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77-680: Henry had originally demanded 5,000 pounds from Alexios after Alexios usurped the throne from Alexios's brother Isaac II in 1195. Henry, after his conquest of the Kingdom of Sicily , had taken custody of Isaac's daughter, Irene Angelina , widow of Roger III of Sicily . He proceeded to marry her to his younger brother Philip , Duke of Swabia , and proclaim himself the defender of his brother's rights in Byzantium through his wife. He threatened to invade Alexios's empire unless he received tribute. In order to get support for taxing Constantinople , Alexios called

154-679: A blockade of the harbour. In an incident described by the Itinerarium Peregrinorum (which is generally hostile to Conrad), the Old French Continuation and Sicardus of Cremona 's second chronicle (now known through quotations by Salimbene di Adam and Alberto Millioli ), Saladin presented Conrad's aged father, William V of Montferrat , who had been captured at Hattin, before the walls of the city. He offered to release William and bestow great gifts upon Conrad if he surrendered Tyre. The old man told his son to stand firm, even when

231-634: A decisive victory over the Norman King of Sicily , William II , at the Battle of Demetritzes on 7 November 1185. William had invaded the Balkans with 80,000 men and 200 ships towards the end of Andronikos I's reign. Elsewhere Isaac's policy was less successful. In late 1185, he sent a fleet of 80 galleys to liberate his brother Alexius III from Acre , but the fleet was destroyed by the Normans of Sicily. He then sent

308-599: A fleet of 70 ships, but it failed to recover Cyprus from the rebellious noble Isaac Komnenos , thanks to Norman interference. This fleet was misinterpreted by many in the Holy Land as naval support for the Muslim offensive in accordance with Isaac's alliance with Saladin . However the theory of a supposed alliance between Isaac and Saladin against the Third Crusade has been discredited by modern research. Isaac's administration

385-569: A long 's' in his sources) and described as a "marmoset" and "popinjay". He is also a villain in Maurice Hewlett 's fanciful The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay (1900). He appears briefly, again in a negative light, in Ronald Welch 's Knight Crusader (1954): the description owes much to his portrayal in Cecil B. de Mille's The Crusades , mentioned below. The nadir of his fictional appearances

462-464: A meeting of the Senate , the clergy (mostly drawn from the bureaucratic class) and the members of the trade guilds (the professional class). He proposed a property assessment of the assembled classes, but they rejected it as being contrary to custom. The assembly became riotous, accusing Alexios of wasting public money and imposing his incompetent relations, including men who had been blinded , as governors of

539-602: A military expedition against Serbia . The Byzantine army was victorious in the battle at South Morava (autumn 1191), that led to the recovery of Niš and the consequent peace treaty. By 1196, Isaac II had allowed the once powerful Byzantine navy to decline to only 30 galleys. The next five years were disturbed by continued warfare with Bulgaria , against which Isaac led several expeditions in person. In spite of their promising start these ventures had little effect, and on one occasion in 1190 Isaac barely escaped with his life. The Byzantines suffered yet another major defeat in

616-478: A prominent nobleman in a rebellion"—meaning Branas; in his Chronica , he condensed this to "having committed homicide", omitting the context. Conrad evidently intended to join his father, who held the castle of St Elias. He arrived first off Acre , which had recently fallen to Saladin (Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb), and so sailed north to Tyre , where he found the remnants of the Crusader army. After his victory at

693-457: A town, and a man of extraordinary courage". Tyre successfully withstood the siege, and desiring more profitable conquest, Saladin's army moved on south to Caesarea , Arsuf , and Jaffa . Meanwhile, Conrad sent Joscius, Archbishop of Tyre , to the West in a black-sailed ship, bearing appeals for aid. Arabic writers claimed that he also carried propaganda pictures to use in his preaching, including one of

770-502: Is found on the necrology of Speyer Cathedral , where their daughter Irene is interred. The first wife of Isaac II is usually considered to be a Byzantine noblewoman of unknown name. In an Italian edition of the chronicle of Nicetas Choniates "Greatness and catastrophe of Byzantium" can be found an interesting note to the XIV Book. The names of Isaac II's first wife and eldest daughter, unknown from Byzantine sources, are found in an obituary in

847-563: Is in Alan Gordon 's mystery novel, The Widow of Jerusalem (2003), which investigates his murder. In film, he has been consistently depicted as a villain, and with scant regard for accuracy. In Cecil B. de Mille 's 1935 film The Crusades , he is played by Joseph Schildkraut as a scheming traitor, plotting King Richard's death with Prince John in England at a time when he was actually already defending Tyre. The 1954 film King Richard and

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924-641: Is in Graham Shelby 's 1970 novel The Kings of Vain Intent . In this, he is thoroughly demonised—depicted as a sinister figure, physically resembling a vampire; in a chapter added by the author to the U.S. edition, he beats and rapes Isabella. These works reflect the later Renaissance and Gothic novel cultural/ ethnic stereotype of the ' Machiavellian ' Italian: corrupt, scheming, dandified, not averse to poisoning, even (as in Shelby's novel) sexually sadistic. In contrast,

1001-521: Is no contemporary evidence to suggest this. Isaac II Angelos Isaac II Angelos or Angelus ( Ancient Greek : Ἰσαάκιος Κομνηνός Ἄγγελος , romanized :  Isaákios Komnēnós Ángelos ; September 1156 – January 1204) was Byzantine Emperor from 1185 to 1195, and co-Emperor with his son Alexios IV Angelos from 1203 to 1204. In a 1185 revolt against the Emperor Andronikos Komnenos , Isaac seized power and rose to

1078-503: The Battle of Arcadiopolis in 1194. Isaac organized yet another offensive against Bulgaria in 1195 in cooperation with the Kingdom of Hungary, but Alexios Angelos , the Emperor's older brother, taking advantage of Isaac's absence from camp on a hunting expedition, proclaimed himself emperor and was readily recognised by the soldiers as Emperor Alexios III on 8 (or 9) April. Alexios then canceled

1155-443: The Battle of Hattin over the army of Jerusalem, Saladin was on the march north, and had already captured Acre , Sidon , and Beirut . Raymond III of Tripoli and his stepsons, Reginald of Sidon and several other leading nobles who had escaped the battle had fled to Tyre, but most were anxious to return to their own territories to defend them. Raymond of Tripoli was in failing health, and died soon after he went home. According to

1232-523: The Salles des Croisades at Versailles : it depicts him as a handsome, rather pensive man in his forties, wearing a coronet and fanciful pseudo-medieval costume. He is shown with dark hair and beard; it is more likely that, like his father and at least two of his brothers, he was blond. In the 2007 video game Assassin's Creed , set in 1191 during the height of the Crusades, Conrad's father William V of Montferrat

1309-530: The Byzantine side before 1190, by which time it was obvious that Conrad would not be returning. There were also objections on grounds of canonical incest, since Conrad's brother had previously been married to Isabella's half-sister, and Church law regarded this kind of affinity as equal to a blood-relationship. However, the papal legate Ubaldo Lanfranchi , Archbishop of Pisa , gave his approval. Opponents claimed he had been bribed. The marriage, on 24 November 1190,

1386-558: The Byzantine throne, establishing the Angelos family as the new imperial dynasty. His father Andronikos Doukas Angelos was a military leader in Asia Minor (c. 1122 – aft. 1185) who married Euphrosyne Kastamonitissa (c. 1125 – aft. 1195). Andronikos Doukas Angelos was the son of Constantine Angelos and Theodora Komnene (b. 15 January 1096/1097), the youngest daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina . Thus Isaac

1463-551: The Cathedral of Speyer, the pantheon of German kings. Here, the wife of Philip of Swabia is said to be the daughter of Isaac and Irene (there is reference to the following article: R. Hiestand, Die erste Ehe Isaaks II. Angelos und seine Kinder, in Jahrbuch der Osterreichischen Byzantinisk, XLVII 1997 pp. 199–208). This Irene could be identified with the daughter of George Paleologus Ducas Comnenus and wife Aspae, Bagratiid Princess of Ossetia;

1540-565: The Chancellor hostage. (He had previously been a hostage of the Chancellor.) He left the captive in his brother Boniface's care and went to Constantinople to be rewarded by the Emperor, returning to Italy shortly after Manuel's death in 1180. Now in his mid-thirties, his personality and good looks made a striking impression at the Byzantine court: Niketas Choniates describes him as "of beautiful appearance, comely in life's springtime, exceptional and peerless in manly courage and intelligence, and in

1617-484: The Crusaders , loosely based on The Talisman , similarly depicts him as a villain, played by Michael Pate . Egyptian director Youssef Chahine 's 1963 film Al Nasser Salah Ad-Din also shows Scott's influence in its hostility towards Conrad (played by Mahmoud El-Meliguy ) and Philip, while depicting Richard more favourably. On television, he was played by Michael Peake in the 1962 British television series Richard

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1694-453: The Crusaders. The situation took a farcical turn when Richard's envoy, Isabella's ex-husband Humphrey of Toron, spotted Conrad's envoy, Reginald of Sidon, out hawking with Al-Adil. There seems to have been no conclusive agreement with Conrad, and Joan refused marriage to a Muslim. In April 1192, the kingship was put to the vote. To Richard's consternation, the barons of the Kingdom of Jerusalem unanimously elected Conrad as King. Richard sold Guy

1771-464: The Egyptians threatened to kill him. Conrad declared that William had lived a long life already, and aimed at him with a crossbow himself. Saladin allegedly said, " This man is an unbeliever and very cruel ". But he had succeeded in calling Saladin's bluff: the old Marquis William was released, unharmed, at Tortosa in 1188, and returned to his son. On 30 December, Conrad's forces launched a dawn raid on

1848-489: The Franks, Conrad of Montferrat—God damn him!—was killed," wrote Ibn al-Athir . Certainly, the loss of a potentially formidable king was a blow to the kingdom. The murder remains unsolved. Under torture, the surviving Assassin claimed that Richard was behind the killing, but that is impossible to prove. A less likely suspect was Humphrey IV of Toron , Isabella's first husband. Saladin's involvement has also been alleged, as Conrad

1925-520: The Great was spared. Although the capital had exempted itself, the Alamanikon continued to be collected in the provinces. The total collection came to 7,000 pounds of silver and some gold, but because of the death of Henry VI on 28 September 1197 the tribute was never sent. Although later chroniclers, such as Niketas Choniates , claimed that Henry's crusade was actually intended to subjugate Byzantium, there

2002-565: The Lionheart , which derived some of its plotlines loosely from Scott's The Talisman . In the more faithful 1980–1981 BBC serialisation of The Talisman , he was played by Richard Morant . In painting and drawing, Conrad figures in a small contemporary manuscript sketch of his ship sailing to Tyre in the Annals of Genoa , and various illustrations to Scott's The Talisman . There is an imaginary portrait of him, c. 1843, by François-Édouard Picot for

2079-561: The Old French Continuation of William of Tyre , Reginald of Sidon had taken charge in Tyre and was in the process of negotiating its surrender with Saladin. Conrad allegedly threw Saladin's banners into the ditch, and made the Tyrians swear total loyalty to him. His rise to power seems to have been less dramatic in reality. Reginald went to refortify his own castle of Belfort on the Litani River . With

2156-520: The Russian-born French novelist Zoé Oldenbourg gives him a more positive but fleeting cameo-role— proud, strong, and as handsome as Choniates described him—in her 1946 novel Argile et Cendres ( Clay and Ashes , published in English as The World Is Not Enough in 1948). He is the hero of Luigi Gabotto 's 1968 novel Corrado di Monferrato , which covers his whole career. Another sympathetic portrayal

2233-524: The baptismal name "Maria"), Isaac II had two sons: Conrad of Montferrat Conrad of Montferrat ( Italian : Corrado del Monferrato ; Piedmontese : Conrà ëd Monfrà ) (died 28 April 1192) was a nobleman, one of the major participants in the Third Crusade . He was the de facto King of Jerusalem (as Conrad I ) by virtue of his marriage to Isabella I of Jerusalem from 24 November 1190, but officially elected only in 1192, days before his death. He

2310-713: The churches of his metropolis. In 1185, the Empire lost Lefkada , Kefallonia , and Zakynthos to the Normans . In the same year the Vlach–Bulgarian Empire was restored after the rebellion of the brothers Asen and Peter , thus losing Moesia and parts of Thrace and Macedonia. After that Cilicia was retaken by the Armenians , and Cyprus wrested from the empire by the Crusaders . Isaac II's first wife's name, Herina (i.e., Irene),

2387-512: The city of Philippopolis and defeated a Byzantine army of 3,000 men that attempted to recapture the city. The Byzantine troops managed to constantly and successfully harass the Crusaders but a group of Armenians revealed to the Germans the strategic plan of the Byzantines. The Crusaders, who outnumbered the Byzantines, caught them unprepared and defeated them. Thus compelled by force of arms, Isaac II

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2464-440: The eldest, William , had been the first husband of Sibylla and father of Baldwin V of Jerusalem . Conrad was also briefly Marquis of Montferrat , following his father's death in 1191. In Montferrat he was succeeded by Boniface, but his own heiress was born posthumously: a daughter Maria of Montferrat , 'La Marquise', who in 1205 became Queen of Jerusalem on Isabella's death, but died young in childbirth. Conrad's ex-wife, Theodora,

2541-418: The enemy: Hugh of Tiberias distinguished himself in the battle. Saladin was forced to pull back yet again, burning his siege engines and ships to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. In summer 1188, Saladin released king Guy of Lusignan , the husband of Queen Sibylla , from captivity. A year later, in 1189, Guy, accompanied by his brother Geoffrey , appeared at Tyre and demanded that Conrad hand over

2618-522: The era in which he was born, it was a margraviate of the Kingdom of Italy in the Holy Roman Empire . The exact place and year are unknown. He is first mentioned in a charter in 1160, when serving at the court of his maternal uncle, Conrad , Bishop of Passau , later Archbishop of Salzburg . (He may have been named after him, or after his mother's half-brother, Conrad III of Germany .) A handsome man, with great personal courage and intelligence, he

2695-762: The establishment of the Vlach-Bulgarian Empire under the Asen dynasty . In 1187 Alexios Branas , the victor over the Normans, was sent against the Bulgarians but turned his arms against his master and attempted to seize Constantinople, only to be defeated and slain by Isaac's brother-in-law Conrad of Montferrat. Also in 1187 an agreement was made with Venice , in which the Venetian Republic would provide between 40 and 100 galleys at six months' notice in exchange for favorable trading concessions. Because each Venetian galley

2772-519: The expedition and ordered Isaac to be blinded and imprisoned in Constantinople. In 1203, after eight years of captivity, Isaac II was raised from the dungeon to the throne once more after the arrival of the Fourth Crusade and the flight of Alexios III from the capital. Both his mind and body had been enfeebled by his blindness and confinement, and his son Alexios IV Angelos was associated on

2849-502: The flower of his body's strength". In the winter of 1186–1187, Isaac II Angelus offered his sister Theodora, as a bride to Conrad's younger brother Boniface , to renew the Byzantine alliance with Montferrat, but Boniface was married. Conrad, recently widowed, had taken the cross, intending to join his father in the Kingdom of Jerusalem ; instead, he accepted Isaac's offer and returned to Constantinople in spring 1187. On his marriage, he

2926-407: The grounds that Isabella had been under-age at the time of the marriage and had not been able to give consent. Conrad then married Isabella himself, despite rumours of bigamy because of his marriage to Theodora, who was still alive. However, Choniates, who usually expresses strong disapproval of marital/sexual irregularities, makes no mention of this. This may imply that a divorce had been effected from

3003-547: The horses of Saladin's army stabled (and urinating) in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre , and another of a Saracen slapping Christ's face. In November 1187, Saladin returned for a second siege of Tyre . Conrad was still in command of the city, which was now heavily fortified and filled with Christian refugees from across the north of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. This time Saladin opted for a combined ground and naval assault, setting up

3080-532: The keys to the city to him. Conrad refused this demand, and declared that Guy had forfeited his rights to be king of Jerusalem at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. He said that he was holding the city until the arrival of the kings from Europe. By this, he was invoking the terms of Baldwin IV's will, terms already broken by Guy and Sibylla: in the event of the death of his nephew Baldwin V of Jerusalem it had been Baldwin's will that Baldwin V's " most rightful heirs " were to hold

3157-406: The lordship of Cyprus , where he continued to use a king's title, to compensate him and to deter him from returning to Poitou, where his family had long had a reputation for rebelliousness. Richard's nephew Henry II of Champagne brought the news of the election result to Tyre on 24 April and returned to Acre. However, Conrad was never crowned. Around late morning or noon on 28 April, Isabella, who

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3234-606: The noble defender of Tyre—the " Marqués valens e pros " ("the valiant and worthy Marquis") as Peirol called him. In Carmina Burana 50: Heu, voce flebili cogor enarrare , he is described as " marchio clarissimus, vere palatinus " ("the most famous Marquis, truly a paladin"). However, subsequently, the long-term prejudice of popular English-language writing towards Richard I and his "Lionheart" myth has adversely affected portrayals of Conrad in English-language fiction and film. Because Richard (and his chroniclers) opposed his claim to

3311-453: The provinces. After abandoning the planned tax, Alexios tried to collect those gold and silver objects of the churches' that were not used in services. The clergy continued to resist, this being the only time in Alexios's reign that they opposed him. Alexios finally abandoned the idea of a tax on the capital and took the gold and silver from the tombs of his predecessors . Only that of Constantine

3388-732: The regency until the succession could be settled by Henry II of England , Philip II of France , and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I . Conrad would not allow Guy and Sibylla to enter the city, but did allow them to camp outside Tyre's walls with their retainers. Conrad was persuaded by his cousin once-removed, Louis III, Landgrave of Thuringia , to join Guy in the Siege of Acre in 1189. The siege lasted for over two years. In summer 1190, Conrad travelled north to Antioch to lead another young kinsman, Frederick of Swabia , safely back to Acre with

3465-607: The remnants of his cousin Frederick Barbarossa's imperial army. When Queen Sibylla and their daughters died of disease later that year, King Guy no longer had a legal claim to the throne—but refused to step aside. The heiress of Jerusalem was Queen Sibylla's half-sister Isabella , who was married to Humphrey IV of Toron , of whom she was fond. However, Conrad had the support of her mother Maria Comnena and stepfather Balian of Ibelin , as well as Reginald of Sidon and other major nobles of Outremer. They obtained an annulment on

3542-509: The scene of the attack or in a nearby church, within a very short time. Richard's chroniclers claimed that he was taken home, received the last rites, and urged Isabella to give the city over only to Richard or his representative, but that deathbed scene is open to doubt. He was buried in Tyre, in the Church of the Hospitallers. "[T]he Frankish marquis, the ruler of Tyre, and the greatest devil of all

3619-461: The ship's crew and treasure to be returned, he was rebuffed and so a death sentence was issued for Conrad of Montferrat. However, the letter is believed to have been forged. Sinan was already dead, and apart from that letter and the chronicle entries based upon it, there is no other evidence for the Assassins being involved in shipping. The timing of the murder and its consequences (the pregnant Isabella

3696-504: The son of this one, Andronicus Paleologus Comnenoducas is known as gambrox ( γαμβρός ) of Isaac II. Isaac's wife was possibly daughter of Andronikos I Komnenos, Byzantine Emperor (died 1185). A potential foreign origin is also given to her due to having the same name as her daughter, contrary to long-standing Greek custom. Their third child was born in 1182 or 1183 and she was dead or divorced by 1185, when Isaac remarried. Their children were: By his second wife, Margaret of Hungary (who took

3773-528: The struggles with the Lombard League . He first married an unidentified lady before 1179, but she was dead by the end of 1186, without leaving any surviving issue. In 1179, following the family's alliance with Manuel I Comnenos , Conrad led an army against Frederick Barbarossa's forces, then commanded by the imperial Chancellor, Archbishop Christian of Mainz . He defeated them at Camerino in September, taking

3850-531: The support of the established Italian merchant communities in the city, Conrad re-organised the defence of Tyre, setting up a commune , similar to those he had so often fought against in Italy. When Saladin's army arrived they found the city well-defended and defiant. As the chronicler Ibn al-Athir wrote of the man the Arabs came to respect and fear as al-Markis : "He was a devil incarnate in his ability to govern and defend

3927-475: The throne as the effective monarch. Heavily beholden to the crusaders, Alexios IV was unable to meet his obligations and his vacillation caused him to lose the support of both his crusader allies and his subjects. At the end of January 1204 the influential court official Alexios Doukas Mourtzouphlos took advantage of riots in the capital to imprison Alexios IV and seize the throne as Alexios V. At this point Isaac II died, allegedly of shock, while Alexios IV

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4004-499: The throne, he is generally depicted negatively, even when Richard himself is treated with some scepticism. A rare exception to this is the epic poem Cœur de Lion (1822), by Eleanor Anne Porden , in which he is depicted as a tragic Byronic hero . An entirely fictionalised, unambiguously wicked version of Conrad appears in Walter Scott 's The Talisman , misspelled as 'Conrade of Montserrat' (the novelist apparently misreading 'f' as

4081-594: The treasure plundered from Acre to Conrad, along with all his prominent Muslim hostages. King Richard asked Conrad to hand over the hostages, but Conrad refused as long as he could. After he finally relented (since Richard was now leader of the Crusade), Richard had all the hostages killed. Conrad did not join Richard on campaign to the south, preferring to remain with his wife Isabella in Tyre—believing his life to be in danger. It

4158-451: The weary Egyptian sailors, capturing many of their galleys. The remaining Egyptian ships tried to escape to Beirut, but the Tyrian ships gave chase, and the Egyptians were forced to beach their ships and flee. Saladin then launched an assault on the landward walls, thinking that the defenders were still distracted by the sea battle. However, Conrad led his men in a charge out of the gates and broke

4235-550: Was a member of the extended imperial clan of the Komnenoi . Niketas Choniates described Isaac's physical appearance: "He had a ruddy complexion and red hair, was of average height and robust in body". During the brief reign of Andronikos I Komnenos , Isaac was involved (alongside his father and brothers) in the revolt of Nicaea and Prousa . Atypically, the Emperor did not punish him for this disloyalty, and Isaac remained at Constantinople . On 11 September 1185, while Andronikos

4312-550: Was absent from the capital, his lieutenant Stephen Hagiochristophorites moved to arrest Isaac. Isaac killed Hagiochristophorites and took refuge in the church of Hagia Sophia . Andronikos was a capable ruler in some ways but was hated for his cruelty and his efforts to keep the aristocracy obedient. Isaac appealed to the populace, and a tumult arose that spread rapidly over the whole city. When Andronikos returned he found that he had lost popular support, and that Isaac had been proclaimed emperor. Andronikos attempted to flee by boat but

4389-506: Was also the eighth Marquess of Montferrat from 1191. Conrad was the second son of Marquess William V of Montferrat , "the Elder", and his wife Judith of Babenberg . He was a first cousin of Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor , as well as Louis VII of France and Leopold V of Austria . Conrad was born in Montferrat , which is now a region of Piedmont , in northwest Italy ; during

4466-453: Was apprehended. Isaac handed him over to the people of the city, and he was killed on 12 September 1185. Isaac II Angelos strengthened his position as emperor with dynastic marriages in 1185 and 1186. Isaac's sister Theodora was married to the Italian marquis Conrad of Montferrat . In January 1186, Isaac himself married Margaret of Hungary (renamed Maria), daughter of King Béla III . Hungary

4543-423: Was awarded the rank of Caesar . However, almost immediately, he had to help the Emperor defend his throne against a revolt, led by General Alexios Branas . According to Choniates, Conrad inspired the weak Emperor to take the initiative. He fought without shield or helmet and wore a linen cuirass instead of mail in the battle in which Branas was killed. He was slightly wounded in the shoulder, but unhorsed Branas, who

4620-671: Was conducted by Philip of Dreux , Bishop of Beauvais —son of Conrad's cousin Robert I of Dreux . Conrad was now de jure King of Jerusalem . However, he had been wounded in battle only nine days previously, and returned with his bride to Tyre to recover. He came back to the siege in spring, making an unsuccessful sea-attack against the Tower of Flies at the harbour entrance. As Guy was a vassal of Richard I, King of England for his lands in Poitou , Richard supported him in this political struggle, while Conrad

4697-611: Was described in the Historia brevis occupationis et amissionis Terrae Sanctae ("A Short History of the Occupation and Loss of the Holy Land"): Conrad was vigorous in arms, extremely clever both in natural mental ability and by learning, amiable in character and deed, endowed with all the human virtues, supreme in every council, the fair hope of his own side and a blazing lightning-bolt to the foe, capable of pretence and dissimulation in politics, educated in every language, in respect of which he

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4774-432: Was dominated by two figures: his maternal uncle Theodore Kastamonites , who became virtually a co-emperor and handled all civil government until his death in 1193; and his replacement, Constantine Mesopotamites , who acquired even more influence over the emperor. The oppressiveness of his taxes, increased to pay his armies and finance his marriage, resulted in a Vlach-Bulgarian uprising late in 1185. The rebellion led to

4851-420: Was fleeing vengeance after committing a private murder: this is due to a failure to recognise Branas's name, garbled into "Lyvernas" in the Old French Continuation of William of Tyre (sometimes known as The Chronicle of Ernoul ), and Roger of Howden 's abridgement of his own Gesta regis Henrici Secundi (formerly attributed to Benedict of Peterborough ). Roger had initially referred to Conrad "having slain

4928-464: Was forced to fulfill his engagements in 1190, when he released imprisoned German emissaries who were held in Constantinople, and exchanged hostages with Barbarossa, as a guarantee that the crusaders would not sack local settlements until they departed the Byzantine territory. In March 1190, Barbarossa left Adrianople to Gallipoli at the Hellespont to embark to Asia Minor. In 1191, Isaac II launched

5005-574: Was in the middle of negotiations with him, but this also seems unlikely as Saladin himself apparently had no love for the Hashshashin. In 1970, Patrick A. Williams argued a plausible case for Henry of Champagne 's guilt, but if so, it is difficult to imagine him taking such a bold step without his uncle Richard's approval. Later, while returning from the crusade in disguise, King Richard was first recognized by Meinhard II of Görz and then imprisoned by Conrad's cousin, Leopold V of Austria . Conrad's murder

5082-467: Was manned by 140 oarsmen, there were about 18,000 Venetians still in the Empire even after Manuel I 's arrests. The Emperor's attention was next demanded in the east, where several claimants to the throne successively rose and fell. In 1189 the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa sought and obtained permission to lead his troops on the Third Crusade through the Byzantine Empire . But Isaac

5159-479: Was married off to Henry of Champagne only seven days later, much to the disgust of Muslim commentators) suggest that the chief motive may be sought in Frankish politics. Conrad's brother Boniface was the leader of the Fourth Crusade and a notable patron of troubadours , as was their sister Azalaïs, Marchioness of Saluzzo . Their youngest brother Renier was a son-in-law of Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus , and

5236-412: Was one of the Empire's largest and most powerful neighbours, and Margaret also had the benefit of high aristocratic descent, being related to the royal families of Kyiv , the Holy Roman Empire , Italy , Provence , and earlier Byzantine dynasties. Sometime after 1191, his niece Eudokia Angelina was married to Stefan , son of Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja of Serbia . Isaac inaugurated his reign with

5313-469: Was one of the charges against him. Richard requested for the Assassins to vindicate him, and in a letter, allegedly from their leader, Rashid al-Din Sinan , they appeared to do so. The letter claimed that in 1191, Conrad had captured an Assassin ship that had sought refuge in Tyre during a storm. He killed the captain, imprisoned the crew, and stripped the ship of its treasure. When Rashid al-Din Sinan requested for

5390-455: Was pregnant, was late in returning from the hammam to dine with him and so he went to eat at the house of his kinsman and friend, Philip, Bishop of Beauvais. The bishop had already eaten, so Conrad returned home. On his way, he was attacked by two Assassins , who stabbed him at least twice in the side and back. His guards killed one of his attackers and captured the other. It is not certain how long Conrad survived. Some sources claimed he died at

5467-515: Was probably around this time that Conrad's father died. During that winter, Conrad opened direct negotiations with Saladin, suspecting that Richard's next move would be to attempt to wrest Tyre from him and restore it to the royal domain for Guy. His primary aim was to be recognised as ruler in the north, while Saladin (who was simultaneously negotiating with Richard for a possible marriage between his brother Al-Adil and Richard's widowed sister Joan, Dowager Queen of Sicily ) hoped to separate him from

5544-485: Was regarded by the less articulate to be extremely fluent. In one thing alone was he regarded as blameworthy: that he had seduced another's wife away from her living husband, and made her separate from him, and married her himself. (The last sentence refers to his third marriage to Isabella of Jerusalem in 1190, for which see below.) He was active in diplomacy from his twenties, and became an effective military commander, campaigning alongside other members of his family in

5621-413: Was still living in the mid-late 1190s, when she was having the monastery of Dalmatios converted into a convent, possibly for her own residence. The Monferrine court was Occitan in its literary culture, and provided patronage to numerous troubadours. Bertran de Born and Peirol mention Conrad in songs composed at the time of the Third Crusade (see external links below). He was seen as a heroic figure,

5698-447: Was strangled. Several pretenders rose up and attempted to wrest the throne from Isaac during his reign. These included: Isaac has the reputation as one of the most unsuccessful rulers to occupy the Byzantine throne. Surrounded by a crowd of slaves, mistresses, and flatterers, he permitted his empire to be administered by unworthy favourites, while he squandered the money wrung from his provinces on costly buildings and expensive gifts to

5775-614: Was supported by his cousin Leopold V of Austria and cousin once-removed Philip II, King of France . Conrad acted as chief negotiator in the surrender of Acre, and raised the kings' banners in the city. Afterwards, the parties attempted to come to an agreement. Guy was confirmed as king of Jerusalem, and Conrad was made his heir. Conrad would retain the cities of Tyre , Beirut , and Sidon , and his heirs would inherit Jerusalem on Guy's death. In July 1191 Conrad's kinsman, King Philip, decided to return to France, but before he left he turned over half

5852-565: Was suspicious that Barbarossa wished to conquer Byzantium: the reasons for this suspicious attitude were the diplomatic contact of Frederick with the Bulgarians and the Serbians, foes of the Byzantine Empire during this period, and also Barbarossa's previous feud with Manuel. The rumors of 1160s about a German invasion in the Byzantine Empire were still remembered in the Byzantine court during Isaac's reign. In retaliation Barbarossa's army occupied

5929-460: Was then killed and beheaded by his bodyguards. However, feeling that his service had been insufficiently rewarded, wary of Byzantine anti-Latin sentiment (his youngest brother Renier had been murdered in 1182) and of possible vengeance-seeking by Branas's family, Conrad set off for the Kingdom of Jerusalem in July 1187 aboard a Genoese merchant vessel. Some popular modern histories have claimed that he

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