Hugh II of Cyprus

Hugh II (Template:Langx; Template:Circa December 1252 – November or 5 December 1267) was the king of Cyprus and lord of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He succeeded to the throne of Cyprus when his father, King Henry I, died shortly after his birth; the infant king's mother, Plaisance of Antioch, took up the government as regent. In 1258 he was recognized as the heir presumptive to–and regent for–King Conrad III of Jerusalem. After the death of Queen Plaisance in 1261, Hugh's cousin Hugh of Antioch was recognized as the new regent. Hugh died shortly before he was to reach the age of majority, which spelled the end of the first Lusignan dynasty in Cyprus. He was succeeded by Hugh of Antioch.

Birth

Hugh was the only child of Henry I, king of Cyprus and lord of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and Henry's third wife, Plaisance of Antioch. He was born after November or December 1252; his father died on 18 January 1253, and there is no evidence suggesting that Hugh was born posthumously.Template:Sfn Henry had been obeseTemplate:Sfn and had apparently been expected to die childless.Template:Sfn Hugh's birth prompted John of Ibelin to scramble to have the pope recognize his title to the County of Jaffa, given to him by Henry; he may have feared that Hugh would one day challenge the legality of the grant.Template:Sfn

Reign

Regencies

Hugh succeeded his father, Henry, as king of Cyprus.Template:Sfn Hugh's mother, Queen Plaisance, was at once recognized by the High Court as his guardian and regent of the kingdom.Template:Sfn In the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a legal principle established in 1243 held that the regency on behalf of the absent king–then Conrad II, who lived in EuropeTemplate:Sfn–should belong to his nearest relative in the Latin East who laid a claim to it; on this basis it had been conferred on Hugh's grandmother Queen Alice and after her death on his father, King Henry.Template:Sfn This became complicated after Henry's death because now the new nearest relative, Hugh, was himself a minor.Template:Sfn The government of the mainland kingdom then fell to John of Arsuf as bailli. Conrad II died in 1254 and was succeeded by his infant son Conrad III.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 1256 Queen Plaisance sent envoys to King Henry III of England proposing that she marry Henry's son Edmund and that Hugh marry Henry's daughter Beatrice.Template:Sfn This scheme failed, probably because of the attempt to place Edmund on the throne of Sicily.Template:Sfn

In the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a war raged between the Knights Templar, the Venetians, and the Pisans on one side and the Knights Hospitaller, the Genoese, and the Catalans on the other. Queen Plaisance's brother, Bohemond VI, prince of Antioch and count of Tripoli, decided to intervene. On 1 February 1258, he brought Hugh and Plaisance to its capital, Acre. At a general assembly of the barons, the military orders, the communes, and the burghers, Bohemond argued for the recognition of Hugh as the heir presumptive to Conrad and lord of the kingdom and of Plaisance as his bailli. The masters of the Temple and the Teutonic Order, the barons, and the representatives of the Venetian and Pisan communes swore fealty to Hugh, but the Hospitallers, the Genoese, and the Catalans refused. Having failed to achieve peace, Bohemond took Plaisance and Hugh to Tripoli, from where they returned to Cyprus.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

King Hugh's mother, Queen Plaisance, died in September 1261.Template:Sfn His closest relative and heir presumptive was his only surviving aunt, Isabella.Template:Sfn Her son, Hugh of Antioch, succeeded Plaisance as regent of Cyprus, while Isabella claimed the bailliage of Jerusalem.Template:Sfn Because she failed to bring Hugh II before the High Court of Jerusalem when laying claim to the bailliage, Isabella's powers were restrictedTemplate:Sfn and the High Court refused to do homage and fealty to her.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn After Isabella's death in 1264, the bailliage was claimed by Hugh of Antioch and another cousin of Hugh II, Hugh of Brienne, whose mother, Maria, was the elder sister of King Henry and Isabella. Hugh of Antioch obtained the office on the basis of being the elder of Hugh II's cousins and the son of the previous bailli.Template:Sfn

Thomas Aquinas, the most famed Christian philosopher of the 13th century, wrote the tractate De regno, ad regem Cypri in 1265-66 and addressed it to King Hugh II.Template:Efn Thomas was a proponent of absolute monarchy and may have hoped to influence the young king at a time when his cousin and regent, Hugh of Antioch, was struggling to control the barons of Cyprus. The book was never finished probably because of the early death of Hugh II.Template:Sfn

Marriage and succession

By May 1265, a marriage was being planned between Hugh and Isabella of Ibelin, lady of Beirut.Template:Sfn On 21 May, Pope Clement IV granted a dispensation, which was necessary because Hugh and Isabella were fourth cousins.Template:Sfn Only one near-contemporary source, the Lignages d'Outremer, states that the marriage was concluded.Template:Sfn They had no children, and probably did not consummate their union.Template:Sfn

Hugh died in November or on 5 December 1267,Template:Sfn shortly before he was to reach his majority on his fifteenth birthday. The preparations for his marriage with Isabella of Ibelin suggest that he had not been expected to die so young, but his mother had died at about 25 at most and his grandfather King Hugh I at 23.Template:Sfn The first dynasty of the Lusignan kings of Cyprus was thus extinguished.Template:Sfn He was buried in the grand chapel of the Church of Saint Dominic in Nicosia, which he had enriched and endowed with privileges.Template:Sfn Hugh II's cousin and hitherto regent, Hugh of Antioch, was crowned king of Cyprus on Christmas, but the other cousin, Hugh of Brienne, continued to regard himself as the rightful successor.Template:Sfn

References

Sources

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