Alice of Champagne | |
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Alice of Champagne
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Queen consort of Cyprus | |
Tenure | 1210–1218 |
Regent of Cyprus | |
Tenure | 1218–1232 |
Regent of Jerusalem (together with Ralph of Nesle in 1243) |
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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.