Helvis of Ibelin (after 1178 – before 1 June 1216) was a daughter of

Balian of Ibelin Balian of Ibelin (; ), also known as Barisan the Younger, was a Crusades, crusader noble of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. He was Vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem#Lordship of Ibelin, Lord of Ibelin from 1170 to 1193. As the ...

and his wife, Maria Komnene, who was the dowager Queen of Jerusalem. Helvis was a member of the

House of Ibelin The House of Ibelin was a noble family in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. They rose from relatively humble beginnings to become one of the most important families in the kingdom, holding various high offices and with exten ...

. She was Lady of Sidon by her first and second marriage.

Life

Helvis' mother was the widow of King

Amalric of Jerusalem Amalric (; 113611 July 1174), formerly known in historiography as , was the king of Jerusalem from 1163 until his death. He was, in the opinion of his Muslim adversaries, the bravest and cleverest of the crusader kings. Amalric was the younger ...

, which made Helvis a half-sister of Queen

Isabella I of Jerusalem Isabella I (1172 – 5 April 1205) was the queen of Jerusalem from 1190 to her death in 1205. She was the daughter of King Amalric of Jerusalem and his second wife, the Byzantine princess Maria Comnena. Isabella was a younger half-sister of ...

. Helvis was one of four siblings: although their order of birth is uncertain, the manuscripts of the ''

Lignages d'Outremer The ''Lignages d'Outremer'' ("Lineages of Outremer") describe the pedigrees of the most important Crusades, Crusader families. A first version was written in 1270 and is available in two manuscripts of the 14th century. A later version was produce ...

'' suggest she was the elder daughter, and possibly the eldest child. Helvis' siblings were

John of Ibelin, the Old Lord of Beirut John of Ibelin (c. 1179 – 1236), called the Old Lord of Beirut, was a powerful crusader noble in the 13th century, one of the best known representatives of the influential Ibelin family. The son of Balian of Ibelin and the dowager queen M ...

, Margaret of Ibelin, and Philip of Ibelin, Regent of Cyprus. Helvis spent her early life in

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 ...

, though during

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 ...

's siege of the city in 1187, Helvis, her mother and siblings were escorted to live in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis (from , meaning "three cities") may refer to: Places Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in the Pelasgiotis district, Thessaly, near Larissa ...

. Her father Balian remained in Jerusalem and negotiated its surrender to Saladin, but joined his family in Tripoli afterward. They then went to Tyre, where they formed the strongest support for

Conrad of Montferrat Conrad of Montferrat (Italian language, Italian: ''Corrado del Monferrato''; Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ''Conrà ëd Monfrà'') (c. 1146 – 28 April 1192) was a nobleman, one of the major participants in the Third Crusade. He was the '' ...

, who married Helvis's half-sister Queen Isabella in November 1190.

First marriage

Helvis firstly married

Reginald of Sidon Reginald Grenier (1130s – 1202; also Reynald or Renaud) was lord of Sidon and an important noble in the late-12th century Kingdom of Jerusalem. Rise to fame Reginald was the son of Gerard Grenier and Agnes of Bures, and a grandson of Eust ...

, a widower over forty years her senior. Reginald had been imprisoned by Saladin and married Helvis soon after his release in April 1190. The couple had the following children: *Agnes, married Raoul (Ralph) de Saint-Omer of Tiberias,

seneschal of Jerusalem There were six major officers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem: the constable, the marshal, the seneschal, the chamberlain (which were known as the "Grand Offices"), the butler and the chancellor. At certain times there were also bailiffs, viscounts ...

(stepson of

Raymond III of Tripoli Raymond III (1140 – September/October 1187) was count of Tripoli from 1152 to 1187. He was a minor when Nizari Assassins murdered his father, Count Raymond II of Tripoli. His cousin, King Baldwin III of Jerusalem, who was staying ...

). (However, only one MS of the ''Lignages d'Outremer'' explicitly states that she was Helvis's daughter; given her first name, she may have been from Reginald's previous marriage to

Agnes of Courtenay Agnes of Courtenay ( – ) was a Franks, Frankish noblewoman who held considerable influence in the Kingdom of Jerusalem during the reign of her son, King Baldwin IV. Though she was never queen, she has been described as the most powerful wom ...

.) Nielen (ed.), ''Lignages d'Outremer'', pp. 62, 71, 102. *Fenie (Euphemia), married Eudes (Odo) de Saint-Omer of Tiberias, Constable of Tripoli, Lord of Gogulat (stepson of Raymond III of Tripoli, brother of Raoul). * Balian, who married Margaret of Brienne, and succeeded Reginald in Sidon in 1202. Reginald died in 1202, leaving Helvis a widow.

Second marriage

When Guy de Montfort arrived at

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

, he took part in King

Amalric II of Jerusalem Aimery of Lusignan (, , ''Amorí''; before 11551 April 1205), erroneously referred to as Amalric () in earlier scholarship, reigned as the first king of Cyprus from 1196 to his death in 1205. He also reigned as the king of Jerusalem as the hu ...

's expedition into

Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...

. Amalric rewarded Guy's service by arranging his marriage to Helvis. They married in 1204. The couple had the following children: *

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 ...

, who stayed in the Holy Land and became

Lord of Tyre The Lordship of Tyre was a semi-independent domain in the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1246 to 1291. Background The town of Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre was an important port on the Palestine (region), Palestinian coast of the Fatimid Caliphate in the late ...

. * Pernelle, who became a nun at the abbey of Saint-Antoine des Champs in Paris. The couple were married for twelve years before Helvis' death in 1214. She had five children in total.

References

Sources

* * *Peter W. Edbury, ''John of Ibelin and the Kingdom of Jerusalem'', Woodbridge, 1997. *Marie-Adélaïde Nielen (ed.), ''

'',

Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres). History ...

, 1993. *

Reinhold Röhricht Gustav Reinhold Röhricht (18 November 1842 – 2 May 1905) was a German historian of the Crusades. Biography He was born in Bunzlau in Silesia (now Bolesławiec, Poland), the third son of a miller. He studied at the Gymnasium in Sagan (now ...

(ed.), ''Regesta Regni Hierosolymitani MXCVII-MCCXCI'', and ''Additamentum'', Berlin, 1893–1904. *

William of Tyre William of Tyre (; 29 September 1186) was a Middle Ages, medieval prelate and chronicler. As Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tyre, archbishop of Tyre, he is sometimes known as William II to distinguish him from his predecessor, William I of Tyr ...

, ''A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea''. E. A. Babcock and A. C. Krey, trans.

Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's la ...

, 1943. {{DEFAULTSORT:Helvis of Ibelin 12th-century births 1216 deaths Year of birth unknown House of Ibelin Women from the Crusader states 12th-century French nobility 12th-century French women 13th-century French nobility 13th-century French women