Cypriot nobleman
Philip of Ibelin (1180-1227) was a leading nobleman of the Kingdom of Cyprus. As a younger son of Balian of Ibelin and the dowager queen Maria Komnene, he came from the high Crusader nobility of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.[1]
Life
Philip is first mentioned in 1206, when he and his older brother John of Ibelin, the Old Lord of Beirut accompanied their niece Alice[Note 1] to Cyprus for her marriage to Hugh I of Cyprus. Both brothers moved their power base to the island permanently before 1217, probably after coming into conflict with King John of Jerusalem. In 1218, Hugh I of Cyprus died and Philip was made steward (i.e. regent) to Henry I of Cyprus during his minority - in this position he was instrumental in the house of Ibelin's rising dominance over the island.[2]
Marriage and issue
Philip married Alice of Montbéliard (died after 1244), a sister of Odo of Montbéliard.[2] They had two children:
- Maria of Ibelin († after 1244), became a nun, for whom in 1244 Alice funded the establishment of St Theodor monastery in Nicosia.[3]
- John of Ibelin († 1266), Count of Jaffa[2]
Notes
- ^ Alice was the grand-daughter of their mother, Maria Kommene, by her first marriage
Bibliography
- Steven Runciman: A History of the Crusades. 1951.
- Kenneth M. Setton, Robert Lee Wolff, Harry W. Hazard: A History of the Crusades, Volume II. The Later Crusades, 1189-1311. 2006.
References