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Guy of Ibelin (Fr: ''Guy d'Ibelin'') (died 29 March 1367) was the dominican bishop of Limassol,
Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
from 27 April 1357 until his death. He belonged to the noble Cypriot
house of Ibelin The House of Ibelin was a noble family in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. They rose from relatively humble beginnings to become one of the most important families in the kingdom, holding various high offices and with exten ...
, closely linked by intermarriage with the
kings of Cyprus The Kingdom of Cyprus (; ) was a medieval kingdom of the Crusader states that existed between 1192 and 1489. Initially ruled as an independent Christian kingdom, it was established by the French House of Lusignan after the Third Crusade. It c ...
. His father Balian of Ibelin (d. 28 October 1333),
Lord of Arsuf The Kingdom of Jerusalem, one of the Crusader states that was created in 1099, was divided into a number of smaller seigneuries. According to the 13th-century jurist John of Ibelin, the four highest crown vassals (referred to as barons) in the ...
, was a direct descendant of the first
Balian of Ibelin Balian of Ibelin (; ), also known as Barisan the Younger, was a Crusades, crusader noble of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. He was Vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem#Lordship of Ibelin, Lord of Ibelin from 1170 to 1193. As the ...
, an important
crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...
r. His mother, Margaret of Ibelin, continued to hold the title Lady of Arsuf after her husband's death. In the second half of the fourteenth century the fortunes of the house of Ibelin were in decline, as the once-powerful family became extinct. Guy's brother Philip became the last Ibelin to hold the title Lord of Arsuf. He was executed in
Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
in late 1373 for taking part in the assassination of King
Peter I of Cyprus Peter I (9 October 1328 – 17 January 1369) was King of Cyprus and titular King of Jerusalem from his father's abdication on 24 November 1358 until his death in 1369. He was invested as titular Count of Tripoli in 1346. As King of Cyprus, ...
in 1369; King
James I of Cyprus James I (; 1334 – September 9, 1398) was the youngest son of King Hugh IV of Cyprus and by 1369 held the title "Constable of Jerusalem." When his nephew Peter II of Cyprus, Peter II died in 1382, he became King of Cyprus. James was also crowne ...
subsequently bestowed the title on John of Neviles, viscount of Nicosia, in 1389. Instead of receiving a
prebend A prebendary is a member of the Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the choir ...
, the normal path for a younger son of a high aristocratic family to join the church and enjoy the comfortable life of an ecclesiastical nobleman, Guy chose to join the austere
dominican order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...
, perhaps in the same monastery in
Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...
where he was later laid to rest. Two years after his elevation to bishop in 1357, he was the presiding bishop at the coronation of Peter I in the cathedral of St Sophia, Nicosia. It appears that he took part in the campaign to capture Alexandria in 1365, before succumbing to illness in his mansion in Nicosia in 1367. Guy bequeathed 20,000
bezant In the Middle Ages, the term bezant (, from Latin ) was used in Western Europe to describe several gold coins of the east, all derived ultimately from the Roman . The word itself comes from the Greek Byzantion, the ancient name of Constantinop ...
s towards the construction of the cathedral of St Nicholas in Limassol. A detailed inventory of his belongings survives him; although his main residence, in addition to his three rural estates, was not furnished in an opulent manner, – Turkish carpets and cushions typical of the Latin orient replacing courtly tapestries – he still indulged in hunting, the favourite pastime of the nobility, having three falconers in his service, a modest number for the time.


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* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibelin, Guy Of, Bishop of Limassol 14th-century births 1367 deaths
Guy Guy or GUY may refer to: Personal names * Guy (given name) * Guy (surname) * That Guy (...), the New Zealand street performer Leigh Hart Places * Guy, Alberta, a Canadian hamlet * Guy, Arkansas, US, a city * Guy, Indiana, US, an uninc ...
Christians of the Crusades 14th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Cyprus Members of the Dominican Order Dominican bishops