Bohemond III, Prince of Antioch

Bohemond III
Bohemond in Jerusalem
Prince of Antioch
Reign	1163–1201
Predecessor	Constance
Successor	Bohemond IV
Born	c. 1148
Died	April 1201 (aged 52–53)
Spouse	Orgueilleuse of Harenc Theodora Sybil
Issue	Raymond Bohemond IV of Antioch William
House	House of Poitiers
Father	Raymond of Poitiers
Mother	Constance of Antioch
Religion	Catholicism

Bohemond III of Antioch, also known as Bohemond the Child or the Stammerer (French: Bohémond le Bambe or le Baube; c. 1148–1201), was Prince of Antioch from 1163 to 1201. He was the elder son of Constance of Antioch and her first husband, Raymond of Poitiers. Bohemond ascended to the throne after the Antiochene noblemen dethroned his mother with the assistance of Thoros II, Lord of Armenian Cilicia. He fell into captivity in the Battle of Artah in 1164, but the victorious Nur ad-Din, atabeg of Aleppo released him to avoid coming into conflict with the Byzantine Empire. Bohemond went to Constantinople to pay homage to Manuel I Komnenos, who persuaded him to install a Greek Orthodox Patriarch in Antioch. The Latin Patriarch of Antioch, Aimery of Limoges, placed Antioch under interdict. Bohemond restored Aimery only after the Greek patriarch died during an earthquake in 1170.

Bohemond remained a close ally of the Byzantine Empire. He fought against Mleh, Lord of Armenian Cilicia, assisting in the restoration of Byzantine rule in the Cilician plain. He also made alliances with the Muslim rulers of Aleppo and Damascus against Saladin, who had begun to unite the Muslim countries along the borders of the crusader states. Since Bohemond repudiated his second wife and married an Antiochene lady, Patriarch Aimery excommunicated him in 1180.