War of the Lombards

Background

Through his marriage to Queen Isabella of Jerusalem, Frederick II claimed the right to rule the kingdom as regent and, after the birth of his son Conrad IV, as his guardian. Claiming also that Cyprus was subject to imperial suzerainty, he demanded the regency there too. John of Ibelin of Beirut and the local barons opposed these demands, invoking the customs of the kingdom and the authority of the barons' assembly.

Course of events

In 1231 Frederick's marshal Riccardo Filangieri came East with imperial forces known as the “Lombards”, took the city of Beirut and besieged its citadel. The commune of Acre's burgesses and the Genoese supported the Ibelins.

In May 1232 Filangieri defeated the Ibelins at Casal Imbert; but in June 1232, at the Battle of Agridi in Cyprus, the Ibelins won a decisive victory and freed Cyprus from imperial influence. Tyre, however, remained in imperial hands. In 1243, when Conrad IV came of age, the barons' assembly gave the regency to Queen Alice of Cyprus, and the Ibelins, with Venetian support, took Tyre and ended the imperial presence.

Outcome and significance

The war led to a fragmented political structure in the Kingdom of Jerusalem in which barons, the commune, the military orders and the Italian cities competed in place of a central royal authority. After 1243 the kingdom was governed by regents in the name of absent Staufen kings.

This period is also when important law books setting down the Ibelin legal tradition appeared, such as the treatise of John of Ibelin, count of Jaffa.

Sources and debates

The main narrator is Philip of Novara, who fought on the Ibelin side; his account is openly partisan and portrays Frederick's representatives negatively. The Gestes des Chiprois and the continuations of Ernoul also provide information. Historians date the war's beginning and end differently.