Officers: prévôtés, bailiwicks, seneschals · Kingdom of Jerusalem · as at first light, 1 January 1200

John of Ibelin

The constable commands the host under the king, keeps its discipline and judges the disputes of the paid soldiers; he is the second man of the kingdom in war.

John of Ibelin holds the office as the queen's half-brother, at twenty or so, and stands at the head of the strongest baronial family, the Ibelins, who lost Ibelin, Ramla, Mirabel and Nablus in 1187. His mother, the dowager queen Maria Komnene, and his brother Philip are with the family; his sisters are married to the lord of Sidon and to the titular prince of Galilee. The family's lands in the coastal kingdom on 1 January 1200 are not pinned: Caymont and five other places near Acre were given to his father Balian under the settlement of 1192, and John may have inherited them (a modern table gives 'John of Ibelin?'), but this is not recorded in the sources used.

Within a few years Aimery will give him Beirut in exchange for the constableship.

Who he is

Name
John of Ibelin
Title
Constable of the kingdom of Jerusalem
Since
1194 (appointed by Henry of Champagne when Aimery was deprived of the office)
Born
1178 (fmg) or about 1179; so 20 or 21
Family
Son of Balian of Ibelin (died 1193), lord of Ibelin and, by marriage, of Nablus, and of Maria Komnene, widow of King Amalric I; so half-brother of Queen Isabella. Brother of Philip of Ibelin (born about 1180) and of Helvis (wife of Reginald of Sidon) and Margaret (wife of Hugh of Tiberias). Unmarried on 1 January 1200: he marries Helvis of Nephin in 1201/1202 (fmg) and later Melisende of Arsuf.
Confidence
high

Constable from 1194: fmg and the constable lists; 'by 1198 he had become constable' (Wikipedia). The end of his constableship and the Beirut grant are dated c. 1200 to 1205 by different authorities.

Overlord

King Aimery and Queen Isabella.

What it holds

  • The office of constable and its fees and rights in the host.
  • Money fiefs and houses at Acre (not itemised in the sources used).
  • Claims: Ibelin (Yavne), his father's castle, and Nablus, his mother's dower, both Ayyubid since 1187.

How it was acquired

Appointed constable by Henry of Champagne in 1194; kept the office under Aimery, his half-sister's fourth husband.

Allies and rivals

Allied by blood to the queen, to Reginald of Sidon and to Hugh of Tiberias; on working terms with Aimery (the king will buy back the constableship with Beirut). Through his sisters he is tied to both the Sidon and the Tiberias interests, so he stands between the king and the Tiberias brothers.

How things stand that morning

Constable on 1 January 1200, at Acre with the court as far as is known (not pinned). Beirut is still in the king's hand.

Wealth

The constable's fees and the family's money fiefs; the Ibelins' fortune in land is lost and their future lies in the grant of Beirut and later in Cyprus.

Military

Commands the host under the king; no castle of his own is recorded on 1 January 1200.

Threats

  • Dependence on royal favour while the family's lands are lost.
  • A minority government after the king's death, in which the Ibelins would compete with the Lusignans.

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. Between 1200 and 1205 (not pinned)Exchanges the constableship for the lordship of Beirut and begins to rebuild it.Depends on: The king's offer and John's acceptance. Stopped by: A breach with the king; war at Beirut.

Places of note

  • Ibelin (Yavne), the family's castle, lost in 1187: Claimed, Ayyubid.

Where the sources disagree

  • Beirut grant dated c. 1200 (German Wikipedia constable list), c. 1202 (English Wikipedia, Aimery), 1204 (French Wikipedia), 1205 (fmg).

Evidence: His office and family are well recorded; his own holdings on 1 January 1200 are not.

On the map: Only the family's claim is drawn; the constable holds no recorded ground on 1 January 1200.

Primary sources for Kingdom of Jerusalem

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 Book of the Two Gardens, on the Reigns of Nur al-Din and Saladin, and its Sequel, Abu Shama (Shihab al-Din Abd al-Rahman al-Maqdisi) (about 1240 to 1267, at Damascus). The Rawdatayn ends with Saladin's death in 1193 and matters for 1200 as the store of Imad al-Din al-Isfahani's lost al-Barq al-Shami and of al-Qadi al-Fadil's letters, quoted at length, which describe the Ayyubid princes, the Jazira and the frontier a few years earlier. Read online
  • 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 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
  • Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. 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
  • The Eloquent Exposition of the Conquest of Jerusalem, Imad al-Din al-Isfahani (al-Katib) (about 1192 to 1193). Saladin's secretary's ornate account of the conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade, ending with Saladin's death in 1193. Read online
  • The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin, Baha al-Din Ibn Shaddad (after 1193, probably between about 1198 and 1228, at Aleppo). Ends with Saladin's death in March 1193 and so gives no event of 1200, but it is the formative portrait of the Ayyubid house of 1200: al-Adil, al-Afdal, al-Aziz and al-Zahir Ghazi as Saladin's lieutenants, the Mosul and Jazira campaigns, the war of Acre and the treaty of Jaffa of 1192. 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

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

Sources and studies

  1. Medieval Lands: Jerusalem nobility (fmg.ac), Ibelin, Caesarea, Arsuf and Haifa entries with dated charters
  2. John of Ibelin, the Old Lord of Beirut (Wikipedia, citing Edbury 1997)
  3. Constable of Jerusalem (Wikipedia list) and Konstabler von Jerusalem (German Wikipedia list)
  4. Henry II of Champagne (Wikipedia)
  5. Tel Yokneam (Wikipedia), on Caymont and the 1192 grant to Balian of Ibelin
  6. Balian of Ibelin (Wikipedia)

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