Kings and their demesnes · Principality of Antioch · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Bohemond III

The old prince, about fifty-two, rules what is left of the principality from the citadel of Antioch.

His direct domain is the city, its port of Saint Simeon and the villages of the plain and the lower Orontes; the rest of what the Franks still hold in the north belongs to the Hospitallers (Margat), the patriarch (Cursat) and the military orders' claims. He has ruled since 1163, survived capture twice (Harim 1164, Baghras 1194), and on 1 January 1200 sits between two heirs: the grandson Raymond-Roupen, to whom he made his barons swear in 1198 at the legate's demand, and his son Bohemond of Tripoli, whom the commune chose in late 1198 and who briefly displaced him. Leo of Armenia, who put him back in early 1199, is his protector and the patron of the grandson.

Wikipedia suggests he may have tacitly favoured his son's move.

Who he is

Name
Bohemond III
Title
Prince of Antioch
Since
1163
Born
about 1148 (Wikipedia); about 1144 (FMG)
Family
Princely house of Antioch; see the realm record Antioch for wives, children and heirs
Confidence
high

Restored to power in early 1199 by the army of Leo of Armenia, about three months after his son Bohemond of Tripoli had the commune release its oath to him (late 1198). His fourth wife Isabella (married about 1194/95) is with him; his daughter Alice is unmarried; his grandson and sworn heir Raymond-Roupen is at Leo's court.

What it holds

  • Antioch: the citadel, the prince's palace and the princely rights in the city (justice over the Franks with his court, tolls, the mint)
  • Saint Simeon, the port at the Orontes mouth, with its dues
  • The villages (casalia) of the plain of Antioch and the lower Orontes (extent not pinned)
  • Overlordship of the Hospitallers' Margat and Valania and of the barons' fiefs

How it was acquired

Inherited through his mother Constance; ruling since 1163; reduced to this domain by Saladin's conquests of 1188.

Allies and rivals

Protected for now by Leo of Armenia, who restored him; friendly with al-Zahir of Aleppo; served by barons sworn to Raymond-Roupen; challenged by his son Bohemond of Tripoli and the commune that chose him.

How things stand that morning

In power in Antioch since his restoration in early 1199. Household and officers: the marshal Bartholomew Tirel and Richard of L'Erminet are named in 1194, when Bohemond sent them to hand the city to Leo's troops; who holds the offices of constable, marshal, seneschal and chancellor on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.

Wealth

City tolls and markets, Saint Simeon's port dues, the plain's villages, the mint.

Military

His household knights and the barons; the commune's men on the walls; the citadel. No troop figures.

Threats

  • The succession quarrel between his son and his grandson
  • Leo's ambitions
  • Old age: he dies in April 1201 (likely course)

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. April 1201 (later)Bohemond III dies and the War of the Antiochene Succession begins.Depends on: Natural death. Stopped by: A change in his circumstances in play.

Places of note

  • Citadel of Antioch: The prince's fortress on Mount Silpius.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The prince and his family are well recorded; his household in 1200 is not.

On the map: The prince's own villages cannot be separated from the barons' fiefs in the plain; the polygon shows the core of the domain.

Primary sources for Antioch

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Chronicle of Ernoul and Bernard the Treasurer, Ernoul, squire of Balian of Ibelin, and later compilers (the 1187 core soon after the event; the whole in its present form 1227 to 1232). The Ibelin household's version of events in Outremer. Read online
  • The Cream of the History of Aleppo, Kamal al-Din Ibn al-Adim (about 1240 to 1260). The annals of Aleppo. Read online
  • The Old French Continuation of William of Tyre (Eracles), Anonymous continuators, the earliest drawing on Ernoul (about 1220 to 1277; the first continuation (1184 to 1197, the Lyon Eracles) compiled about 1230 from material of the 1190s). For the Latin East at 1200 it narrates the aftermath of the Third Crusade: the truce of 1192, the succession to Jerusalem through Queen Isabella's marriages to Henry of Champagne (died September 1197) and Aimery of Lusignan, Aimery's rule as king of Jerusalem from 1198 while king of Cyprus, the German crusade of 1197 to 1198 and the recovery of Beirut and Sidon, the truce with al-Adil of 1198, the Antioch succession quarrel between Bohemond IV and Leo of Armenia, and the Pisan plot against Aimery. Read online
  • The Anonymous Syriac Chronicle to 1234, Anonymous (a Syrian Orthodox writer, probably of Edessa) (about 1234 to 1240). An Edessene chronicle independent of Michael the Syrian in its later part, with a secular section reaching 1234 that gives the Jazira, Edessa, Harran, Mardin and Melitene about 1200 under al-Adil's sons and the Artuqids, the Seljuks of Rum, the Armenians of Cilicia and the Franks of Antioch, and a church section to 1207 on the Jacobite succession after Michael's death in 1199. Read online
  • The Chronicle of Michael the Syrian (Michael the Great), Michael the Syrian, patriarch of Antioch 1166 to 1199 (about 1180 to 1195). The Jacobite patriarch's world chronicle, in parallel columns of church, secular and miscellaneous events, ending four years before 1200 and shortly before his own death on 7 November 1199, which left the Syrian Orthodox church with a disputed succession in 1200. Read online
  • The Chronicle of Smbat Sparapet (Sempad the Constable), Smbat Sparapet, brother of King Hetum I of Cilicia (about 1270 to 1276). The Cilician court chronicle, drawing on Matthew of Edessa for its early part and on family memory later. Read online
  • Calendar of the Acts of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Various, calendared by Reinhold Rohricht (documents 1097 to 1291; calendar published 1893, Additamentum 1904). A chronological calendar of every charter, letter and treaty of the Latin East then known, with date, parties, witnesses and the edition where each is printed. Read online
  • The Registers of Pope Innocent III (pontifical years 1 to 3, 1198 to 1201), Innocent III (Lotario dei Conti di Segni) and the papal chancery (1198 onwards, year by year). The register for the second and third pontifical years (February 1199 to February 1201) holds the letters that set the eastern stage for 1200: the exchange with Kaloyan of Bulgaria opened in December 1199 and continued through 1200 over union with Rome and a crown, letters to Vukan of Zeta and to Stefan of Serbia, letters to Alexios III and the patriarch John Kamateros pressing for church union and help for the crusade, the preaching commissions and the legation of Peter Capuano, the Antioch succession quarrel between Bohemond and Leo of Armenia, letters to Aimery of Cyprus and Jerusalem, and the French interdict over Ingeborg. Read online

4 more in the sources library for The Latin East and the Ayyubids.

Sources and studies

  1. Bohemond III of Antioch (English Wikipedia)
  2. War of the Antiochene Succession (English Wikipedia)
  3. K. M. Setton (ed.), A History of the Crusades, vol. II (Wisconsin, 1969), pp. 554-562 (the principality of Antioch and the county of Tripoli, 1192-1243) and 676-679 (Cilician Armenia), read through the archive.org full text
  4. Medieval Lands (FMG): Antioch, princes

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.