User talk:Drachenfyre/Archives/2006/April

Sibylla and Agnes
Not sure why you changed my work on the Sibylla of Jerusalem and Agnes of Courtenay pages, re: the Old French Continuation of William of Tyre's account of Sibylla's marriage to Guy. This is not regarded as a reliable account - stylistically, it shows strong influences from romance, as well as being politically loaded. The ref. to Sibylla as "fickle" was about the OFC's characterisation of her. Baldwin of Ibelin was in the Kingdom of Jerusalem (he was on bail) at the time of the marriage. It's clear that the marriage to Guy was cooked up quickly to prevent Raymond and Bohemund's plan to force a marriage to Baldwin of Ibelin. Have you read Hamilton's The Leper King & His Heirs? Silverwhistle 09:20, 3 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Hamilton's The Leper King & His Heirs (2000) is more recent than his piece on the Queens of Jerusalem (1978 - crusade studies have come a long way since then!). It gives more detail on the politics of Baldwin IV's reign, and I recommend it highly. Yes, Raymond was attempting to marry her off to Baldwin of Ibelin, but how does that give credibility to the notion of a 'romance' portrayed in the Old French Continuation, with love-letters and such? It's pure power-politics: Raymond and Bohemund had no interest in what Sibylla might have wanted, they just wanted to marry her to one of their own faction. As for your claim re: Sibylla and Guy - "She might just as easily have been his prisoner in 1184 as his accomplice" - There's universal agreement among all the sources, pro and anti, that, whatever might be said against them politically, they were a devoted couple. She even stuck by him at Acre, to the cost of her own and their children's lives, and was regarded as a model wife for doing so.
 * Re: the Aleramici - I've been researching Conrad since I was in my teens, and find him quite remarkable - dashing and engaging and tragic. I love the trobadors his family supported, too. I also like his sister Azalais, although I could cheerfully hit Boniface for screwing up re: the Fourth Crusade. Listening to the Venetians was a bad idea... Silverwhistle 10:12, 3 April 2006 (UTC)