemond III of Antioch. The dying Raymond ...

******Pavia, married Garnier l'Aleman **** Raimondo Embriaco of Gibelletto ( es) (before 1135 – after 1204), married a noblewoman from

Principality of Antioch The Principality of Antioch (; ) was one of the Crusader states created during the First Crusade which included parts of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) and History of Syria#Medieval era, Syria. The principality was much smaller than the County of ...

, Constable of Tripoli *****Guglielmo Embriaco of Gibelletto, married Eva ****** John de Embriaco ( de) (before 1228 – around 1262), Marshal of Jerusalem, married Femia de Cesarea, daughter of Walter III of Caesarea, lord of Cesarea, with whom he had Isabel, who married Guillermo Filangieri; then he married Juana de Lanelée, with whom he had Balian, Juan and Femia (Eufemia), who married Guido de Soissons. ****Bertrando I Embriaco of Gibelletto (d. after 1217), married Doleta, daughter of Stephen of Armenia *****Ugo Embriaco of Gibelletto (d. after 1264), married Marie Porcelet ****** Bertrando II Embriaco of Gibelletto ( es) (murdered 1258) ******* Barthelemy Embriaco of Gibelletto (killed on 26 April 1289 during the Fall of Tripoli), married Helvis, daughter of Pierre de Scandelion ********Bertrando III Embriaco of Gibelletto ********Ugo Embriaco of Gibelletto, married Catherine de la Roche ********Agnes Embriaco of Gibelletto, married Gauvain de la Roche, then Peter Embriaco of Giblet *******Guglielmo Embriaco of Gibelletto (murdered in January 1282 in Nephin) *******Lucie Embriaco of Gibelletto, married Juan de Botron ( es) *******Marguerite Embriaco of Gibelletto, married Baudouin Ibelin ****Guglielmo III Embriaco of Gibelletto ( de), (d. after December 1204), married Fadie, daughter of Manasses of Hierges ****Agnes Embriaco of Gibelletto, married Guermond II ( de), with whom she had a daughter, Helvis who later married Roland de Lucca

Offspring of Guglielmo III

*Guglielmo III Embriaco of Gibelletto ** Ugo di Gibelletto ( de) (d. c. 1220), Lord of Besmedin, married Agnes de Ham and had: *** Raimondo di Gibelletto ( de) (d. c. 1253), Lord of Besmedin, married firstly Marguerite de Scandelion and secondly Alix de Soudin, and had: **** Giovanni I di Gibelletto, married Poitevine, daughter of a Marshal of Tripoli ***** Giovanni II di Gibelletto (d. c. 1315), married Marguerite du Plessis, without issue. ***** Maria di Gibelletto **** Ugo di Gibelletto, died young **** Enrico di Gibelletto ( de) (d. 1310), Lord of Besmedin, married Marguerite de Morf, without issue **** Bertrando di Gibelletto, died young **** Eschiva di Gibelletto, married Raymundo Visconti **** Agnese di Gibelletto **** Susanna di Gibelletto, died young **** Maria di Gibelletto, married Guy de Montolif *** Gerardo de Ham di Gibelletto (d. 1225) *** Guglielmo II di Gibelletto (d. c. 1243), married Anne de Montignac, and had: **** Eudes di Gibelletto, died young **** Girard di Gibelletto, died young **** Giovanni III di Gibelletto, Lord of Saint-Foucy, married Gillette d'Angiller, and had: ***** Guglielmo III di Gibelletto, married in 1318 Marie de Verny, without issue ***** Maria di Gibelletto ***** Eschiva di Gibelletto (d. c. 1350), married Simon Petit (d. 1355/1338) **** Stefania di Gibelletto, married Amaury le Bernier **** Maria di Gibelletto, married Amaury le Flamenc **** Eufemia di Gibelletto, died young **** Agnese di Gibelletto, died young *** Adamo di Gibelletto ( de), Lord of Adelon *** Agnese di Gibelletto, married Thierry de Termonde

References

External links

{{Republic of Genoa Republic of Genoa families History of Byblos de:Herrschaft Gibelet

History

Embriaco family tree

Offspring of Guglielmo III

See also

References

External links