April 28, 1192

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Martin Antonenko

A Fixture
Joined
Jul 11, 2008
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8,994
A "Cold Case" at The Time of The Crusades:
The King of Jerusalem is Murdered!

On the evening of April 28, 1192, Konrad of Montferrat, Lord of Tire and, since a few days, also King of the Crusader State of Jerusalem ...



... in the city of Tire (now Lebanon) to the nearby palace of the Bishop of Beauvais ...



... where he plans to have dinner.

He's not invited there, but as the newly installed king and regent of the city, he believes he can take it for himself!

He had actually wanted to dine at home, but the preparation of his meal had been delayed and his stomach growled.

However, when he arrived at the bishop's palace, Konrad was disappointed:

The bishop has already finished eating - so Konrad spontaneously decides to go home again; his actual dinner should already be ready there ...:



If he'd stayed at home right away - because now he's dying of hunger!

Almost at home, he is attacked and stabbed to death by two hired killers - Assassins ...:



There are three main suspects for the murder, but the actual client is never found - not until today!

First and foremost for historians is the English King Richard I "Lionheart" ...



... who would have liked to see his own vassal, Guy de Lusignan...

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... on the throne in place of Konrad, in order to strengthen the English influence in the Holy Land.

But Konrad, who is supported behind the scenes by the King of France, had simply forbidden the competitor from entering the city of Tire (where the king was elected).

The second possible suspect is Humfried IV, Lord of Toron...:

images


He was the first husband of a lady named Isabella de Châtillon, whom Konrad had taken from him and married in 1190. Here we see the two, Humfried on the left and Isabella on the right ...:



The fact that he was already married, if you looked at it more closely, hadn't given the Lord of Tire any offense, he simply had the Church annulled his first marriage - after all, you have relationships ...!

And the lady became Queen of Jerusalem as Isabella I!



The third suspect is no less prominent: It is none other than the Kurdish Muslim leader Salah-ad-Din, whom we know as "Saladin" ...:



Salah-ad-Din had received a severe beating from Konrad when he besieged the city of Tire in 1187 and Konrad had successfully led the defense of the city ...:



babylonian-siege.jpg

Political intrigues and power interests (Richard of England), injured pride and offended vanity (Humfried) or revenge for a military defeat (Salah-ad-Din) - all good motives for murder that still exist today.

Pick a client!

For me it wasn't one of these three suspects - I'm thinking of a completely different person!

Because:
The successor of the murdered Conrad is Henry I of Champagne ...:

HENRI-Ier-COMTE-DE-CHAMPAGNE-Portrait-GRAVURE-Arnaud.jpg


... gets married quickly: Well who?

No one else than Lady Isabella, the widow of his predecessor, who has just been murdered, with which Isabella becomes Queen of Jerusalem again ...:



Funny that at the time no one had any suspect on the slip ...

She had two good motives:

First of all, from what we know about him, Konrad of Tire must have been quite a disgust.

Second, it's not so bad to be queen ...

A violent death of Konrad solved her first problem - and preserved her status!

For me, who has dealt a little with this "cold case", she was the commissioner of the murder!
 
"Look for the lady" - so goes the old saying. I like the term "English King Richard I the LionHeart". He spent most of his life farting about in the Holy Land and Cyprus.
Good thread Inspector Rohmann(y)

Phil
 
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