Hugh II of Cyprus (or Hugues II de Lusignan) (June–August, 1252 or 1253 – November or December 5, 1267) was
king of Cyprus
The Kingdom of Cyprus (french: Royaume de Chypre, la, Regnum Cypri) was a state that existed between 1192 and 1489. It was ruled by the French House of Lusignan. It comprised not only the island of Cyprus, but it also had a foothold on the Anat ...
and, from the age of 5 years, also Regent of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem ( la, Regnum Hierosolymitanum; fro, Roiaume de Jherusalem), officially known as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Frankish Kingdom of Palestine,Example (title of works): was a Crusader state that was establishe ...
.
Biography
On January 18, 1253, at the age of two months, he succeeded his father
Henry I Henry I may refer to:
876–1366
* Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936)
* Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955)
* Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018)
* Henry I of France (1008–1060)
* Henry I the Long, Margrave of the ...
as king of Cyprus, with his mother,
Queen Plaisance, acting as regent, and was crowned at
Santa Sophia,
Nicosia
Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...
, later in that year. Although he had only a weaker claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, many felt that he was a better candidate (living in a Crusader state close to the Palestinian coast) than
Conradin
Conrad III (25 March 1252 – 29 October 1268), called ''the Younger'' or ''the Boy'', but usually known by the diminutive Conradin (german: link=no, Konradin, it, Corradino), was the last direct heir of the House of Hohenstaufen. He was Duke ...
, the
Hohenstaufen
The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynast ...
claimant who was also a child but absent in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
(Hugh II was second in order of succession, right after Conradin himself, since he was the son of the only surviving son of
Alice of Champagne, the second surviving daughter of Queen
Isabella I of Jerusalem
Isabella I (1172 – 5 April 1205) was reigning Queen of Jerusalem from 1190 to her death. She was the daughter of Amalric I of Jerusalem and his second wife Maria Comnena, a Byzantine princess. Her half-brother, Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, eng ...
and thus Conradin's great-grandaunt). In 1258
John of Ibelin, lord of Jaffa, and
Bohemund VI of Antioch brought Hugh and Plaisance to
Acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
, where Hugh was set up as regent for Conradin, and Plaisance was chosen to carry out Hugh’s regency while he remained underage, becoming Lord of Jerusalem.
In 1261, Plaisance died and the regency of Cyprus passed to Hugh of Antioch-Lusignan, Hugh II's 25-year-old first cousin. His mother, Hugh II's younger aunt
Isabella of Lusignan
Isabella of Lusignan (c.1224 – 14 January 1300) was a daughter of Hugh X of Lusignan and his wife Isabella of Angoulême, Dowager Queen of England. Isabella was half-sister to King Henry III of England. She was Dame de Beauvoir-sur Mer et ...
became acting regent of Jerusalem in Acre. Hugh II died in
Nicosia
Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...
in November 1267 at the age of 14 and was buried in the
Dominican Church in
Nicosia
Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...
. He had been betrothed and was possibly married at
Nicosia
Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...
in 1264/1265 to
Isabella of Ibelin (ca. 1252 –
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
, 1282/1283 and buried there),
Lady of Beirut 1264, but the marriage was never consummated. He was succeeded by Hugh of Lusignan-Antioch (son of his younger aunt Isabella) as
Hugh III of Cyprus
Hugh III (french: Hugues; – 24 March 1284), also called Hugh of Antioch-Lusignan and the Great, was the king of Cyprus from 1267 and king of Jerusalem from 1268. Born into the family of the princes of Antioch, he effectively ruled as regent ...
, though his heir-general was another first cousin,
Hugh of Brienne
Hugh, Count of Brienne and Lecce ( 1240 – 9 August 1296) was the second surviving son of Count Walter IV of Brienne and Marie de Lusignan of Cyprus.
Life
His father, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon in Palestine, was murdered in 1244 in Cairo, a ...
(c. 1240–1296), son of Mary of Cyprus, the eldest aunt of the deceased Hugh II. This claim fell to his son
Walter V of Brienne
Walter V of Brienne (french: Gautier; – 15 March 1311) was Duke of Athens from 1308 until his death. Being the only son of Hugh of Brienne and Isabella de la Roche, Walter was the heir to large estates in France, the Kingdom of Naples, and the ...
and his descendants. They are the heirs-general of King
Amalric I of Cyprus
Aimery of Lusignan ( la, Aimericus, , ''Amorí''; before 11551 April 1205), erroneously referred to as Amalric or Amaury in earlier scholarship, was the first King of Cyprus, reigning from 1196 to his death. He also reigned as the King of Je ...
.
It has often been claimed that 1266
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
dedicated his work ''De regimine principum'' ("On the Government of Rulers") to Hugh II, but in view of the strong argument by Christoph Flüeler (Rezeption und Interpretation der Aristotelischen “Politica” im späten Mittelalter, Bochumer Studien zur Philosophie, 19 (Amsterdam and Philadelphia: B.R. Grüner, 1992), 2v.; v.1, 23–29.) for redating the work to 1271–73, it now seems likely that it was written for his successor Hugh III (1267–84). Later works, such as Panos Leventis' ''Twelve Times in Nicosia. Nicosia, Cyprus, 1192-1570: Topography, Architecture and Urban Experience in a Diversified Capital City'' (Nicosia: Cyprus Research Center, 2005, pp. 49, 51) argue for the earlier dating and the work's dedication to Hugh II, based on a perceived "formative" understanding of Aristotelian works by Aquinas, i.e. prior to 1265.
References
*Hans E. Mayer, ''The Crusades''. Oxford, 1965.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hugh 02 Of Cyprus
Kings of Cyprus
13th-century monarchs in the Middle East
13th-century people of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
13th-century viceregal rulers
Medieval child rulers
1253 births
1267 deaths
13th century in Cyprus
Regents of Jerusalem
Rulers who died as children