Principality of Antioch

Who rules

Name

Bohemond III ('the Stammerer')

Title

Prince of Antioch

Since

1163, when the barons ended the rule of his mother Constance

Born

about 1148 (Wikipedia); FMG gives about 1144

Family

The princely house of Antioch: son of Raymond of Poitiers and of Constance, heiress of Bohemond II

Confidence

high

Prince since 1163; captured by Nur al-Din at Harim in 1164; lost most of the principality to Saladin in 1188; made a ten-year truce with Saladin at Beirut on 30 October 1192 covering Antioch and Tripoli but not Cilicia; seized by Leo of Armenia at Baghras in early 1194 and released in 1195 through Henry of Champagne's mediation, renouncing his overlordship of Cilicia and leaving Baghras to Leo. Wives: (1) Orgueilleuse of Harenc (named 1170-1175), mother of Raymond and Bohemond; (2) Theodora Komnene, married 1177, put away after 1180; (3) Sibylla, an Antiochene lady, married about 1181, whose sister was the wife of the lord of Bourzey; separated about 1194/95; (4) Isabella, married about 1194/95 (FMG makes her a niece of Walter Le Dur, marshal of Jerusalem; Wikipedia calls her Isabella of Farabel), living after 1216. Children: Raymond (dead, early 1197 or mid 1198, see notes); Bohemond, count of Tripoli; William, son of Sibylla, whose fate after 1194 is not recorded; Alice, daughter of Sibylla, born about 1185, unmarried on 1 January 1200 (she marries Guy of Gibelet in December 1204); Constance, named only in the Lignages as Theodora's daughter; and Bohemond, later of Botron, son of Isabella, whose birth date is not pinned.

Grandson and sworn heir: Raymond-Roupen, about two (born 1197 or 1198), at Leo's court in Cilicia.

Overlord

None in practice. The princes did homage to the Byzantine emperor from the 1150s; the tie is dead by 1200 (not pinned).

What the realm holds

• Antioch: the city, its walls and the citadel on Mount Silpius (the prince's)
• Saint Simeon (al-Suwaydiya), the port at the mouth of the Orontes
• The lower Orontes valley and the plain round the city, west of Aleppan Harim (extent not pinned)
• The coastal hills: the Amanus foothills north of the Orontes and the slopes of the Jebel Aqra (Mount Casius) to the south (extent not pinned)
• Cursat, the Latin patriarch's castle (Church map, Cursat)
• Margat and Valania, held by the Hospitallers since 1186 (Church map, Margat)
• Claimed, held by Leo of Armenia: Baghras and the Belen pass (the Templars' claim, Baghras)
• Lost and claimed in name only: Latakia, Jabala, Saone (Sahyun), Bourzey, Shughr-Bakas, Darbsak, Harim, Sarmin and the other inland lordships

How it was acquired

Antioch has been Frankish since the First Crusade took it in June 1098. Bohemond III inherited it through his mother Constance and took power in 1163. The principality shrank to its present size in Saladin's campaign of July to September 1188, after which Bohemond III obtained a truce from Saladin and kept the capital and its port; a ten-year treaty followed in 1192 (Setton, p. 554).

Allies and rivals

Allies: al-Zahir Ghazi of Aleppo, whom fear of the Armenians and of his uncle al-Adil makes Antioch's friend (Setton, p. 554); the commune of Antioch, hostile to Armenian rule; the Templars, who will not forgive Leo for keeping Baghras. Rival and protector at once: Leo I, king of the Armenians, who restored Bohemond III in early 1199 but means to make Raymond-Roupen prince. Rival within the house: Bohemond of Tripoli, his own son, who claims the succession as nearest heir and by the commune's choice.

The Latin patriarch Peter of Angoulême (since 1196) later breaks with Leo, and the Antiochene clergy then abandon Raymond-Roupen; the date of that break is not pinned.

The realm that morning

Bohemond III holds Antioch and its citadel, Saint Simeon and the plain round the city. The commune runs the burghers' affairs and has once already, in late 1198, transferred its oath to Bohemond of Tripoli. The barons are sworn to Raymond-Roupen. Across the borders: Baghras and the Belen pass are Leo's (Baghras, the Anatolia sheet's Cilicia); Harim, Darbsak and the Orontes castles to the east and south are al-Zahir's, and Latakia and Jabala are Ayyubid (the Aleppo records).

No raiding is recorded on any frontier that winter: the Aleppan border is quiet under al-Zahir's friendship, and Leo, having restored Bohemond III early in 1199, is at peace with the prince. Under the date rule the coup of late 1198 and the restoration of early 1199 are both already past.

Wealth

The markets and crafts of a great city; the transit trade from Aleppo down the Orontes to Saint Simeon; the port dues of Saint Simeon; the farms and villages of the plain of Antioch and the Orontes; and the princely mint, which strikes billon deniers with the prince's helmeted head and the name of Antioch. The inland lordships lost in 1188 took most of the principality's land revenue with them. No figures.

Military

The prince's household and the barons' knights, the commune's townsmen on the walls, Turcopoles, and the military orders. The orders' sides on 1 January 1200: the Templars are firmly against Leo, who keeps their Baghras, and so for Bohemond of Tripoli; the Hospitallers backed Bohemond of Tripoli in late 1198 for promised grants, but Leo reached terms with the orders before he restored Bohemond III in early 1199 (Setton, p. 556), and in 1201 the Hospitallers rejoin Bohemond IV only 'for the moment', won by the settlement of an old debt of Raymond III of Tripoli (Setton, p.

561): on 1 January 1200 they are best read as uncommitted (not pinned). The German Hospital (Teutonic Order) is new and plays no part yet. The Templars' other castles of the Amanus (La Roche Guillaume, which they still hold in 1268) are not pinned for 1200. The walls of Antioch with the citadel on Mount Silpius are immense and hard to man. Bohemond III's own record is poor: taken prisoner at Harim (1164), seized by Leo at Baghras (1194), and he lost most of his land to Saladin in 1188 without a pitched battle.

Threats

• Leo of Armenia's design to make Raymond-Roupen prince, backed by the barons' oath of 1198
• His son Bohemond of Tripoli, chosen by the commune in late 1198
• An old prince with two claimants to follow him: he dies in April 1201 (likely course)
• The Templars' quarrel with Leo over Baghras
• Ayyubid power if al-Zahir's friendship fails, and al-Adil's rise in Egypt and Damascus

Churches

The Latin patriarch Peter of Angoulême (since 1196) holds the cathedral of St Peter and the castle of Cursat (Cursat); of his suffragan sees in the principality only Valania survives in Frankish hands, its bishop living inside Margat for safety, while Latakia and Jabala are lost. The Greek Orthodox, the largest Christian body in the city, have their own clergy and are prominent in the commune; their patriarch lives in Constantinople (name not pinned). The Armenians look to Leo, whose church entered union with Rome at his crowning.

The Syriac Orthodox (Jacobite) patriarch Michael the Syrian, the chronicler, died in November 1199, at his seat far to the north-east near Melitene (general reference).

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.

In 1200

1. 1200, not datedLeo keeps pressing Pope Innocent III to protect Raymond-Roupen's rights; Innocent backs Bohemond III's restoration but urges Leo to give Baghras back to the Templars.Depends on: Leo's union with Rome and his wish to keep papal favour. Stopped by: A break between Leo and Rome, or a new seizure of Antioch by either party.
2. December 1200Gilbert Erail, master of the Temple, dies (Church map); Philippe du Plessis follows in 1201.Depends on: Natural death. Stopped by: A change in his circumstances in play.

Later, on the likely course

1. April 1201 (later)Bohemond III dies. Bohemond of Tripoli reaches Antioch on the day of the funeral, rings the commune's bell and is accepted as prince; Raymond-Roupen's party among the barons flees to Cilicia; Leo besieges Antioch until al-Zahir and the Seljuk sultan Rukn al-Din Suleiman II invade Cilicia (July 1201).Depends on: Bohemond III's natural death and Bohemond IV being free to move fast. Stopped by: Bohemond III outliving Leo, Raymond-Roupen's party seizing the city first, or a settlement before the death.

Places of note

• Citadel of Antioch on Mount Silpius: The prince's fortress above the city.
• Saint Simeon (al-Suwaydiya), the port: Antioch's port at the Orontes mouth.
• Cursat, the patriarch's castle: Church map record Cursat.
• Baghras (Gaston), Leo's: Templar claim, held by Leo; Church map record Baghras.

Where the sources disagree

• Raymond, Bohemond III's eldest son: died early 1197 (Setton, p. 679; Wikipedia) or in May or June 1198 with Raymond-Roupen born after his death in late 1198 (FMG, citing Sempad). Wikipedia also says Raymond-Roupen was baptised at Leo's coronation (6 January 1198), which fits the earlier date.
• Bohemond of Tripoli's coup at Antioch: late 1198 (Wikipedia: Bohemond III, Raymond-Roupen, War of the Antiochene Succession) or early 1198 (Wikipedia: Bohemond IV). Setton (p. 556) gives no date: the coup came while al-Zahir kept Leo busy, and Leo restored Bohemond III within three months. Some accounts call it an expulsion of the father; the Bohemond III article says the son returned to Tripoli and the father resumed control.
• Bohemond III's capture at Baghras: early 1194 (Setton, p. 555; Wikipedia, Bohemond III; Church map Baghras) against 1192 in the War of the Antiochene Succession article. 1194 followed.
• The commune of 1194 was formed under the 'elderly patriarch Aimery' (Setton, p. 555; Wikipedia, Bohemond III) or under Ralph II (Wikipedia, Commune of Antioch, after Runciman), and the Church map's list agrees with the second (Ralph II, 1193-1196). Immaterial for 1 January 1200, when Peter of Angoulême is patriarch in all accounts.
• The Church map (Baghras, Tortosa) says the Templars, Hospitallers, Pisans, Genoese and the commune back Bohemond IV. That is the position of late 1198; Setton (p. 556) adds that Leo reached terms with the military orders before he restored Bohemond III in early 1199, so where the Hospitallers stand on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.

Evidence: The outline (the barons' oath of 1198, the commune's choice of Bohemond of Tripoli, Leo's restoration of Bohemond III) is in every modern account, but the dates of 1197-1199 differ between them, and the officers and barons of 1200 are known only from scattered charters not read here.

On the map: The frontier with Aleppo east of the city (the Iron Bridge and the Amuq) and the line along the Amanus against Leo are not pinned; the outline follows the mountains and the Orontes.

Primary sources for this realm

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
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
• General Cartulary of the Order of the Hospital, Various, edited by Joseph Delaville Le Roulx (documents 1100 to 1310; published in 4 vols, Paris, 1894 to 1906). Volume 1 (1100 to 1200) and volume 2 (1201 to 1260) print in full the Hospital's charters: royal and baronial grants in Jerusalem, Tripoli, Antioch and Cilicia, papal bulls, the order's European priories and its agreements with the Temple and the Italians. Read online
• The Rule of the Templars: the Latin Rule, the French Rule and the hierarchical statutes, Anonymous (the Council of Troyes and the order's chapter) (Latin rule 1129; French translation about 1140; hierarchical statutes (retrais) about 1165; further statutes to about 1260). Not a chronicle but the constitution of the Temple as it stood in 1200: the hierarchical statutes describe the master, seneschal, marshal and the commanders of Jerusalem, Tripoli and Antioch, the drawing up of the line of battle, the convent's discipline and the horses, squires and tents allowed to each rank. Read online
• The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, Benjamin of Tudela (about 1173). A generation before 1200 but the only survey of its kind: the Jewish communities and their heads from Navarre through Provence, Italy, Constantinople and the Aegean, Antioch, Tyre, Jerusalem, Damascus, Mosul and Baghdad to the Persian Gulf, with notes on rulers, trades, the exilarch at Baghdad, the Assassins of Syria and Persia, and hearsay on India, Ceylon and China. Read online