Notes |
Married:
- "Abducted from her tent, browbeaten by her mother Maria Comnena into accepting a dubious annulment, Isabella finally acquiesced and was wed to Conrad. Decades later a papal commission would condemn their marriage as both bigamous and incestuous (because Isabella's sister had once been married to Conrad's brother) but for now the need for strong military leadership overruled the niceties of law." [3]
- "True, it was rumored that at least one of Conrad's two previous wives - one Italian, one Greek - was still alvie, but then army gossip was notoriously unreliable. It was true also that Isabella had a husband already, Humphrey of Toron; he was unquestionable alive, indeed he was there in the camp outside Acre. But then there were churchmen in the camp too and wherever there were churchmen, marriages could be broken." [2]
- The marriage provided fuel for the smoldering feud between the kings of England and France. Philip declared for his cousin, Montferrat; Richard for the Lusignans, who, after all, were his vassals in Aquitaine. In a slight that could not be missed, King Guy and the jilted Humphrey, offered homage to Richard on the day of his marriage to Berengaria, the woman who took the veil from the French king's sister. That betrothal had been finally broken in Sicily after being held in suspense for years, a great embarrassment for Philip.
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