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Hodierna of Jerusalem

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Hodierna
Countess Hodierna holding the dying troubadour Jaufre Rudel
Countess of Tripoli
Tenure1137–1152
Bornc. 1110
Diedc. 1164 (aged 53–54)
SpouseRaymond II of Tripoli
IssueMelisende of Tripoli
Raymond III of Tripoli
HouseHouse of Rethel
FatherBaldwin II of Jerusalem
MotherMorphia of Melitene

Hodierna of Jerusalem (c. 1110 – c. 1164) was a countess consort of Tripoli through her marriage to Raymond II of Tripoli, and regent of the County of Tripoli during the minority of her son from 1152 until 1155.

Early life

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Hodierna was born c. 1115-17.[1] She was the third daughter of Baldwin of Bourcq, a Frankish crusader, and Morphia of Melitene, an Armenian noblewoman. Hodierna and her older sisters, Melisende and Alice, were born while their father was the count of Edessa.[2] The County of Edessa was, along with the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Principality of Antioch, and the County of Tripoli, one of the states established in 1099 following the crusaders' victory over Muslims.[3]

In 1118 Baldwin was elected king of Jerusalem.[4] The following year he installed his cousin Joscelin of Courtenay as the new count of Edessa and brought his family to Jerusalem.[5] Hodierna gained another sister, Ioveta, after her parents were crowned king and queen in 1119.[2]

In 1122 Count Pons of Tripoli rebelled against King Baldwin. Historian Kevin Lewis considers it "very possible" that Hodierna's betrothal to Raymond was first brought in the aftermath of this dispute up as a way to reconcile the two ruling families.[1] Queen Morphia died probably in 1126 or 1127. Since he no longer expected to have a son, King Baldwin started providing for his daughters and settling his succession.[6] Melisende, the eldest daughter, was to be his heir;[7] in 1129 she was married to Count Fulk V of Anjou.[8] Alice, the second eldest, was married to Prince Bohemond II of Antioch in 1126.[7] Hodierna, the third daughter, may have been betrothed to Raymond, son of Count Pons of Tripoli, already at this time.[1][7] Ioveta, the youngest, was sent to the Convent of Saint Anne.[7] Hodierna's father died in 1131, and was succeeded by Melisende and Fulk.[9]

Countess of Tripoli

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Count Pons was defeated by Muslims and killed in 1137.[10] He was succeeded by his son, Raymond II.[11] The exact date of Hodierna's marriage to Raymond II is not recorded. Lewis presumes that it was delayed because she was far too young in 1127.[1] A charter issued on 4 December 1138 in the Kingdom of Jerusalem refers to Hodierna as the countess of Tripoli.[12] Historian Malcolm Barber believes the union to have been arranged by Queen Melisende, who was concerned to provide for her youngest sisters, Hodierna and Ioveta, and to link the ruling houses of all the crusader states. Ioveta, on the other hand, was made an abbess.[2] Hodierna had her first child, Raymond III, in 1140.[1]

In 1144 the County of Edessa was conquered by Muslim leader Imad al-Din Zengi, which in 1148 led to the Second Crusade.[13] Raymond's uncle Count Alfonso Jordan of Toulouse arrived in the Levant with the crusade.[14] Historian Jean Richard proposed that Alfonso intended to claim Tripoli.[15] He died suddenly soon after his arrival; poisoning was widely suspected.[14] An anonymous monk wrote that the poisoning of Alfonso was ordered by Queen Melisende,[16] who allegedly wished to safeguard Raymond and Hodierna's position in Tripoli.[17] Lewis believes that Alfonso died of natural causes.[18]

Alfonso's son Bertrand stayed in the Levant after the crusade. He entered the county and seized the fortress of Urayma; contemporary Arabs thought this to be the first step to seizing the county.[19] Raymond could not dislodge his cousin, and enlisted the help of Nūr al-Dīn and Mu'in ad-Din Unur, who seized Urayma and captured Bertrand. Raymond's alliance with Muslims outraged other Franks.[20] The anonymous monk accused Melisende of complicity. Historians have traditionally read the monk's account as saying that Bertrand was captured with his sister, but Lewis interprets it as saying that the queen had an accomplice, her sister Hodierna, whose motive was to preserve her husband's domain.[21]

A 13th-century biography of the Provencal troubadour Jaufre Rudel claims that he fell in love with Countess Hodierna without ever having seen her; he then sailed to Tripoli, only to die in her arms. Lewis believes that Rudel might have arrived with the Second Crusade.[19] According to a "fanciful Occitan tale", as Lewis describes it, Hodierna had Rudel buried in the house of the Knights Templar in Tripoli.[22] Lewis observes that this detail might hint that Hodierna was the first to introduce the Templars in Tripoli,[22] after her father-in-law spurned them.[23]

By 1152 Hodierna and Raymond's marriage was in a crisis. Lewis speculates that Raymond envied her higher social status.[24] According to the legend involving Rudel, pilgrims returning from the Levant spread stories of Hodierna's beauty in Europe, and there were rumours that her daughter Melisende of Tripoli was born from an extramarital love affair,[25] which Lewis believes may have led to Raymond's jealousy.[26] Lewis speculates that, in the light of Hodierna's sister Melisende struggle for power with her husband, Fulk, and Hodierna's own alleged initiative in disposing of Bertrand of Toulouse, Raymond may have feared that Hodierna might threaten his authority; or that, at the time of growing tensions between Latin Christians and native Christians, Hodierna's mixed Latin-Armenian heritage posed a concern to Raymond.[27]

In 1152 Hodierna's nephew King Baldwin III of Jerusalem summoned a meeting of the crusader states' nobility in Tripoli. His main objective was to force his cousin Princess Constance of Antioch to choose a husband. Hodierna and Melisende, Constance's aunts, also attended, but all attempts failed.[28] Melisende had arrived not just to see Constance, however, but also to mediate between Hodierna and Raymond.[24] She was not successful, and decided to take Hodierna back to Jerusalem.[26] Barber writes that Raymond accompanied the queen and the countess on a part of their journey south from Tripoli,[29] while Lewis writes that he instead accompanied the princess on her way back to Antioch.[27] Either way, while he was returning to Tripoli, Raymond was ambushed and killed by Assassins.[27]

In 1157 Queen Melisende, her stepdaughter Countess Sibylla of Flanders, and Countess Hodierna intervened, against the Gregorian laws, to secure the election of the queen's chaplain Amalric of Nesle as the new Latin patriarch of Jerusalem.[21]

Lewis concludes that Hodierna has been overlooked by historians in favor of her "more famous and better documented" older sisters, Melisende and Alice,[21] despite being just as willing to engage in politics.[30] Whereas most countesses of Tripoli are relatively obscure figures, Lewis finds that Hodierna eclipsed her husband, but was in the posterity reduced to being "beautiful yet voiceless target of a distant stranger’s affections". Rudel's infatuation with Hodierna remained a topic of popular interest into the modern period, becoming the subject of a 19th-century operetta by Edmond Rostand and a joke in one of P. G. Wodehouse’s novellas in the 20th century. Thus, Lewis notes, the legacy of Tripoli under Raymond II and Hodierna were not political or military achievements but "lustful, exotic and even farcical fantasies".[31]

Lewis believes that Archbishop William of Tyre refrained from inviting any criticism of Hodierna because of his support for her son in the politics of Jerusalem. Hence, he argues, he had motive to supress information about her involvement, if any, in the capture of Bertrand of Toulouse by the Muslims.[30]

Regency

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In 1152, Hodierna was in the midst of a dispute with her husband Raymond II of Tripoli. Hodierna, like her sisters, was very independent, but Raymond was a jealous man and kept her in seclusion. There were even rumours that their daughter Melisende (named after the queen) was fathered by a different man. Her sister Melisende and her nephew Baldwin came north to intervene. Hodierna and Raymond agreed to reconcile, but it was also decided that Hodierna should return to Jerusalem with Melisende for a short time.

Almost as soon as they had left Tripoli, Raymond was killed by the Hashshashin. Hodierna immediately returned to assume the regency of the county for her son Raymond III, who was still a child. Baldwin ensured the support of the nobles of the county, and Hodierna allowed him to give the castle of Tortosa to the Knights Templar, in order to defend from an attack by Nur ad-Din Zangi, who invaded when he heard of Raymond's death. Hodierna remained regent until her son was declared adult in 1155.

Later life

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Hodierna remained by Melisende's side when Melisende lay dying in 1161. Now rid of the influence of his mother, Baldwin III took personal control of Nablus, exchanging it with Philip of Milly who received the lordship of Oultrejordain in return. Hodierna gave her assent to this transaction on behalf of Melisende. Hodierna died at an unknown date, probably in the 1160s.

Legacy

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According to the legendary Vida of the troubadour Jaufré Rudel of Blaye, the legend of her beauty, brought back to France by pilgrims, inspired Rudel's songs of amor de lonh— "distant love." The story claims that he took part in the Second Crusade to see her but fell sick and was brought ashore, dying. Hodierna is said to have come down from her castle on hearing the news, and Rudel died in her arms. This romantic but unlikely story seems derived from Rudel's verse's enigmatic nature and his presumed death on the Crusade. Edmond Rostand took it as the basis for his 1895 verse drama La Princesse Lointaine but reassigned the female lead from Hodierna to her jilted daughter Melisende.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Lewis 2017, p. 104.
  2. ^ a b c Barber 2012, p. 157.
  3. ^ Barber 2012, p. 2.
  4. ^ Hamilton 1978, p. 147.
  5. ^ Runciman 1952, pp. 154–155.
  6. ^ Mayer 1985, p. 139.
  7. ^ a b c d Mayer 1985, p. 140.
  8. ^ Mayer 1985, p. 141.
  9. ^ Barber 2012, p. 149.
  10. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 118.
  11. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 129.
  12. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 397.
  13. ^ Barber 2012, pp. 184–185.
  14. ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 151.
  15. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 153.
  16. ^ Barber 2012, p. 175.
  17. ^ Barber 2012, p. 176.
  18. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 154.
  19. ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 152.
  20. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 155.
  21. ^ a b c Lewis 2017, p. 157.
  22. ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 162.
  23. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 161.
  24. ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 167.
  25. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 168.
  26. ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 169.
  27. ^ a b c Lewis 2017, p. 170.
  28. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 165.
  29. ^ Barber 2012, p. 199.
  30. ^ a b Lewis 2017, p. 158.
  31. ^ Lewis 2017, p. 173.

Sources

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  • Barber, Malcolm (2012). The Crusader States. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300189315.
  • Hamilton, Bernard (1978). "Women in the Crusader States: The Queens of Jerusalem". In Derek Baker (ed.). Medieval Women. Ecclesiastical History Society. ISBN 0631125396.
  • Lewis, Kevin James (2017). The Counts of Tripoli and Lebanon in the Twelfth Century: Sons of Saint-Gilles. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-4724-5890-2.
  • Mayer, Hans Eberhard (1985). "The Succession to Baldwin II of Jerusalem: English Impact on the East". Dumbarton Oak Papers. Dumbarton Oaks.
  • Runciman, Steven (1952). A History of the Crusades: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100-1187. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0241298768.


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