Boemund V (Prince of Antioch)

Boemund V ( French Bohemond de Poitiers , c. 1205 - 1252 ) - Prince of Antioch (March 1233–1252), Count of Tripoli (March 1233–1252).

The second son of Prince Boemund IV the One-Eyed and his first wife, Playsans Embriazo. After the death of his elder brother Raymond, the bali of Antioch (killed by the Assassins in 1213), Bohemund V became the heir to the throne of the Principality of Antioch and the county of Tripoli.

In 1225, in the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Tartus, he married Alice Champagne , the Dowager Queen of Cyprus . But already in 1227 the marriage was annulled due to the close relationship of the spouses.

In the spring of 1233, after the death of Boemund IV the One-eyed, he inherited the Principality of Antioch-Tripoli. That same summer, he sent the Tripoli knights and mounted sergeants, together with the contingents of the Templars and Hospitallers , to a large-scale raid on Muslim lands in the Bekaa Valley. The prince himself did not participate in the raid, but entrusted the command to his younger brother - Henry .

At the beginning of the reign, following the example of his father, entered into a series of conflicts with the Order of Hospitallers and the Latin Patriarch of Antioch - Albert del Rezzato. Boemund V even allowed himself to capture several close associates and associates of Patriarch Albert, including the marquee of the patriarchal castle Kusair. However, after his marriage to Lucien de Segni, the niece of Pope Innocent III, in 1235 he reconciled with the Latin Church and maintained good relations with the Apostolic See.

It is worth noting that the marriage with Lucien de Segni opened the way for an unprecedented influx of Roman nobility to the court of Prince Antioch-Tripoli. For example, the sister of Princess Lucien - Paul de Senyi, for many years occupied the Latin episcopal department in Tripoli; since the prince himself with his court was in Tripoli , Antioch was transferred under the rule of princely bali , also often appointed from among the Roman relatives of Princess Lucien. Later, the confrontation between the local Syrian barons and the Roman nobility led to open feuds in the Principality of Antioch-Tripoli, which broke out in the reign of the subsequent princes - Boemund VI the Beautiful (1258) and Boemund VII (1275-1282).

In 1236, he personally led the campaign of the Antiochian and Tripoli francs to the north - to help the besieged castle of Bagras (which was under the jurisdiction of the Knights Templar). The timely appearance at the walls of the castle forced the emir of Aleppo to conclude a truce and leave the lands of the Principality of Antioch.

In 1237, together with the master of the Knights Templar Arman de Perigord, he began the invasion of Cilician Armenia . The reason for the war was the repression of King Hetum I against the Templars. Boemund V eagerly joined the campaign and personally led the campaign, driven by a thirst for blood feud; his younger brother Philip , king of Cilician Armenia, was overthrown and poisoned by the Hetumids in 1225-1226. However, when the Templars entered into a truce with King Hetum I and his father, Konstantin Hetumid, Prince Boemund V was unable to continue the war against Cilician Armenia. Having ravaged several settlements in the east of the Cilician Plain, Boemund V was forced to withdraw his troops beyond the mountains of Amanos . This was the last campaign of the Antiochian francs in Cilicia.

In 1239, he received King Thibault IV of Navarre and other noble crusaders in Tripoli, but himself refrained from actively participating in their campaigns on Palestinian and Galilean lands.

In 1244, he sent troops of the Principality of Antioch-Tripoli to help the kingdom of Jerusalem during the Khorezm invasion and the battle of La Forbi. Bohemund V himself again refrained from personal participation in the campaign, entrusting the Tripoli command to Thomas de Hamm and his cousins ​​Jean and Guillaume de Poitiers (sons of Boemund the Younger, Senor Batrun, uncle Boemund V). During the battle, a significant part of the Antiochian and Tripolian chivalry was killed (thereby sharing the fate of their Palestinian brothers and French crusaders), and the brothers Jean and Guillaume de Poitiers, together with the connective Foma de Ham, were captured by the Saracens.

Like his father - Bohemund IV - Prince Boemund V adhered to an extremely tolerant line with regard to the Orthodox church hierarchy on the lands of the Principality of Antioch-Tripoli. In his reign, the Orthodox Patriarch David was given the opportunity to return to Antioch and remain there, along with the Latin Patriarch. This policy of the prince was, in many respects, caused by the desire to enlist the support of the Romance and Melkite population of Antioch, its principality and members of the Antioch commune, who were in their bulk, Greek and Arabic-speaking Orthodox. Tripoli lands and cities also retained significant enclaves and numerous Orthodox communities, which again justified the similar tolerance of the princes of Antioch-Tripoli.

Prince Boehmund V's personal passivity (in stark contrast to the style of government of his father and son) may be partly due to physical trauma. In any case, in the Armenian chronicle of King Hetum II, Bohemund V is called "Boemund Lame", which can be regarded as an indication of the injury sustained by the prince and left him a cripple for life.