- Bohemond VII of Tripoli
Bohemond VII of Tripoli (1261 –
October 19 ,1287 ) was the count of Tripoli and nominalprince of Antioch from 1275 to his death. The only part left of the once greatPrincipality of Antioch was the port ofLatakia . He spent much of his reign at war with the Templars (1277 – 1282).Bohemond VII was the son of
Bohemond VI of Antioch and his wifeSibylla of Armenia . As Bohemond VII was still underage at his succession, Sibylla acted asregent , although the regency was also unsuccessfully claimed byHugh I of Jerusalem , Bohemond's closest living male relative. Sibylla appointedBartholomew, Bishop of Tortosa , to act asbailie . Bohemond spent his minority under the protection ofLeo III of Armenia at his court inCilicia . He returned to Tripoli in 1277 and immediately made peace withQalawun , theMamluk sultan, and recognisedRoger of San Severino as regent atAcre for Charles I of Jerusalem. He exempted the Venetians from harbour duties, thus distancing theGenoese and their allies.Upon his return, he made enemies with the powerful
Embriaco family , which governedJebail through Guy II. Tripoli was very weak at this time and was divided among various factions: the Roman faction led byPaul of Segni ,Bishop of Tripoli , and the Armenian faction led by Sibylla and Bartholomew. Paul made friends withWilliam of Beaujeu , the newGrand Master of the Knights Templar , and then with the normally anti-TemplarEmbriacos . This precipitated the first of a series of wars between Bohemond and the Templars. First, he burned their building in Tripoli. Then, the Templars responded by razing the comital castle ofBotron and attackingNephin . Bohemond marched on Jebail but was defeated and forced to sign a truce.In 1278, Guy of Jebail and the Templars assaulted Tripoli, but were met outside the walls by Bohemond. Bohemond was defeated, but the Templar fleet of twelve galleys was scattered by a storm and Bohemond's fleet of fifteen attacked and damaged Templar
Sidon . This time a truce was mediated byNicholas Lorgne , Grand Master of the Hospital. The last conflict began in January 1282, when theEmbriaco s tried to take Tripoli by surprise. They found the Templar master away and so took refuge with theHospitallers , who handed them over to Bohemond on condition that he would spare their lives. He buried them up to their necks in sand atNephin and starved them to death. This last act further alienated the Genoese and theMontfort s, but Bohemund beat the latter in taking control of Jebail.In 1287, Latakia was taken by Qalawun, who claimed that as part of Antioch it did not fall under the conditions of their treaty. Bohemond died soon after, leaving no children by his wife Margaret of Acre. Tripoli was plunged into a succession crisis until his sister Lucia arrived from Europe to take control of the county.
ources
*Setton, Kenneth M. (general editor) "A History of the Crusades: Volume II — The Later Crusades, 1189 – 1311". Robert Lee Wolff and Harry W. Hazard, editors. University of Wisconsin Press: Milwaukee, 1969.
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