Isabella of Toron (born before 1166 – died between 1192 – 1229) also known as ''Isabelle'' or ''Zabel'' was the daughter of
Humphrey III, Lord of Toron and his wife
Stephanie of Milly. Isabella was titular lady of
Toron
Toron, now Tibnin or Tebnine in southern Lebanon, was a major Crusader castle, built in the Lebanon mountains on the road from Tyre to Damascus. The castle was the centre of the Lordship of Toron, a seigneury within the Kingdom of Jerusalem ...
in her own right and was
princess of Armenia by her marriage.
Life
Early life and marriage
Isabella was the elder of two children, she had one younger brother
Humphrey
Humphrey is both a masculine given name and a surname. An earlier form, not attested since Medieval times, was Hunfrid.
Notable people with the name include:
People with the given name Medieval period
:''Ordered chronologically''
*Hunfrid of P ...
. Their father died when the pair were still minors, and their mother remarried three more times. From their mother's third marriage to
Raynald of Châtillon
Raynald of Châtillon (french: Renaud; 11254 July 1187), also known as Reynald or Reginald, was a Crusader knight of French origin but also Prince of Antioch from 1153 to 1160 or 1161, and Lord of Oultrejordain from 1175 until his death. He wa ...
, the pair gained two half-siblings: Raymond, who died young and Alice, who married
Azzo VI of Este
Azzo VI (1170 – November 1212), also known as Azzolino, was an Italian nobleman and condottiero. He held the title of Marquis of Este (''marchio Eystensis'') from the death of his father, Azzo V (1190) until his death.
Biography
He was heavi ...
.
In early 1181,
Ruben III, Prince of Armenia
Ruben III ( hy, Ռուբեն Գ), also Roupen III, Rupen III, or Reuben III, (1145 – Monastery of Drazark, May 6, 1187) was the ninth lord of Armenian Cilicia or “Lord of the Mountains” (1175–1187).
Roupen remained always friendly to th ...
went on a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
and there on 4 February 1181/3 February 1182, he married Isabella, with the intervention of Stephanie. Around a year after Isabella's marriage, her brother married the minor Isabella I of Jerusalem. Ruben and Isabella were only married for around five years, in which time Isabella bore two daughters:
*
Alice (1182 – after 1234), the wife firstly of
Hethum of Sassoun, secondly of Count
Raymond IV of Tripoli, and thirdly of
Vahram of Korikos
*
Philippa
Philippa is a feminine given name meaning "lover of horses" or "horses' friend". Common alternative spellings include ''Filippa'' and ''Phillipa''. Less common is ''Filipa'' and even ''Philippe'' (cf. the French spelling of ''Philippa of Guelders'' ...
(1183 – before 1219), the wife firstly of
Shahanshah of Sassoun, and secondly of
Theodore I Laskaris
Theodore I Laskaris or Lascaris ( gr, Θεόδωρος Κομνηνὸς Λάσκαρις, Theodōros Komnēnos Laskaris; 1175November 1221) was the first emperor of Nicaea—a successor state of the Byzantine Empire—from 1205 to his de ...
,
emperor of Nicaea
This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...
In 1183, Ruben was taken captive and imprisoned by
Bohemond III, Prince of Antioch
Bohemond III of Antioch, also known as Bohemond the Child or the Stammerer (french: Bohémond le Bambe/le Baube; 1148–1201), was Prince of Antioch from 1163 to 1201. He was the elder son of Constance of Antioch and her first husband, Raymond of ...
, during Ruben's visit to Antioch; he was released after the payment of a large ransom to the Prince of Antioch. Ruben abdicated in 1187 in favor of his brother,
Leo; Isabella then ceased to be Princess consort, Ruben then retired to the
monastery of Drazark where he died, leaving Isabella and their two young daughters.
Later life
Isabella never remarried after Ruben's death; her brother-in-law Leo was initially the 'Regent and Tutor' of Alice and Philippa but he eventually set them aside and was succeeded by his own descendants. Both of Isabelle's daughters were married roughly around the same time in 1189. In May, 1193, their spouses were both murdered.
By 1197, both Humphrey and Stephanie had died, as Humphrey had left no issue from his disastrous marriage to Queen Isabella, his lands passed to his sister Isabella, his closest surviving relative. Isabella inherited the rights to
Toron
Toron, now Tibnin or Tebnine in southern Lebanon, was a major Crusader castle, built in the Lebanon mountains on the road from Tyre to Damascus. The castle was the centre of the Lordship of Toron, a seigneury within the Kingdom of Jerusalem ...
and
Oultrejordain
The Lordship of or (Old French for "beyond the Jordan", also called Lordship of Montreal) was the name used during the Crusades for an extensive and partly undefined region to the east of the Jordan River, an area known in ancient times as Edo ...
,
JERUSALEM, NOBILITY, Medieval Lands
/ref> however, she did not exercise power as the areas were under Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
rule. Toron remained in Crusader possession until 1187 when it fell to the forces of Saladin
Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سهلاحهدین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...
after the Battle of Hattin
The Battle of Hattin took place on 4 July 1187, between the Crusader states of the Levant and the forces of the Ayyubid sultan Saladin. It is also known as the Battle of the Horns of Hattin, due to the shape of the nearby extinct volcano of t ...
when Saladin all but destroyed the Crusader states
The Crusader States, also known as Outremer, were four Catholic realms in the Middle East that lasted from 1098 to 1291. These feudal polities were created by the Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade through conquest and political in ...
. Ten years later in November 1197, Toron was besieged by the Third Crusade
The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of Western Christianity (Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by ...
's German contingent, but the Muslim garrison by the Tribesman of El-Seid and Fawza prevailed until relief arrived from Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
.
There is no exact date of death for Isabella, it's estimated she died between 1192 and 1229 however, she did outlive her husband; she may have outlived her young daughter who died before 1219. Upon Isabella's death, her rights to Toron and Oultrejordain were inherited by her elder daughter Alice. Toron was recovered through the Treaty of Jaffa in 1229 and Alice succeeded as Lady of Toron, passing the title on to her descendants.
References
{{S-end
Lords of Toron
Rubenid dynasty
Year of birth uncertain
Year of death uncertain
12th-century women rulers
13th-century women rulers
12th-century Armenian people
12th-century Armenian women
13th-century Armenian people
13th-century Armenian women
Princesses consort of Armenia