JERUSALEM
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The Kingdom of
Jerusalem was established in 1099 after the First Crusade by Godfrey of
Bouillon. Archbishop Daimbert
of Pisa who arrived in Dec 1099 got himself chosen Patriarch of Jerusalem and
on that basis claimed to be the feudal suzerain of both Bohemund of
Hauteville and Godfrey. This satified Bohemund who went back to his
principality of Antioch but Godfrey was victimized. Daimbert tried to rule
both church and state at Jerusalem, to ignore Godfrey and even to induce him
to give up the city of Jerusalem. Godfrey died on July 18, 1100, before an
open break with Daimbert occurred. Baldwin,
Godfrey’s brother forced Daimbert to crown him king at Bethlehem on Christmas
day 1100. Then, step by step, he drove Daimbert from the country (1102) and
gradually associated the royal title with Jerusalem. Thus the cause of feudal
monarchy triumphed at Jerusalem over that of an ecclesiastical state. The secular
sovereign Kingdom of Jerusalem lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099
until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the
Mamluks. At first the
kingdom was little more than a loose collection of towns and cities captured
during the crusade. Later kings expanded its size so that at its height in
the mid-12th century it extended from Lebanon in the north to the Sinai
Desert in the south. There were attempts to expand the kingdom into Fatimid Egypt.
Its kings held a certain amount of authority over the other crusader states:
Tripoli, Antioch, and Edessa. |
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Many customs and institutions were imported from
the crusaders' original homelands in Western Europe, and there were close familial
and political connections with the West throughout the kingdom's existence.
As a relatively minor kingdom it often lacked financial and military support
from Europe. The kingdom had closer ties to the neighbouring Kingdom of
Armenia and the Byzantine Empire, from which it inherited oriental qualities,
as well as being influenced by pre-existing Eastern institutions. At first the Muslim world held little concern
for the kingdom, but as the 12th century progressed, its Muslim neighbours
were united by Nur ad-Din Zangi and Saladin, who vigorously began to
recapture lost territory. Jerusalem itself was lost to Saladin in 1187, and
by the 13th century the Kingdom was reduced to a few cities along the
Mediterranean coast. In this period, the kingdom, sometimes referred to as
the "Kingdom of Acre", was ruled by the Lusignan dynasty of the
crusader Kingdom of Cyprus, and ties were strengthened with Tripoli, Antioch,
and Armenia.The kingdom was soon increasingly dominated by the Italian
city-states of Venice and Genoa, as well as the imperial ambitions of the
Holy Roman Emperors. The kingdom became little more than a pawn in the
politics and warfare of the Ayyubid and Mamluk dynasties in Egypt, as well as
the Khwarezmian and Mongol invaders. The Mamluk sultans Baibars and al-Ashraf
Khalil eventually reconquered all the remaining crusader strongholds,
culminating in the destruction of Acre in 1291. (Wikipedia) |
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The emblem of Jerusalem was a picture of the tower of David between the
Dome of Rock and the Holy Sepulchre, surrounded by the city-wall. This emblem
is on the reverse of seals used for the kingdom. The ruler of the kingdom was symbolized by his imago being the
picture of a crowned king sitting on his throne and with a sceptre in his
right and an orb in his left.[1] |
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Seal of Baldwin III 1143-1163
Seal of Amalric 1163-1174
Seal of John of Brienne
1210-1212 |
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Seal of Conrad II (IV) Royal
seal: The king on his throne with crown, lily
sceptre and orb. L.: X cura d(us) . divi . avg(us)ti . imp(erato)is . (frid[er]ici . fili[us] . d[e]i gr[ati]a . romanor(um) . i(n)
. rege(m) . elect(us) (et) heres . ier(usa)l(e)m(iæ). Æ 7 cm. Date: 1237. [2] Conrad
is depicted here as a boy of nine years old |
Seal of Conrad III Royal seal
The king on his throne with crown, lily sceptre and orb. L.: chvnradi dei gratia iervsalem et sicilie rex,
dvx swevie. [3] |
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The emblem of the civil authority of the ruler was a square cross, for
the different rulers augmented with points or crosslets
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On the reverses of this series of coins which is
incomplete, there is the tower of David
and the Al Aqsa Mosque, with a crescent on top. The patriarchal cross is
probably the emblem of the patriarch of Jerusalem. On the coin of Henry of
Champagne there is a fleur de lys or thunderbolt which is the emblem
of armed authority also referred to in the title puges d’ accon. |
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We can only speak of a coat of arms of the king of Jerusalem in the
first half of the 13th century. Earlier arms in relation with the Kingdom are those of a bailiff and a regent,
the arms of the bailiff being those of Raymond III of Tripoli who was regent
and bailiff of Baldwin IV (1185-86). His arms were: Gules, a lion rampant Or.
It is reported that at the battle of Hattin on 4 July 1187, the “True
Cross” was captured by Saladin after the Bishop of Acre was killed in the
fighting and the tent of Guy of Lusigna had been captured. The cross was
fixed upside down on a lance and sent to Damascus. This “True Cross” may have
been a processional cross of the form of a latin cross bottony and probably
was carried by the Bishop of Acre. Such crosses were quite large (up to about
70 cm) and made of bronze or silver. Sometimes they were fixed on top of a
pole together with a vexillum. Matthew Paris depicts a latin cross of
this size with the scroll with the INRI motto on the upper arm. [4] |
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John of Brienne |
*ca.1144- † 23.III.1236 Count of Brienne 1205-1211 ¥ Mary of Montferrat 14.IX.1210 King of Jeruzalem 3.X.1210-1212 Regent of Jeruzalem for Isabel II 1212-1225 ¥ Isabel of Armenia 1214 ¥ Bérengère of Castile 1224 Co-emperor of Constantinopel 1231 |
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A coat of arms which can be exclusively
related to the King of Jerusalem himself is: Or, a cross Argent. It is
documented by Matthew Paris, at the death of John de Brienne who had been a
king of Jerusalem from 1210-1212. |
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Royal arms of Jerusalem, 1237 |
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1237 Matthew Paris. Historia Anglorum. B.L.
Ms Roy. 14.C.VII. Fol. 125v. Death of John de Brienne, King of Jeruzalem, 1237
- bottom left margin: two inverted shields: (a) Jerusalem (or, a cross
argent): Scutum ejus secundum; (b)
Brienne, above an inverted crown between two swords (azure, a fish hauriant
or): scutum ejus primum. Beneath: Obiit rex Ierusalem Johannes de Bresne,
cujus filia nuptui tradita fuit Fretherico imperatori, quae peperit ei
Conradum. Indeed, these arms may have been the arms of
John of Brienne when a King of Jerusalem. It may have been used by Frederick
II as well, by his grandson Conrad II and his great grandson Conrad III
nicknamed Conradin.
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John of Brienne, when a regent of Jerusalem for his daughter Isabella II (1212-1225) bore: Or, crusuly a cross Argent. This
is documented by Matthew Paris and it is Or, crusuly, a cross Argent: 1222
[1250] Hist. Anglorum B.L. Ms Roy 14.C.VII, Fol. 150. Five Kings take up the
cross, [1250] (a) top of the page between columns: Gules, a triple-towered
castle argent (!): Scutum regis
castellæ, cruce signati. (b) top right margin: azure, six fleurs de lis
or with a banner next to it bearing azure, three fleurs de lis: Scutum regis Francorum, sed vexillum
prostratum in bello; c. right margin: gules, three lions passant gardant
or: Scutum regis Anglorum, cruce
signati; (d) right margin: gules, three galleys or, above the first a
cross formy arent: Scutum regis
Norwagiæ, cruce signati; (...) (e) right margin: John de Brienne, King
of Jerusalem (or crusuly argent, a cross argent): Scutum regis Ierusalem, cognomento Bresne. (...) [7] |
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¯ In 1222 John of Brienne undertook
a trip through Europe to get support for a campaign against the Sultan of Egypt
and called in in France, Castile and England. section in Matthew Paris refers
to this trip, the arms are of Philip August (1180-1223), Henry III
(1216-’72), Ferdinand III (1217-’52) and Haakon IV (1217-’64) |
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Frederik II, Hohenstaufen |
*26.XII.1194 -†12.XII. 1250 King of Jerusalem 9.XI.1225 Crowned Jerusalem 17.III.1229 |
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No arms of the king of Jerusalem are known
from the time of Frederick II and his son Conrad II. In their absence the
Kingdom was administered by several bailiffs. One of them was Balian of Sidon who
held the regency after 1231 together with Werner von Egisheim. In the time of their regency the arms with
the cross and crosslets are repeated and somewhat changed on a stained glass
window of York Minster (about 1236 or later):
Peter the Dene Window in York Minster reperesnting the arms of
Jerusalem Arms: Argent, a cross potent between seven
crosslets potent Or
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1254-1268 |
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Kúnig Chunrat der Junge in the Manesse Codex |
The royal arms of Jerusalem reapear during
the reign of Conrad III, nicknamed Conradin of whom it is reported that he
flew a vexillum crucis at the battle of Tagliocozzo.[10] His arms are documented by the
Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (Manesse Codex) fol. 7 r°. and they are: Or, a
pointed cross bottony Argent. [11]
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After the
death of Conradin the royal title was transferred to the House of Lusignan of
Cyprus, which claimed the title because of its descent from Isabel I and
Aimery de Lusignan. |
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Hugues III of Lusignan |
*1240 - †24.III.1284 Regent of Jerusalem 1264-1267 King of Cyprus
1267-1284 King of Jerusalem
1269-1284 Crowned Tyrus
24.IX.1269 |
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The arms of Hugues de Lusignan for Jerusalem
are his arms as a regent of the Kingdom and these were maintained after he was
crowned king. They are documented by the Wijnbergen roll and the Walford’s
and Camden rolls: In Wijnbergen roll n° 1259 the armes of le.Roy de jerusalem are: Argent, a cross
recrossed, between 15 crosslets Or. [12] In Walford’s roll (about 1273) it is described
as: “Le roy d'Acre
d'argent poudré a croysille d'or a une croys d'or byletté”. And in Camden Roll (about 1280): “Le rey de
Jeruzalem porte l'escu de argent a une croiz de or cruselé de or”.[13] Later, the arms were simplified according to the
cross on the coins of John II: Arms: Argent, a cross potent between four crosses
patée, and still later .... between four square crosses. |
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This chapter ends with the achievement of
Jerusalem as it was thought to be in the 16th century
Arms of Jerusalem in the Portuguese Livro do Armeiro Mor fol. 7 (1509)
[14] |
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After the fall of Acre in 1291 the blason of Jerusalem was borne together with other arms in a quarterly by the kings of Cyprus and their successor in rights, the Republic of Venice. They were abandoned when the Republic was abolished in 1795. |
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The
House of Anjou |
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On 18 March 1277, after the death of Conradin in
1268, Mary, the daughter of Bohemund IV of Antioch sold her claims on the
Kingdom of Jerusalem for 1000 pieces of gold and a pension of £ 4000 tournois a year to Charles I,
who had killed Conradin and had taken control of Sicily. The same year
Charles minted coins under his own supervision, showing the cross of
Jerusalem dimidiated with his arms of a semy of fleurs de lys. He also
adopted the blason of the regents of the kingdom and let the arms with the
cross of the Hohenstaufen alone. |
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Saluto d’Oro of Charles I of Sicily, 1277 (Æ 22,7 mm) |
Arms
of Charles I of Sicily |
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The blason of the regents of Jerusalem has
been used by all successors of Charles I, Kings of Sicily. It was still in
the larger arms of the Habsburg Monarchy adopted 1836, abandoned 1915. |
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The House of Savoy |
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The claims on
Jerusalem of the House of Savoy were based on the rights of Charlotte of
Cyprus who married in 1459 with Louis of Savoy. On 28 July 1482 she left her rights
to her grandson Charles I of Savoy (1482-1490). In the 18th century the quartered arms of Cyprus with the blason of Jerusalem in the
first, appeared for the first time in the arms of Victor Amadeus II
(1675-1730). |
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© Hubert de Vries 2011-07-21
Heraldry of the World