Constance of Antioch
Constance succeeded her father at the age of two after he fell in battle, although his cousin Roger II of Sicily laid claim to Antioch.
Alice assumed the regency, but the Antiochene noblemen replaced her with her father (Constance's grandfather), Baldwin II of Jerusalem.
After he died in 1131, Alice again tried to take control of the government, but the Antiochene barons acknowledged the right of her brother-in-law Fulk of Anjou to rule as regent for Constance.
[7] The 12th-century historian, William of Tyre, also accused her of seeking assistance from Imad ad-Din Zengi, atabeg of Aleppo.
[14] However, most Antiochene lords remained hostile to the idea of a female ruler and sent envoys to Baldwin II's successor, Fulk of Anjou, who was Alice's brother-in-law.
[19] Alice wanted to tighten the relationship of the principality and the Byzantine Empire; therefore, she offered Constance's hand to Manuel, a son of Emperor John II Komnenos.
[19] To prevent the Byzantine marriage, Fulk sent his envoy to France to Raymond of Poitiers to urge him to come to Antioch, which he did, traveling in disguise, because Roger II of Sicily wanted to capture him in southern Italy.
[22] Ralph of Domfront, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, made Alice believe that Raymond came to Antioch to marry her instead of her eight-year-old daughter.
[25] Fearing that Roger only wanted to assert his claim to Antioch, Louis VII and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine (niece of Raymond of Poitiers) declined.
[28] The crusaders tried to convince her husband to launch a campaign against Aleppo, the capital of Nur ad-Din, but Louis VII decided to leave Antioch to Jerusalem, forcing Eleanor to accompany him.
[29] Since Raymond and Constance's four children were still underage, there was no one to "perform the duties of a prince and raise the people from despair", according to William of Tyre.
[31][32] After learning of Raymond's fate, Constance's cousin, Baldwin III of Jerusalem, hurried to Antioch and assumed the regency.
[33] He wanted to persuade Constance to remarry, proposing three candidates (Yves, Count of Soissons, Walter of Saint Omer, and Ralph of Merle), but she declined.
[36][37] The Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos sent his widowed brother-in-law, the middle-aged John Rogerios Dalassenos, to Antioch to marry Constance.
[38] Historian Steven Runciman says that Constance may have refused the candidates proposed by Baldwin III and Manuel I because she had met Raynald of Châtillon, a knight from France.
[39] His frequent attempts to raise funds brought him into conflict with Patriarch Aimery and Emperor Manuel I during the subsequent years.
[40][43] After her husband fell into captivity, Constance announced her intention to administer the principality, but most Antiochene noblemen preferred a male ruler.
[46] Manuel dispatched his nephew, Alexios Bryennios Komnenos, and John Kamateros to Antioch to begin negotiations about his marriage to Constance's daughter, Maria.
[51] Constance's first husband, Raymond of Poitiers, was the second son of William IX, Duke of Aquitaine and his second wife, Philippa of Toulouse.
