Henry II, Count of Champagne

Minority

Count Henry returned to Troyes gravely ill on 8 March 1181. He died in the evening of 16 March. Because Henry II was 15 and would only reach the age of majority at 21, Countess Marie became regent in his name.^[9] She frequently associated Henry with herself in her acts, but in practice exercised the powers of the comital office alone.^[10] Henry seems to have been tutored privately at his parents' household rather than at a religious institution or the court of a vassal or a relative. He did not share the intellectual restlessness for which his father was well known and, although he sometimes sat at court with his mother, does not appear to have been mentored in rulership.^[11][12] At the age of 15, he joined Arnold V of Ardres, heir apparent to the County of Guînes, on a tournament circuit with a band of other young noblemen. Arnold travelled with a personal trainer in martial arts, and Henry became accomplished in arms as well as familiar with the lands of northern France.^[12][13]

On 14 May 1181, Marie and her brothers-in-law reconciled with Count Baldwin of Hainaut, who promised another daughter, Yolanda, to Henry. Baldwin's brother-in-law Count Philip of Flanders, Henry's aunt Queen Adela, uncles^[which?] and cousins Duke Hugh of Burgundy and Count Henry I of Bar all swore to the new contract. At this occasion, the Champenois clan again plotted against the king, and a rebellion lasted until December.^[14]

Henry's sister Marie married Baldwin, son of the count of Hainaut, in 1185, but the count asked that Henry's marriage with Yolanda be postponed on account of her youth.^[15] Possibly because he had a brother to succeed him, Henry appears not to have been interested in marrying.^[16] In late 1186, a daughter Ermesinde was born to Count Henry the Blind of Luxembourg and Namur, Count Baldwin's uncle. The old count had previously promised the succession of Namur to Baldwin, but he now wished to make his infant daughter his heir. In March 1187, he sent his nephew Count Manasses IV of Rethel, a vassal of Henry of Champagne, to offer Ermesinde in marriage to Henry.^[17] The betrothal was negotiated on 29 March. Baldwin, who was furious with Henry for jilting his daughter as well as for dashing his hopes of inheriting Namur, immediately began complaining to King Philip and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. In July, Henry travelled to Namur to formalize the agreement. Ermesinde's father had his men swear oaths to accept Henry as his successor.^[18] Henry then had Ermesinde taken to Champagne, where she would be brought up.^[19]

Sole rule

Between March and July 1187, Henry accompanied his mother, Marie, to Fontaines-les-Nonnes, a priory near Meaux, where she retired.^[20][21] He reached his majority on 29 July,^[20][22] becoming the ruler of a vast and wealthy feudal state and the most powerful baron in France.^[23] He was determined to start acting as count immediately, and issued a flurry of charters in his first year of rule.^[17] He called himself count of Troyes, a title which he came to associate with all of his lands regardless of their location; simultaneously, he became commonly known as the count of Champagne.^[24] Henry was an assertive ruler: he resumed his father's title of count palatine, which Marie had eschewed, and had the comital chancery cease naming the witnesses who vetted the count's acts and instead merely record acts carried out under the count's sole authority.^[25]

Henry's rule over Champagne was marked by a ceaseless conflict between his step-grandfather King Henry of England and his half-uncle King Philip of France. Henry feared that the complex and constantly shifting alliances connecting the warring kings with Counts Baldwin of Hainaut and Henry of Namur might endanger the Champagne fairs, which were fundamental to the economic stability of Champagne. In one document, he acknowledged that a war between King Philip and Count Philip of Flanders would harm the fair of Saint-Ayoul at Provins by diminishing income from transaction taxes and from rents charged for lodgings during the event. Because various financial obligations—such as fief-rents, prebends, and pensions—were financed from these receipts, any decline in fair revenues would place those payments in jeopardy.^[26] In December 1187, Henry and his uncles Archbishop William and Count Theobald met with King Philip and Emperor Frederick between Ivoy and Mouzon. They presented their case for Henry's succession to Namur, but neither Frederick nor Philip were convinced.^[19]

By late 1187, news of the conquest of Jerusalem by the Muslim Ayyubids had reached Europe and led to calls for the Third Crusade.^[27] On 2 January 1188, Henry joined a gathering of barons and clergy in the field between Trie and Gisors, where the French and English kings pledged to cease hostilities and set out on crusade for Jerusalem. After the kings took the cross the next day, Henry and numerous other leading nobles followed suit.^[25] War broke out again when Count Richard I of Poitou, King Henry's son and Count Henry's half-uncle, attacked Count Raymond V of Toulouse, a vassal of King Philip, which prompted Philip to invade Richard's land.^[28] When King Henry invaded Philip's land in turn, Count Henry assisted Philip.^[29] King Henry died on 6 July 1189, leaving both his crown and his conflict with Philip to Richard.^[30]

In 1188, Henry of Namur reconciled with Baldwin of Hainaut and gave him the administration of Namur. The old count and his men grew discontented with Baldwin's rule and appealed to Henry for help. Henry was still on campaign assisting King Philip when the envoys arrived, and it was Countess Marie who received them and sent knights to help fend off Baldwin.^[19] Henry seems to have still been on campaign when Troyes burned down on 23 July.^[29] Baldwin had some success, and while Henry left the royal army, he did not take military action and negotiations continued. In early 1189, reports of Henry mobilizing an army reached Hainaut and its people feared an invasion, which did not materialize.^[31] In August, King Philip attempted to settle the dispute by awarding the right to inherit Namur–both fiefs and allodial land–to Baldwin and only two lordships, La Roche and Durbuy, to Henry.^[32] While Henry's uncles William and Theobald assented on his behalf, Henry refused to ratify the agreement. The next month, Henry again marched north and once more failed to engage; he may have had to deal with a revolt of his vassal Hugh III of Broyes.^[19] Philip's settlement, announced on 1 September, was a major setback for Henry.^[32] Philip's second thwarting of Henry's marriage plans permanently damaged their relationship.^[33]

In late 1189 and 1190, Henry made final preparations for his expedition to Palestine. He invited his mother back to Troyes to resume government of the county in his absence and made arrangements for succession.^[32] In 1190, probably in April, he convened his barons at Sézanne, where they swore to acknowledge his 11-year-old brother, Theobald, as count in case Henry should die abroad.^[32][34] The Third Crusade attracted broad support in Champagne, and Henry left Troyes in May with a large army of Champenois barons and knights. Most of his officials followed him, including his chancellor, Haice of Plancy, and seneschal, Milo Breban, and probably his marshal, Geoffrey of Villehardouin.^[35] Unlike his father, who had left Marie to rule on her own, Henry sent mandates and sealed letters patent from abroad. By early June, he and his troops had arrived in Marseille. The grand prior of the Order of the Hospital in Arles approached Henry with a request to establish a Hospitaller house in Bar-sur-Aube, which Henry granted. The bishop of Troyes, Manasses of Pougy, died while Henry waited for his ship, and Henry sent Haice to take up the post. Henry and his followers departed for Palestine on 20 June.^[36]

Campaigns

On 20 July 1190, Henry landed in Acre and joined King Guy of Jerusalem in besieging the city.^[37] Along with him came numerous important barons including Counts Theobald V of Blois, Stephen I of Sancerre, Ralph I of Clermont, William III of Chalon, and John I of Ponthieu. The arrival of Henry forced the Ayyubid ruler Saladin to pull back the main part of his army from Acre–the other part having already been sent to watch the movements of a German crusader contigent led by Duke Frederick VI of Swabia.^[23] In addition to King Philip's train of siege engines,^[23] Henry brought soldiers, supplies, arms, and money, heartening the besieging army.^[37] Kings Richard I of England and Philip II of France–Henry's maternal half-uncles–had not yet arrived, and the crusading force thus lacked effective leadership; Henry held influence as the overlord of many of the French captains, but Marquis Conrad of Montferrat (who had successfully defended Tyre and won the admiration of the Palestinian baronage), Frederick, and Guy were likewise important.^[38]

Disease spread both in the city and in the besiegers' camp. Guy's wife, Queen Sibylla, and their daughters had died by 21 October, and the barons of the Kingdom of Jerusalem insisted that Sibylla's successor was her half-sister Isabella I.^[39] On 15 November, Henry was wounded along with Conrad,^[37] whom the Palestinian barons wished to see enthroned as Isabella's husband.^[40] Isabella's marriage to the unpopular baron Humphrey IV of Toron was annulled despite her protests. On 24 November, Henry's cousin Philip of Dreux, bishop of Beauvais, married Isabella to Conrad.^[41] Ayyubid archers ambushed the French that day and showered the camp with arrows, killing many and capturing Henry's marshal, Geoffrey of Villehardouin.^[42]

Henry fell ill on 20 January 1191; the illness lasted many weeks and he was not expected to survive. Many crusaders perished, including Duke Frederick VI of Swabia; Henry's uncles Counts Rotrou IV of Perche, Theobald V of Blois, and Stephen I of Sancerre; his cousin Count Henry I of Bar; Count Philip I of Flanders; and numerous Champenois barons.^[37][43] King Philip arrived in Acre 20 April; King Richard conquered Cyprus from the Byzantine rebel Isaac Komnenos in May and made his way to the camp in Acre on 8 June.^[44] Henry ran out of money and asked Philip for a loan. Philip declined to give the loan unless Henry agreed to cede Champagne as a collateral, leading to a further deterioration in their relationship. Richard, who began to quarrel with Philip immediately after his arrival and sought to humiliate him, gave the money to Henry.^[45][46] In the dispute over the throne of Jerusalem, the French king favored Conrad and Isabella, while the English king stood with the widowed Guy.^[47] Conrad angrily withdrew to Tyre when Guy accused him of being a disobedient vassal.^[46]

Acre finally fell to the crusaders on 12 July.^[48] Both Richard and Philip were intent on returning to their kingdoms swiftly despite Henry's efforts to persuade them to stay.^[48] Philip left on 2 August,^[48] leaving Duke Hugh of Burgundy as his lieutenant.^[49] On 25 August, Henry and Richard marched with their respective forces from Acre southwards along the coast.^[48] Richard expected that the Ayyubids would attack at Arsuf and carefully arrayed the army, with Henry guarding the baggage train and looking out for signs of attack. The crusaders' victory in the battle of Arsuf on 7 September dealt a significant blow to Ayyubid morale.^[50][51] Richard and Henry then proceeded south to Jaffa,^[48] which Richard granted to King Guy's brother Geoffrey of Lusignan.^[52][53] Richard respected Henry's leadership skills and relied on him for strengthening the defenses of the crusaders' ports.^[48] The crusaders realized that they could not hold Jerusalem for long even if they captured it and declined to lay siege to it. Hugh of Burgundy and many of the French crusaders refused to proceed further south from Jaffa, but Henry accompanied Richard to Ascalon. In January 1192, their troops began fortifying the city.^[54]

Marriage

In April 1192, Richard too decided to return to his lands. On 16 April, he summoned the barons and knights of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to settle the dispute between Guy and Conrad, and they unanimously chose Conrad to be their new king. Richard accepted their decision and sent Henry to Tyre to inform Conrad of his election. Henry arrived around 20 April amid widespread celebration, and then promptly returned to prepare Acre for Conrad's coronation. On 28 April, two Assassins stabbed Conrad. As he lay dying, he commanded his pregnant wife, Isabella, not to deliver Tyre to anyone but Richard or a new king of Jerusalem; she thus shut herself in the city and refused the demand of Hugh of Burgundy to hand it over.^[55][b]

Upon hearing the news of Conrad's death, Henry hastened back to Tyre, where the people acclaimed him as the new ruler and Isabella proposed to marry him.^[57][49] Henry, who preferred to return to his lands in France,^[58] met with Richard in Acre to consult. Richard urged him to accept the election, but was hesitant about the marriage.^[57][49] Henry could not become the legitimate ruler of the kingdom without marrying Isabella, but he prevaricated because she was pregnant with Conrad's child, who–if a boy–might inherit the kingdom. The barons tried to assuage Henry's fears by promising that the kingdom would pass to Henry's children.^[59] With Richard's assent, Henry accepted both offers and received from him all the cities held by crusaders.^[57][49] Henry married Isabella within a week of her being widowed and took up residence in Acre.^[c] Also in May, King Guy bought Cyprus and established himself as its ruler.^[62] Richard gave Henry the right to collect the payment of 40,000 bezants from Guy.^[63]

After the wedding, Richard asked Henry to join the host at Ascalon with all the troops from Tyre and Acre. He proceeded to capture Darum, which he gave to Henry, who arrived with Hugh on 23 May 1192.^[64] Darum was the last Ayyubid fortress on the coast of Palestine, and its capture gave hope to the crusaders that Jerusalem too might be conquered.^[65] In June, Henry went to Acre to gather the crusaders who were still dallying in fleshpots.^[64] The next month, he sent a message to Saladin in Jerusalem, announcing himself as the new lord of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and demanding that all its lands be given to him, while Richard's envoys commended Henry to Saladin's favor.^[66] Saladin attacked Jaffa on 27 July while the crusaders were in Acre; when Richard learned of it two days later, he sent Henry south with an army while he went by sea, and they repelled the Ayyubids.^[67]

The Third Crusade ended on 2 September with the signing of a peace treaty, by which the Kingdom of Jerusalem was reconstituted as a narrow coastal strip of land extending south to Jaffa. Henry swore to the treaty in Richard's name along with his vassal Balian of Ibelin and the masters of the military orders–the Templars and the Hospitallers.^[68] Richard left on 11 October, making Henry the leader of the Catholic forces in Palestine.^[69] When Henry's marriage to Isabella became known in France, his mother returned the six-year-old Ermesinde to her family.^[45]

Administration

On his marriage to Isabella, Henry became the effective ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem^[49]–consisting of the royal cities of Acre and Tyre and the lordships of Jaffa, Arsuf, Caesarea, and Haifa^[70]–but he never assumed the royal title and continued to call himself simply count palatine of Troyes.^[d] Henry ruled this land in the name of his wife, Isabella,^[72] and regularly noted that he acted by her "wish and consent".^[73][74] He took her with him when he travelled around the kingdom; the Itinerarium Regis Ricardi remarks that he "could not yet bear to be parted from her". Because his authority was still insecure, he likely relied on Isabella's presence to reinforce his legitimacy.^[75] Isabella's child with Conrad turned out to be a daughter, Maria. Isabella and Henry then had three daughters: Alice, Margaret (who died as a child), and Philippa.^[60]

As an uncrowned ruler, Henry had a limited scope of action: when the canons of the Holy Sepulchre elected Aymar the Monk as the new Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Henry arrested them in anger for not having been consulted, but even his supporters pointed out that he had no right to do that because he was not king. Pope Celestine III rebuked him, and his chancellor, Archbishop Josias of Tyre, persuaded him to release the canons and appease the patriarch with a grant of a rich fief near Acre to the patriarch's nephew.^[76]

Henry enjoyed better relations with his lay vassals. He was supported by the military orders and the leading baron, Balian of Ibelin, who was his wife's stepfather.^[77] He sought to share power with the established nobility rather than favor his Champenois entourage, making Ralph of Tiberias his seneschal. He also encouraged the veterans of the Third Crusade to settle in the kingdom, arranging for Thierry of Tenremonde, Thierry of Orgue, and Aymar of Lairon to marry local heiresses and thus become his vassals; all three men gained prominent places in his court.^[78] Henry simultaneously established a modus vivendi with his Muslim neighbors. He asked Saladin for a tunic and a turban, which he then wore in Acre as a mark of mutual esteem. Saladin's secretary, Ibn al-Athīr, described Henry as "a capable man, pleasant and tolerant".^[45][79]

As his obligations in Palestine grew, Henry gradually became less involved with the government of Champagne.^[80] He relied heavily on the wealth of his French lands to support the crusader kingdom. His mother sent all she could, and even had to borrow, to help him pay debts incurred in Acre.^[72][81]

Intrigues

The Pisan merchants resented the favor he showed to their Genoese rivals and plotted to deliver Tyre to Guy. He discovered the conspiracy in May 1193, arrested the plotters, and decreed that the Pisan colony in Tyre be reduced to 30 people. After the Pisans retaliated by raiding villages between Tyre and Acre, Henry expelled them from Acre.^[76][82] He doubted the loyalty of Guy's brother Aimery of Lusignan, who had retained the office of constable and received the County of Jaffa from the third brother, Geoffrey. When Aimery intervened on behalf of the Pisans, Henry arrested him. Aimery argued that Henry had no right to imprison a vassal and constable, while Henry denied that Aimery was either and demanded that Guy surrender Cyprus in exchange for Aimery's freedom. The barons and the masters of the military orders prevailed on Henry to relent and release Aimery,^[83][84] who gave up Jaffa and the constableship and left for Cyprus.^[85] Henry granted the constableship to Isabella's half-brother John of Ibelin.^[53]

The lord of Armenian Cilicia, Leo II, captured Prince Bohemond III of Antioch in a ruse in 1194 after a dispute over the possession of the castle of Baghras. Bohemond's son Raymond appealed to Henry for help. Henry moved north to support Raymond when an embassy from the Assassins approached him. Their master sent an apology for the murder of Conrad and invited Henry to visit him at Al-Kahf Castle in the Nosairi mountains.^[86] According to a tale thereafter repeated in Europe, the hosts entertained Henry by showing how willingly the Assassins would leap off the mountain side to their deaths at the wave of their master's hand until Henry begged them to stop.^[87] Henry left with costly gifts and promises that any enemies he named would be assassinated. He then proceeded to Antioch and into Cilicia, meeting Leo near Sis. They agreed that Leo would release Bohemond without ransom and retain Baghras, and that neither would owe fealty to the other. This intervention in the affairs of the northern crusader states, reminiscent of the policy of the early kings of Jerusalem, increased Henry's standing upon his return south.^[88]

Lusignan alliance

Upon Guy's death in 1194, Aimery became lord of Cyprus. Henry demanded, as the successor of the kings of Jerusalem, to be consulted about the succession in Cyprus, but could not enforce his claim.^[53] The already diminished Kingdom of Jerusalem faced the prospect of renewed Ayyubid attack once the truce expired in 1196. Leading barons and merchant elites increasingly regarded the continuing rivalry between Henry and Aimery as harmful to the interests of both states. Many had interests both on the island and on the mainland, such as the Bethsan family, and pressed Henry to reach an accommodation with Aimery.^[89] Aimery's constable, Baldwin of Bethsan, came to Acre and persuaded Henry to meet with Aimery in 1197. The two rulers reconciled and forged an alliance, whereby the three sons of Aimery were betrothed to the three daughters of Henry and Isabella.^[89][53] Henry and his wife promised to restore Jaffa to the Lusignans as their daughter's dowry, and the debt Aimery owed to Henry for Guy's purchase of Cyprus was remitted.^[89][90]

When the German Crusade arrived in Acre in August 1197, Henry was reluctant to start another war.^[91] Henry's aunt Queen Margaret of Hungary came along with the Germans. She died eight days after her arrival, having left all her possessions to Henry.^[92] Aimery of Lusignan accepted German suzerainty and was consequently crowned king of Cyprus in September.^[93][94] The Germans invaded Galilee without consulting Henry. When they heard about the approach of a vast Ayyubid army, the German knights abandoned the infantrymen and fled. Henry took the advice of Hugh of Tiberias and had his own knights and Italian soldiers reinforce the German infantrymen. The Ayyubids declined to engage and marched on Jaffa instead.^[95]

Henry was still with Aimery when news reached them of Ayyubid attack on Jaffa.^[89] Aimery sent one of his barons, Reynald Barlais, to defend Jaffa, but Reynald did not take the task seriously and Henry mustered his own men in Acre.^[96] Henry died on 10 September when he fell out of a window of the palace in Acre; the circumstances of the fall are not clear.^[92][e] He was buried in the Church of the Holy Cross in Acre.^[102] The Germans arranged for Henry to be succeeded by Aimery, who promptly married Henry's widow and was crowned king.^[103]