Alice
was the daughter of Queen Isabella and her second husband Henry
of Champagne. She was the sister of Philippa of Champagne, and
half sister of Maria of Montferrat, and Sibylla and Melisende of
Lusignan.
Alice married
(1208) Hugues, son of Amaury
of Cyprus/Amaury II of Jerusalem (also her step-brother as
his father was her mother's third husband), the arrangements
being made by her grandmother Maria Comnena and dowry provided
by Blanche of Navarre, Countess of Champagne. She was the mother
of Henri I of Cyprus, and Isabella and
at least one other daughter.
Her husband
Hugues took over government of Cyprus (1210/11) from his sister
Burgundia and her husband Gautier de Montbeliard, who were
regents during his minority. Both she and her husband were
crowned in Nicosia. Although there is no evidence that their
marriage was stormy, her husband Hugues was a young man with a
fiery temper, and his relations with the papacy, his vassals,
and the church were constantly stormy. Her husband was devoted
to providing firm government and order in Cyprus. Hugues went to
Acre with troops from Cyprus (Sept 1217) and left for Tripoli
with the crusading army (3 Nov 1217) under King Andras (Andrew)
of Hungary.
After the
sudden death of her husband Hugues at Tripoli (10 Jan 1218), Alice
acted as regent for her 8 month old son Henri in Cyprus (1218).
Alice was also the aunt of Yolanda (1225), the daughter of her
half-sister Maria of Montferrat, and titular Queen of Jerusalem.
She entrusted the government of Cyprus to her uncle Philip of
Ibelin, but relations between the two were far from happy, and
she constantly insisted that her wishes not taken into
consideration. The open breach was not far in the coming (1223),
and Alice retired angry to Tripoli. It was in Tripoli that Alice
met and married Bohemond V, the eldest surviving son of Bohemond
IV of Antioch. Alice attempted to appoint her new husband as
"Bailli" (Constable) - but this was not accepted by
the nobles. She then offered the position to Amaury of Barlais,
however, John of Ibelin was confirmed in his appointment as
"Bailli" of Cyprus (1227).
In Jerusalem,
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor was recognized as suzerain but
not regent of Cyprus (1228) in his capacity as the husband of
the young Queen Yolanda. On the death of Yolanda, Alice
travelled to Acre to put forward her claim to Crown of Jerusalem
(1229). By now Alice was divorced (1229) on grounds of
consanguinity (she and Bohemond were third cousins), and her
claims to the throne of Jerusalem were rejected. Alice became
reconciled with her Ibelin cousins. She married Ralph, Count of
Soissons (1240). As she was the great-aunt of King Conrad of
Germany, who succeeded to the throne of Jerusalem but who had
failed to come East to accept throne, Alice was entrusted with
regency of Jerusalem (1243) - she was then aged 50. The regency
passed to her son and heir Henri I, King
of Cyprus, on her death (1246).
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