politics–and, indeed, to maintain this position, even during his long
absence from the kingdom–shows some of the latent strengths of
the crown.^87
It is worth noting that, in the aftermath of their rupture with John,
the Ibelins crossed to Cyprus, which was rapidly becoming a hotbed of
hostility towards John under King Hugh. In early 1213, Innocent III
accused Hugh of aiding rebels against John and of imprisoning a group of
John’s loyalists who had been forced to land on Cyprus. Chief among
these seems to have been Odo of Montbéliard, the nephew of Hugh’slate
enemy and therefore another of John’s close kinsmen. Odo would soon
rise high in John’s service. However, the crisis of 1212–13 may have
encouraged John to search for a powerful new ally further afield. He
had already been involved in the‘War of the Antiochene Succession’,
raging in the north, which pitted Bohemund IV of Antioch and Tripoli
against Raymond-Roupen, who had the support of his great-uncle, King
Leo of Cilician Armenia. In about 1214, John remarried. His new wife
was Leo’s daughter, sometimes called‘Stephanie’, but recent specialists
in Armenian history have preferred‘Ṙit‘a’or Rita.^88 The marriage pro-
duced a short-lived son, named after his father, but King John’s alliance
with Leo soon broke down.^89 Perhaps this was simply because it looked
as though Leo was becoming too powerful. Armenian forces controlled
the city of Antioch from 1216 until 1219.^90
The long-awaited Fifth Crusade (1217–21) was the hinge of John’s
reign as king of Jerusalem.^91 Its‘first phase’consisted of a series of
operations in the Holy Land, chiefly an abortive attack on Mount Tabor
and a range of building and fortification work, including the construction
of Château Pèlerin.^92 During this phase, the expedition’s principalfig-
ures included King Andrew II of Hungary, the‘crusade enthusiast’Duke
Leopold VI of Austria, Bohemund IV, and even John’s opponent, King
Hugh of Cyprus.^93 None of these was plainly in the ascendant, though,
and so John stepped into the breach as thede factoleader (‘cheveteine’).^94
(^87) See Perry,John,63–76.
(^88) See for instance C. Mutafian,L’Arménie du levant (XIe-XIVe siècle), 2 vols. (Paris, 2012),
i, 386–7.
(^89) The name is supplied inRécits d’un ménestrel de Reims, ch. 16.
(^90) See Perry,John,76–80.
(^91) For a short survey of the expedition, see my‘The Fifth Crusade and the Levant in the
92 Early Thirteenth Century’, in theCambridge History of the Crusades, vol. ii (forthcoming).
For the‘first phase’, see J. M. Powell,Anatomy of a Crusade, 1213– 1221 (Philadelphia,
93 1986), 123–36.
See Tyerman,God’s War, 606.^94 ‘Colbert-Fontainebleau’, 329.
52 Breakthrough and High Point (c. 1191–1237)