Individual Details
Alice (Alix) Regent of Jerusalem
(Abt 1110 - 1137)
Alix de Réthel was born about 1110, the second daughter of Baudouin II, king of Jerusalem and Morfia de Melitene. In 1126 Alix married Boemund II, prince of Antioch. Her marriage was arranged in 1119 when her father became regent of Antioch on behalf of her future husband. The marriage took place when her father invested her husband as prince of Antioch on his arrival there in October 1126. Her husband settled Lattakia and Jabala on Alix as her dower. In 1127 they had their only child Constance. In February 1130 Boemund was killed fighting the Danishmend Turks. His embalmed head was sent by the Danishmend emir Ghazi as a gift to the caliph in Baghdad.
Alix assumed the regency of Antioch in February 1130 for her infant daughter immediately on the death of her husband, without waiting for her father to appoint a regent. To protect her position, she sent an envoy to Zengi, Saracen governor of Aleppo, requesting him to become her overlord provided he guaranteed her continued possession of Antioch, but the envoy was intercepted and hanged by Alix's father King Baudouin.
Alix shut the gates of Antioch to her father, probably with the support of the indigenous Christians. However the French barons would not support her and reopened the gates. When the king entered the city in May 1130, he removed his daughter from the regency and banished her to the port of Latakia, Baudouin assumed the regency himself, leaving Joscelin de Courtenay, count of Edessa as guardian in Antioch when he returned to Jerusalem.
Alix's disloyalty to her father no doubt hastened his end. Returning to Jerusalem a sick man, Baudouin was admitted as a canon of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In August 1131 he died wearing the habit of a monk. Alix reasserted her claim to the regency, but her forces were defeated by Foulques V d'Anjou, king of Jerusalem. She was allowed to return to Antioch in 1135, but forced into exile in May 1136 and died that year.
Source: Leo van de Pas
Alix assumed the regency of Antioch in February 1130 for her infant daughter immediately on the death of her husband, without waiting for her father to appoint a regent. To protect her position, she sent an envoy to Zengi, Saracen governor of Aleppo, requesting him to become her overlord provided he guaranteed her continued possession of Antioch, but the envoy was intercepted and hanged by Alix's father King Baudouin.
Alix shut the gates of Antioch to her father, probably with the support of the indigenous Christians. However the French barons would not support her and reopened the gates. When the king entered the city in May 1130, he removed his daughter from the regency and banished her to the port of Latakia, Baudouin assumed the regency himself, leaving Joscelin de Courtenay, count of Edessa as guardian in Antioch when he returned to Jerusalem.
Alix's disloyalty to her father no doubt hastened his end. Returning to Jerusalem a sick man, Baudouin was admitted as a canon of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In August 1131 he died wearing the habit of a monk. Alix reasserted her claim to the regency, but her forces were defeated by Foulques V d'Anjou, king of Jerusalem. She was allowed to return to Antioch in 1135, but forced into exile in May 1136 and died that year.
Source: Leo van de Pas
Events
| Birth | Abt 1110 | ||||
| Marriage | 1126 | Prince Bohemond II of Antioch | |||
| Death | 1137 |
Families
| Spouse | Prince Bohemond II of Antioch (1108 - 1131) |
| Child | Princess Constance of Antioch (1127 - 1163) |