Hugh II of Le Puiset or Hugh II of Jaffa (c. 1106–1134) was a crusader knight and Count of Jaffa, who revolted against King Fulk in 1134. Events September 28 - Henry I of England defeats his older brother Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy, at the Battle of Tinchebrai, and imprisons him in Cardiff Castle; Edgar Atheling and William Clito are also taken prisoner. ... Events Baalbeck taken by Genghis Khan House of Brandenburg begins when Albrecht the Bear is made head of the Nordmark St. ... This article is about the medieval Crusades . ... The double County of Jaffa and Ascalon was one of the four major seigneuries of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, according to 13th-century commentator John of Ibelin. ... Fulk of Anjou (1092 – November 10, 1143), king of Jerusalem from 1131, was the son of Fulk IV, count of Anjou, and his wife Bertrada (who ultimately deserted her husband and became the mistress of Philip I of France). ... Events Baalbeck taken by Genghis Khan House of Brandenburg begins when Albrecht the Bear is made head of the Nordmark St. ...

Arrival in the kingdom

Hugh was the son of Hugh I of Jaffa and his wife Mamilia (or Mabilla); Hugh I was also Hugh II of Le Puiset in France, and thus both men are sometimes known as "Hugh II of Le Puiset". According to William of Tyre, his father had come to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage during the reign of Baldwin II, and Hugh was born in Apulia during the journey. However, according to John L. La Monte, it is more likely that Hugh I came to the east with Bohemund of Taranto in 1106. In any case, Hugh I was named Count of Jaffa after his arrival (by Baldwin I, if it was 1106), but soon died. Le Puiset is a small commune of the Eure-et-Loir département of France. ... William of Tyre (c. ... A pilgrimage is a journey by a religious person to a place that is sacred according to his or her religion. ... Baldwin of Bourcq (died August 21, 1131) was the second count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118, and the second king of Jerusalem from 1118 until his death. ... Apulia is a region of southeastern Italy (called Puglia in Italian), bordering on Molise to the north-west, Campania to the south-west, Basilicata to the south, the Adriatic Sea to the east and the Ionian Sea to the south-east. ... Bohemund I of Antioch (c. ... Baldwin of Boulogne (died 1118), count of Edessa (1098—1100), and first king of Jerusalem (1100—1118), was the brother of Godfrey of Bouillon, son of Eustace II of Boulogne. ...

When Hugh II came of age he arrived in Jerusalem to claim his inheritance, and married Emelota (or Emma), niece of the Patriarch Arnulf of Chocques. Hugh was a relative of Queen Melisende, King Fulk's wife, as their fathers Hugh I and Baldwin II were cousins; Melisende's grandmother, also named Melisende, was a sister of Hugh's grandmother Alice. Hugh had a close relationship with Melisende, but he "...was rumoured to be on too familiar terms with the queen..." (William of Tyre, 14.16) and came into conflict with a jealous Fulk. It was also rumoured that Hugh was simply arrogant and refused to pay homage to Fulk. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is one of the Roman Catholic patriarchs of the east. ... Arnulf Malecorne of Choques (or of Rohes) (died 1118) was a leader among the clergy during the First Crusade, and was Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1099 and from 1112 to 1118. ... A queen accepting fealty from a vassel, possibly Melisende herself, from the Melisende Psalter Melisende (1105 - September 11, 1161) was Queen of Jerusalem from 1131 to 1153. ... Homage is generally used in modern English to mean any public show of respect to someone to whom you feel indebted. ...

The revolt against Fulk

In 1134 Hugh seems to have revolted against Fulk, along with Roman of Le Puy, lord of Oultrejordain. According to William of Tyre, Hugh's stepson Walter I Grenier, Lord of Caesarea (Emelota's son through her first marriage to Eustace Grenier) accused Hugh of treason and conspiracy at a meeting of the Haute Cour; Walter possibly did this with the urging of Fulk himself. Hugh denied the charges, and it was decided that the matter would be settled by judicial combat. When the appointed day arrived, Hugh did not appear, and he was found guilty in absentia. Oultrejordain or Oultrejourdain (French for beyond the Jordan) was the name used during the Crusades for an extensive and partly undefined region to the east of the Jordan river, an area known in ancient times as Edom and Moab. ... In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to ones nation. ... Alternate uses: See Conspiracy (disambiguation) Conspiracy, in common usage, is the act of working in secret to obtain some goal, usually understood with negative connotations. ... The Haute Cour (High Court) was the feudal council of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. ... The Judicial Duel. ... This page includes English translations of several Latin phrases and abbreviations such as . ...

He allied with the Egyptian city of Ascalon, and Fulk invaded Jaffa and besieged the city. Hugh's rear-vassals, including Baldwin of Ramla and Barisan, constable of Jaffa, deserted him and "wisely betook themselves to the king." The usual punishment for such actions was permanent exile and confiscation of the rebel's territories, but in this case, perhaps due to Hugh's high status in the kingdom and his relationship with the queen, the Patriarch William mediated in the dispute, and Hugh was exiled for only three years. Ashkelon or Ashqelon (Hebrew אשקלון; Arabic عسقلان ʿAsqalān; Latin Ascalon) was an ancient Philistine seaport on the east coast of the Mediterranian sea just north of Gaza. ... Jaffa (Hebrew יָפוֹ, Standard Hebrew Yafo, Tiberian Hebrew Yāp̄ô; Arabic يَافَا Yāfā; also Japho, Joppa), Israel, is part of the municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo in the Tel Aviv District, where the tel or mound of ancient Jaffa in “Old Jaffa,” is now part of a park in a picturesque... A vavasour, (also vavasor, Old French vavassor, vavassour, French vavasseur, LL. vavassor, probably from vassus vassorum vassal of the vassals) is a term in Feudal law. ... Ramla (Hebrew רמלה Ramlāh; Arabic الرملة ar-Ramlah, colloquial Ramleh), is a city in the Center District of Israel in Israel. ... Barisan of Ibelin (died 1150) was an important figure in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, and was the ancestor of the Ibelin family. ...

Attempted assassination

Hugh was free to remain in Jerusalem while waiting for a ship to take him into exile. One day, while playing dice on the street, he was brutally attacked by a Breton knight. The knight was quickly apprehended and convicted: Rolling dice A die (Old French de, from Latin datum something given or played [1]) is a small polyhedral object (usually a cube) suitable as a gambling device (especially for craps). ... Traditional coat of arms This article is about the historical duchy and French province, as well as the cultural area of Brittany. ...

"No accuser or witnesses were necessary to prove the crime, for it was well known to all. Since the regular process of law was needless, therefore, the king ordered a sentence commensurate with his guilt to be pronounced upon the man. The court accordingly convened, and the assassin was sentenced by unanimous consent to suffer the penalty of mutilation of his members. The judgment was reported to the king, who ordered the sentence to be carried out." (William of Tyre, 14.18)

Rumours spread that Fulk himself had hired the knight to assassinate Hugh, and public opinion considered Hugh to be innocent of the charges of treason and conspiracy. Fulk ordered "...that the tongue should not be included among the members so mutilated", supposedly so that he would not be accused of trying to silence the knight. In any case, the knight claimed to have acted on his own: Jack Ruby murdered the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, in a very public manner. ...

"It was impossible to extort from the criminal, either in secret or in public, before or after the sentence was carried out, an admission that this monstrous act had been done by the order or with the knowledge of the king. On the contrary, he declared that he had ventured to do the deed on his own initiative in the hope of gaining the king's favor." (William of Tyre, 14.18)

Nevertheless Fulk no longer had the support of the public in the dispute.

Hugh remained in the kingdom for a short time, while his wounds healed. He then went into exile in Apulia, where his relative Roger II of Sicily named him Count of Gargan. Hugh never fully recovered, and died soon after his arrival. Roger II (1093-1154), son and successor of Roger I, began his rule in 1112. ...

Aftermath

Whether or not Fulk hired the Breton knight, he has been suspected, by Hans Mayer and other historians, of inciting Hugh to revolt so that he might take personal control of Jaffa. Because Hugh died before his three years of exile were over, his territories were confiscated and added to the royal domain, where they remained for the rest of the 12th century. Fulk began to build numerous castles in the area, including Ibelin, to defend against Egyptian invasions. As a consequence of the revolt, the former rear-vassals of Jaffa became more powerful, such as Ramla. The lords of Ibelin and Ramla would become important in the affairs of the kingdom later in the century. Ibelin was a castle in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. ...

The dispute also led to a rift between Fulk and Melisende. Melisende, who legally ruled the kingdom in her own right with Fulk as consort, was supported by the Church and various other nobles, and Fulk and his supporters in the dispute for a time felt unwelcome and even unsafe. According to William of Tyre, "from that day forward, the king became so uxorious that...not even in unimportant cases did he take any measures without her knowledge and assistance." (William of Tyre, 14.18)

Dating of the revolt

Hugh's revolt was previously dated to 1132, due to the evidence in William of Tyre and Arab historian Ibn al-Qalanisi. However, William's chronology is probably confused, and al-Qalanisi's references to conflicts in the kingdom probably refer to those between Fulk and Pons of Tripoli in 1132. Hugh appears as count of Jaffa in charters dated to 1133 and 1134, and the date of 1134 is now accepted by most scholars. Events Diarmaid Mac Murrough has the abbey of Kildare in Ireland burned and the abbess raped. ... Pons of Tripoli (c. ... Alternate use, see charter airline or bare-boat charter. ... Events Geoffrey of Monmouth produces the Historia Regum Britanniae Durham Cathedral is completed Construction of Exeter Cathedral begun Births 25 March - Henry II of England Honen Shonin, who later established Pure Land Buddhism as an independent sect in Japan Deaths Categories: 1133 ...

Sources

• William of Tyre, A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea, Volume II. Trans. Emily Atwater Babcock and A. C. Krey. Columbia University Press, 1943.
• John L. La Monte, Feudal Monarchy in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1100-1291. Mediaeval Academy of America, 1932.
• John L. La Monte, The Lords of Le Puiset on the Crusades. Speculum 17 (1942).
• Hans Mayer, Studies in the History of Queen Melisende of Jerusalem. Dumbarton Oaks Papers 26 (1972).
• Steven Tibble, Monarchy and Lordships in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1099-1291. Clarendon Press, 1989.