Overview

In the first half of the thirteenth century, one of the most prominent and influential families in the Latin East was the Montbeliard family, originating from Imperial Burgundy. Its most well-known members, Walter and his nephew Odo, held the highest positions in the Kingdom of Cyprus and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, as regents and constables. Thanks to the matrimonial policy they adopted, the Montbeliards created a large familial net in Outremer, including such powerful houses as the Lusignans or Ibelins. This first, separate study concerning the Montbeliard family in Outremer, shows their crusading activity as far as the end of the twelfth century against the background of their position in Burgundy, their relationship with the imperial house of the Hohenstaufens, the circumstances of the brilliant (and unexpected?) career of Walter of Montbeliard, who was the first member of the family permanently settled in Outremer. It was his activities in Outremer, political and familial, which gave impulse to the careers of other families, like the Brienne and Dampierre (sur -Salon). For more than a quarter-century his nephew, Odo, was one of rulers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the absence of the King. In this book the reader will find a wide panorama of the relationship between Outremer, France, Italy, the Papacy and the Roman Empire, as seen through the prism of the extraordinary international career of the Montbeliard family.

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9781472452986

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Karol Polejowski is a lecturer in the Department of Philology at the Ateneum University in Gdansk, Poland, teaching the history of the Mediterranean.

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