Alice of Champagne

Alice of Champagne
Alice of Champagne
Queen consort of Cyprus
Tenure	1210–1218
Regent of Cyprus
Tenure	1218–1232
Regent of Jerusalem (together with Ralph of Nesle in 1243)
Tenure	1243–1246
Born	c. 1193
Died	1246
Spouse	Hugh I, King of Cyprus Bohemond V, Prince of Antioch Ralph of Nesle
Issue	Mary Isabella Henry I, King of Cyprus
House	House of Blois
Father	Henry II, Count of Champagne
Mother	Isabella I, Queen of Jerusalem

Alice of Champagne (c. 1193 – 1246) was the Queen consort of Cyprus from 1210 to 1218, regent of Cyprus from 1218 to 1223, and of Jerusalem from 1243 to 1246. She was the eldest daughter of Henry II, Count of Champagne, and Isabella I of Jerusalem. In 1210, Alice married her step-brother, Hugh I of Cyprus for which she received the County of Jaffa as dowry. After her husband's death in 1218, she assumed the regency for their infant son, Henry I of Cyprus. In time, she began seeking contacts within her father's counties in France to bolster her claim to Champagne and Brie against her cousin, Theobald IV of Champagne. However, the kings of France never acknowledged her claim.

After a dispute with Philip of Ibelin, bailli of Cyprus in 1223, she left the island. She married Bohemond, heir to Prince of Antioch and Count of Tripoli, but their marriage was annulled because of kinship. She laid claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem against the infant Conrad (the son of her niece, Isabella II of Jerusalem and the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II) who was absent from the kingdom in 1229, but the High Court of Jerusalem rejected her claim. When her son reached the age of majority in 1232, Alice abdicated her regency and departed for France to claim Champagne and Brie. She would subsequently renounce her claim and returned to the Holy Land.