Hamo le Strange, Heimon Lestrange, Hamo L'Estrange or Hamo Extraneus (died late in 1272 or early 1273) was an English Crusader. His surname means ''the Foreigner''. By marriage to

Isabella of Beirut Isabella of Ibelin (1252–1282) was lord of Beirut, lady of Beirut from 1264 until her death in 1282, and also held the title of Queen of Cyprus. She was the daughter of John II of Beirut, lord of Beirut, and of Alice de la Roche sur Ognon. Life ...

he was

Lord of Beirut The Lordship of Beirut was a feudal seigneury in the Kingdom of Jerusalem centered on the city of Beirut (in modern-day Lebanon). The lord of Beirut was one of the most powerful vassals of the king of Jerusalem. In the 12th century the lordship was ...

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 ...

—he was the second of her four husbands.

Early life

Hamo was the second son of the English knight John (III.) le Strange (died before March 1269) and his wife Lucy, daughter of Robert Tresgoz. He was a member of a powerful Anglo Norman Marcher family. He was lord of

Ellesmere, Shropshire Ellesmere ( ) is a town in the civil parish of Ellesmere Urban, in Shropshire, England; it is located near to the Welsh border, the towns of Oswestry and Whitchurch, Shropshire, Whitchurch, and the Welsh city of Wrexham. It is notable for its ...

and during the De Montfort Rebellion was part of the entourage of Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward I.

Crusading and Lordship of Beirut

In 1270, he left his lands to his younger brother Robert and joined Edward on the

Ninth Crusade Lord Edward's Crusade, sometimes called the Ninth Crusade, was a military expedition to the Holy Land under the command of Edward I of England, Prince Edward Longshanks (later king as Edward I) in 1271 – 1272. In practice an extension of t ...

. Edward returned to Europe in 1272 after his father's death, leaving Hamo in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. On 21 March 1272, Hamo married queen

(1252 - 1282/83), Lady of Beirut and daughter of

John II of Beirut John of Ibelin (died 1264), often called John II, was the Lord of Beirut from 1254, named after his grandfather John I, the famous "Old Lord of Beirut", son of Balian of Ibelin, who surrendered Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187. His parents were Balian ...

. She was the widow of

Hugh II of Cyprus Hugh II of Cyprus (or Hugues II de Lusignan) (June–August, 1252 or 1253 – November or December 5, 1267) was Kingdom of Cyprus, king of Cyprus and, from the age of 5 years, also Regent of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Biography On January 18, 1253 ...

(died 1267). Hamo's death was known in England by the end of April 1273 and so probably occurred late in 1272 or early in 1273.Biography of John III Le Strange
oxforddnb.com. Accessed 20 December 2022. On his deathbed Hamo put Isabella and the Lordship of Beirut under the protection of the Sultan of Egypt and Syria,

Baibars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari (; 1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), commonly known as Baibars or Baybars () and nicknamed Abu al-Futuh (, ), was the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria, of Turkic Kipchak origin, in the Ba ...

. After Hamo's death,

Hugh III of Cyprus Hugh III (; – 24 March 1284), also called Hugh of Antioch-Lusignan and the Great, was the king of Cyprus (as Hugh III) from 1267 and king of Jerusalem (as Hugh I) from 1268. Born into the family of the princes of Antioch, he effectively rul ...

tried to join Beirut to Cyprus by bringing Isabella to Cyprus to marry a man of his choosing, but Baibars cited Hamo's deathbed wish and prevented this. This move forced Isabella to return to Beirut in 1277, where she married Nicolas l’Aleman († 1277), Lord of Caesarea, and after his death William Barlais († 1305/06).

Family connections

Hamo's sister Hawise Lestrange was married to the Welsh prince

Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn (died c. 1286) was a Welsh people, Welsh king who was lord of the part of Kingdom of Powys, Powys known as Powys Wenwynwyn; he sided with King Edward I of England in the latter's Conquest of Wales by Edward I, conquest of W ...

, and their son

Owen de la Pole Owen de la Pole (c. 1257 – c. 1293), also known as Owain ap Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn, was the heir presumptive to the Welsh principality of Powys Wenwynwyn until 1283 when it was abolished by the Parliament of Shrewsbury. He became the 1st Lo ...

married Hamo's niece Joan

Corbet Corbet () is a small village and townland (of 618 acres) in County Down, Northern Ireland, 5 km east of Banbridge. It is situated in the civil parish of Magherally and the historic barony of Iveagh Lower, Lower Half. It lies within the B ...

, daughter of Catherine Lestrange.Linda Mitchell, Portraits of Medieval Women, p. 69 Hamo's grandniece, Elizabeth Lestrange, married Lord Gruffydd ap Madog Fychan, of the princes of Powys Fadog, and was the mother of prince Gruffudd Fychan II and grandmother of

Owain Glyndŵr Owain ap Gruffydd (28 May 135420 September 1415), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr (Glyn Dŵr, , anglicised as Owen Glendower) was a Welsh people, Welsh leader, soldier and military commander in the Wales in the late Middle Ages, late Middle ...

, Prince of Wales.LeStrange records; a chronicle of the early LeStranges of Norfolk and the March of Wales A.D. 1100-1310
London, New York, 1916, p. 254 All three were members of the royal House of Powys.

References

13th-century deaths Christians of the Crusades Le Strange family Jure uxoris lords