Chapter 36 - Stephen Donnachie

Male Consorts and Royal Authority in the Crusader States

The Medieval Latin Christian polities founded in the Levant during the crusades repeatedly experienced the rise of women to the highest positions of political power as heiresses to these isolated states. Husbands for these heiresses had to be sought from western-Europe to provide the military leadership that these realms required to survive. However, these men were outsiders to their new kingdoms, and the process of their selection created a myriad of questions as to the validity of their reigns, for it was from their wives that their legitimacy as monarchs derived. It was imperative for these king-consorts to effectively establish their authority in their new realms, but consorts were caught between the conflicting needs to assert their own independent authority as monarchs and to work with their wives to govern their new kingdom. To overcome challenges to their kingship, these male consorts frequently employed similar techniques to bolster their own royal authority. However, while their different circumstances made their success variable, few could afford to rule independently as monarchs in their own right, and they consistently needed the support and presence of their wives to legitimise their position.

By Stephen Donnachie

Stephen Donnachie

Stephen Donnachie received his PhD in medieval history from Swansea University. He has taught medieval and early-modern history at Swansea University, and has acted as editorial staff for the Royal Studies Journal. His research interests include the crusades, the history of the Latin East, and the medieval Mediterranean world.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Bresc-Bautier, Geneviève. Le Cartulaire du Chapitre du Saint-Sépulcre de Jérusalem. Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1984.

Greilsammer, Myriam. Le Livre au Roi. Paris: L’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 1995.

“L’Estoire de Eracles empereur et la conqueste de la terre d’Outremer.” In Recueil des Historiens des Croisades: Historiens Occidentaux, vol. 2. Paris, 1859.

Mayer, H. E., editor. Die Urkunden der lateinischen Könige von Jerusalem. 4 volumes. Hannover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 2010.

Röhricht, Reinhold, editor. Regesta Regni Hierosolymitani, MXCVII-MCCXCI. Innsbruck, 1893. Additamentum. Innsbruck, 1904.

Stubbs, William, editor. Chronicles and Memorials of the Reign of Richard I, vol. 1, Itinerarium Peregrinorum et gesta Regis Ricardi, auctore, ut videtur, Ricardo Canonico Sanctae Trinitatis Londoniensis. London: Longman, 1864.

William of Newburgh. “Historium Rerum Anglicarum.” In Chronicles of the reigns of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, vol. 1, edited by Richard Howlett. London: Longman, 1884.

William of Tyre. “Chronicon.” In Corpus Christianorum: Continuatio Mediaevalis 63, edited by R. B. C. Huygens, 2 volumes. Turnhout, 1986.

Secondary Sources

Asbridge, Thomas. “Alice of Antioch: Female Power in the Twelfth Century.” In The Experience of Crusading Vol. 2, edited by Peter Edbury and Jonathan Philips, 29-47. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Beem Charles, and Miles Taylor editors. The Man Behind the Queen: Male Consorts in History. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2014.

Buck, Andrew. The Principality of Antioch and its Frontiers in the Twelfth Century. Woodbridge: Boydell, 2017.

Donnachie, Stephen. “Crown and Baronage in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem after the Battle of Hattin, 1187-1228.” Medieval Prosopography 32 (2017): 87-124.

Dunbabin, Jean, France in the Making, 843-1180. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.

Duncan, Sarah. “̔He to be Intituled Kinge’: King Philip of England and the Anglo-Spanish Court.” In The Man Behind the Queen: Male Consorts in History, edited by Charles Beem and Miles Taylor, 55-80. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2014.

Earenfight, Theresa. “Without the Presence of the Prince: Kings, Queens and the idea of Monarchy in Late Medieval Europe.” Gender and History 19 (2007): 1-21.

Gerish, Deborah. “Gender Theory.” In Palgrave Advances in the Crusades, edited by Helen Nicholson, 130-47. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

Hamilton, Bernard. “King Consorts of Jerusalem and their Entourages from the West from 1186 to 1250.” In Die Kreuzfahrerstaaten als multikulturelle Gesellschaft, edited by H. E. Mayer, 13-24. Munich: Oldenbourg, 1997.

Hamilton, Bernard. The Leper King and his Heirs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Hamilton, Bernard. “Women in the Crusader States: The Queens of Jerusalem, 1100-1190.” In Medieval Women, edited by Derek Baker, 143-174. Oxford: Blackwell, 1978.

Hodgson, Natasha, Women, Crusading and the Holy Land in Historical Narrative. Woodbridge: Boydell, 2007.

Huneycutt, Lois. “Female Succession and the Language of Power in the writings of Twelfth-Century Churchmen.” In Medieval Queenship, edited by John Carmi Parsons, 189-201. Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 1998.

Lambert, Sarah. “Queen or Consort: Rulership and Politics in the Latin East, 1118-1228.” In Queens and Queenship in Medieval Europe, edited by Anne J. Duggan, 151-169. Woodbridge: Boydell, 1997.

Kantorowicz, Ernst. The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.

Mayer, Hans. “Angevins versus Normans: The New Men of King Fulk of Jerusalem.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 133 (1989): 1-25.

Mayer, Hans. “Studies in the History of Queen Melisende of Jerusalem.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 26 (1972): 92-182.

Mayer, Hans. “The Succession to Baldwin II of Jerusalem: English Impact on the East.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 39 (1985): 139-47.

Mayer, Hans. “The Wheel of Fortune: Seigneurial Vicissitudes under Kings Fulk and Baldwin III of Jerusalem.” Speculum 65 (1990): 860-877.

Murray, Alan V. “Women in the Royal Succession of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099-1291).” In Mächtige Frauen? Königinnen und Fürstinnen im europäischen Mittelalter (11.-14. Jahrhundert), edited by Claudia Zey, 131-61. Ostfildern: Thorbecke, 2015.

Naus, James. Constructing Kingship: The Capetian Monarchs of France and the Early Crusades. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016.

Perry, Guy. John of Brienne: King of Jerusalem, Emperor of Constantinople, c.1175-1237. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Philips, Jonathan. Defenders of the Holy Land: Relations between the Latin East and West 1119-1187. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.

Persson, Fabian. “From Ruler in the Shadows to Shadow King: Frederick I of Sweden.” In The Man Behind the Queen: Male Consorts in History, edited by Charles Beem and Miles Taylor, 93-102. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2014.

Runciman, Steven. A History of the Crusades, vol. 3, The Kingdom of Acre. London: Penguin, 2002.

Schein, Sylvia. “Women in Medieval Colonial Society: The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Twelfth Century.” In Gendering the Crusades, edited by Susan B. Edgington and Sarah Lambert, 140-53. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2001.

Woodacre, Elena. “Questionable Authority: Female Sovereigns and the Consorts in Medieval and Renaissance Chronicles.” In Authority and Gender in Medieval and Renaissance Chronicles, edited by Juliana Dresvina and Nichola Sparks, 367-406. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012.

Woodacre, Elena. “The Kings Consort of Navarre: 1284-1512.” In The Man Behind the Queen: Male Consorts in History, edited by Charles Beem and Miles Taylor, 11-31. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2014.

Annotated bibliography

Beem, C.; Miles, T. (eds.) (2014) The Man Behind the Queen: Male Consorts in History, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

This collection of articles examines the roles and actions of different male consorts in European monarchies from the medieval to modern periods. It offers a good overview of the different problems that male consorts experienced and how such consorts can be studied.

Hamilton, B. (2000) The Leper King and his Heirs, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

This is the most comprehensive study of the history of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem in the late-twelfth century, focusing upon the reigns of Baldwin IV and the accession of Guy de Lusignan and Sibylla. It contains a thorough analysis of the challenges that confronted the crown in relation to its heiresses and consorts at a crucial point in its existence.

Hamilton, B. (1978) ‘Women in the Crusader States: The Queens of Jerusalem, 1100-1190‘ in Medieval Women (ed.) Derek Baker, Oxford: Blackwell, 143-174.

This is, at present, the only collective study of the queens of the kingdom of Jerusalem in the twelfth century. It explores the different challenges encountered by the women who reigned as queens in Jerusalem, and their different approaches to ruling.

Hodgson, N. (2007) Women, Crusading and the Holy Land in Historical Narrative, Woodbridge: Boydell,
Narratives of crusading have often overlooked women, placing them into a minor role within the medieval movement. This work explores the perception and role of women within crusading narratives as well as the history of the Latin East, and it contains some excellent sections exploring women as queens, consorts, mothers, and wives, including their relationships with their husbands.
Kantorowicz, E. (1957) The King's Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

This is a ground-breaking book on the understanding of kingship and the difference between the body politic and the body natural of a monarch in the Middle Ages.

Lambert, S. (1997) ‘Queen or Consort: Rulership and Politics in the Latin East, 1118-1228‘ in Queens and Queenship in Medieval Europe (ed.) Anne J. Duggan, Woodbridge: Boydell, 151-169.
This article examines the changes in the political role of queens within the kingdom of Jerusalem, assessing the effectiveness of their rule in the twelfth century and how that steadily diminished into the thirteenth.
Mayer, H. E. (1989) ̔Angevins versus Normans: The New Men of King Fulk of Jerusalem,‘ Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 133: 1-25.
This article explores ho the first king-consort of Jerusalem, Fulk of Anjou, established his own Angevin supporters in power and how this in turn brought about a baronial rebellion from the native Jerusalemite barons.
Mayer, H. E. (1985) ‘The Succession to Baldwin II of Jerusalem: English Impact on the East,’ Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 39: 139-47.

This study explores the inheritance issues surrounding the succession of the first female monarch in the Latin East, and how examples of contemporary female succession in the Latin West may have influenced it.

Naus, J. (2016) Constructing Kingship: The Capetian Monarchs of France and the Early Crusades, Manchester: Manchester University Press.

This insightful study explores how the act of crusading became an integral part of western medieval kingship over the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries within the context of the kings of France.

Reading List (for classroom use)

Bertelli, S. (2001) The King's Body: The Sacred Rituals of Power in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.

A general study exploring the idea of the king’s body and its importance for sacred rituals and political power. It offers a good start for discussions of the importance of symbolism and rituals in the practice of kingship.

Greilsammer, M. (1995) Le Livre au Roi. Paris: L’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.

One of the earliest legal texts produced in the Latin East, it was commissioned under the reign of a male consort, and details the rights and responsibilities of the crown. The context of its production and the laws it contains are useful for discussion of the fears and needs of medieval society in the Latin East.

Keywords

Baldwin II of Jerusalem; Fulk V of Anjou; Melisende of Jerusalem; Amalric of Jerusalem; Baldwin IV of Jerusalem; Guy de Lusignan; Sibylla of Jerusalem; Conrad of Montferrat; Henry II of Champagne; Aimery de Lusignan; John of Brienne; Maria of Jerusalem; Isabella I of Jerusalem; Isabella II of Jerusalem; Frederick II Hohenstaufen; Bohemond II of Antioch; Alice of Antioch; Alice of Champagne; Constance of Antioch; Raymond of Poitiers; Philip of Antioch; Aimery of Limoges; Baldwin of Marash; Reynald of Marash; Geoffrey de Lusignan; Hugh Martin; Milo Breban; Villain d’Aulnay; Thierry de Dendermonde; Thierry d’Orgue; Aymar de Lairon; Guy Brisebarre; William of Buris; William of Tyre; Peter II of Aragon; Ralph of Soissons; Philip of Habsburg; Frederick I of Sweden; Robert de Craon; William IX of Aquitaine; Humphrey IV of Toron; William of Valence; Joscelin III of Edessa; Hubert Nepos; Henry de Canelli; Ansaldo Buonvicino; Pagan of Haifa; Balian of Ibelin; Reynald of Sidon; Frederick VI of Swabia; Richard I of England; Philip II of France; Frederick I Barbarossa; Leopold V of Austria

Jerusalem; Antioch; Cyprus; Champagne; Anjou; Cilician-Armenia; Poitou; Acre; Adelon; Arsuf; Bethlehem; Caesarea; Tyre; Latakiah; Aleppo; Navarre; Hebron; Marash

Crusades; Latin East; Consort

Related Chapters

Hélder Carvalhal: Kingship and Masculinity in Renaissance Portugal (Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries) (See Chapter 18)

Paul Webster: Faith, Power and Charity: Personal Religion and Kingship in Medieval England (See Chapter 12)

Derek Whaley: From a Salic Law to the Salic Law: The Creation and Re-Creation of the Royal Succession System of Medieval France (See Chapter 26)

Genealogy of Baldwin II of Jerusalem

Download PDF (50KB)

Map of Crusader States