John of Arsuf

John of Ibelin (c. 1211–1258) was the Lord of Arsuf (or Arsur) from 1236 and Constable of Jerusalem from 1251. He was a younger son of John I of Beirut. His elder brother, Balian, inherited Beirut. He served as regent of Jerusalem on two occasions: 1253–1254 for Conrad II and 1256–1258 for Conrad III. He was lieutenant for the regent on three occasions: 1247–1248 and 1249–1252 for Henry I of Cyprus and 1258 for Plaisance of Antioch.

John strengthened the existing fortifications of Arsuf in 1241. In that year he co-signed a letter with his brother, Philip of Montfort, and Geoffrey of Estraing to the Emperor Frederick II, nominal regent of Jerusalem. The letter, which had the encouragement of Richard of Cornwall behind it, proposed that Frederick pardon all baronial rebels and create Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, bailiff. The barons would in turn swear oaths to Simon and recognise his authority until the young king, Conrad II, came of age (1243). It was refused.

John, like his father, was learned in law and he re-used some of the legal arguments which his father had employed in his long career. In February 1251, shortly after becoming the lieutenant (bailli) of Jerusalem on behalf of the regent, Henry of Cyprus, John called a council of liegemen in the palace of his relatives, the lords of Beirut, in Acre. There he proposed that the courts employ scribes to keep written records in the French language and that the Haute Cour of Jerusalem should do the same, sealing their records in a locked chest, the keys to which were to be held by the regent or his lieutenant and two elected liegemen. These reforms were accepted by the barons. The reform of the burgess court was enacted by 1269, but the reform of the Haute Cour was put off until 1286.

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