Alice of Antioch
In late 1135 she assumed power in Constance's name, but was permanently displaced early the next year by Raymond of Poitiers, who had come from Europe to marry her daughter.
Throughout her widowhood she retained rule over the coastal cities of Latakia and Jabala, which she had received from Bohemond as dower, and there developed an autonomous lordship.
[9] It was agreed that he would rule during the minority of the rightful heir, the c. 9-year-old Bohemond II, who would marry the king's second daughter, Alice, upon coming of age.
[12] Because King Baldwin had no sons, the Jerusalemite succession was settled on his eldest daughter, Melisende, who was then married to Count Fulk V of Anjou.
[15] Archbishop William of Tyre, the Jerusalemite chronicler who wrote long after these events,[2] records that Alice intended to claim the principality for herself "in perpetuity", dispossessing her infant daughter, Constance.
[16] Asbridge, however, says that it is not clear whether Alice wished to divert the succession from Constance or to rule as regent,[15] as was usual for the mother of a child ruler.
[18] Upon receiving the news of Bohemond's death, King Baldwin hastened to Antioch with his son-in-law Fulk to take custody of Constance and appoint a regent.
[19] Alice, William says, attempted to ally herself with the Muslim ruler of Mosul and Aleppo, Imad ad-Din Zengi, but her messenger was captured and killed by her father's men.
[21] When her father appeared at the gates of Antioch, Alice ordered them shut, and garnered support by distributing money from the princely treasury.
[19] After a few days, a monk named Peter Latinator and a knight called William of Aversa opened the gates to Fulk and Joscelin,[18] allowing the king to enter.
[23] She allied with Counts Joscelin II of Edessa and Pons of Tripoli, neither of whom wished to accept Fulk's suzerainty, and also had the support of a major Antiochene baron, William of Saone.
In concert with the Antiochene nobles he sent an offer to Raymond of Poitiers, a younger son of Duke William IX of Aquitaine, to come from France to become the new prince of Antioch.
[25][27] The invitation to Raymond was kept secret to prevent a counter strike by either Alice or King Roger II of Sicily, who was Constance's closest relative on her father's side and may have had his own designs on the principality.
[29] Asbridge maintains that she saw herself as an "absentee princess or regent",[30] while his colleague Malcolm Barber believes that Rainald Masoir needed Alice's co-operation to govern the principality effectively.
[33] Asbridge considers it "extremely unlikely" that Alice did not know that Raymond had come to marry Constance or that the marriage could be held without her knowledge; he suggests that only the speed with which it took place may have caught her by surprise.
[35] Alice stood no chance to win support against an adult man of high birth with a clear legal claim to rule, and the Antiochene turned their back on her permanently.
[39] Like her aunt Cecilia and daughter, Constance, Alice had ties to the Abbey of Saint Mary of the Valley of Jehosaphat, where the princesses of Antioch were buried.
[44] Because he is the most comprehensive, if not sole, narrative source for the history of Antioch in the 1130s, his opinion of Alice has profoundly influenced 20th-century historians' assessment of the princess.
[47] He concedes that her struggle for power "to some extent exacerbated" the weakness of Antioch in the 1130s, leading to significant territorial losses, but argues that such an ambition in a man would be seen "as nothing more than a natural impulse".
William of Tyre writes highly favorably about Melisende and her achievements, however, and Asbridge argues that this contrasting treatment has obscured the similarities between the sisters.
