Re: French-Crusaders in Cyprus
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In reply to:
Re: French-Crusaders in Cyprus
Christopher Antioch-Lusignan-Rivers 7/02/05
Your lineage here is very good. These are also ancestors of de Chypre. In this regard, it is important to understand how they are all connected to the cult of the assassins whose leader was called 'The Old Man of the Mountains'. Founded in 1090 as a 'hit squad' for the Shi'ite sect of Islam, against the Sunni Moslems, they moved onto a broader stage with the coming of the Christian crusaders, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, striking at them from a new base in Syria.
The first crusader 'assassinated' was Raimond, Count of Tripoli, in 1129. He was related to all of the following and figures in the extended genealogy of Cypriot royalty. The most important was Conrad of Montferrat, murdered in Tyre in 1192. Conrad, who in 1190 had married Isabelle I, Queen of Jerusalem, was preparing for his coronation as King of Jerusalem in his own right. When granted this honour, he had fallen on his knees and begged God to take the crown from him if he were unworthy of it. Before he could be crowned, on 28 April 1192, Conrad was murdered in Tyre by a band of Assassins disguised as monks.
Two years later, the Old Man himself died, and his successor (who took the same title) sent a fulsome apology for Conrad's murder to Henri de Champagne, who had married the widowed Isabelle and become King of Jerusalem. The new Old Man entertained Henri in his citadel and gave him a demonstration of the Assassins' obedience: on his orders, one man after another killed himnself, until Henri begged the Old Man to cease. When he left, the King was loaded with gifts and carried with him the assurance (unasked-for) that the Old Man would have the Assassins kill anyone whom he cared to name.
In 1232 the assassins sent warnings into the West that the Mongols were coming. the terrifying Oriental Horde was flooding westward, conquering everything in its path. When Louis VIII, King of France, went on crusade in 1250, he and the Old Man exchanged gifts, and subsequently they formed an alliance against the Sunni Moslems; but they could not hold back the Horde. The sect broke up and within a few years was heard of no more in the West.
Before that, however, a couple of attempts left a last and lasting impression on Europe. The first was successful: in 1270, Philippe de Montfort, Lord of Tyre and Toron, was murdered while at prayer. The second failed, but its story has come down in history because of the picturesque part played in it by a Spanish princess. In 1272 an Englsih crusader prince, the future King Edward I, was in Tyre. When an attempt was made on his life by an Assassin who penetrated the royal apartments and stabbed Edward, it was fortunate that his wife, Eleanor of Castile, was with him: she immediately sucked the wound, lest the knife had been poisoned. Perhaps it had, for Edward was ill for months afterwards; but he survived.
All of the above-named people figure in the genealogy of the royalty of Cyprus.
Matthew de Chypre