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Hodierna of Tripoli

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Hodierna of Tripoli

Hodierna of Tripoli (c. 1116 – c. 1162) was the countess of Tripoli through her marriage to Raymond II of Tripoli. She ruled the County of Tripoli as regent during the minority of their son Raymond III from 1152 until 1155.

Hodierna was the daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and sister of Queen Melisende. She may have been betrothed to Count Raymond II of Tripoli already as a child, but did not marry him until the 1130s. Hodierna was a politically active countess and is alleged to have played a part in the disposing of her husband's cousin and rival Bertrand. Her marriage was unhappy because of her husband's jealousy. Hodierna had just left Raymond when he was assassinated in 1152, and she returned to Tripoli to take charge of government in their son's name. After her son assumed power, Hodierna assisted her sister Queen Melisende until the latter's death in 1161. Hodierna died shortly after.

Countess Hodierna remains little known compared to her sisters Queen Melisende and Princess Alice. She has, however, been identified as the princesse lointaine in several troubadour poems and tales and of the works of art inspired by them.

Hodierna was born c. 1115–17. She was the third daughter of Baldwin of Bourcq, a Frankish nobleman, and Morphia of Melitene, an Armenian noblewoman. Hodierna and her older sisters, Melisende and Alice, were born while their father was the count of Edessa. The County of Edessa was, along with the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Principality of Antioch, and the County of Tripoli, one of the states established by the Franks, who defeated the Muslims of the Levant in the First Crusade.

In 1118 Baldwin was elected king of Jerusalem. The following year he installed his cousin Joscelin of Courtenay as the new count of Edessa and brought his family to Jerusalem. Hodierna gained another sister, Ioveta, after her parents were crowned king and queen in 1119.

In 1122 Count Pons of Tripoli rebelled against King Baldwin. Historian Kevin Lewis considers it "very possible" that Hodierna's betrothal to Raymond was first brought in the aftermath of this dispute up as a way to reconcile the two ruling families. Queen Morphia died probably in 1126 or 1127. King Baldwin no longer expected to have a son and started providing for his daughters and settling his succession. Melisende, the eldest daughter, was to be his heir; in 1129 she was married to Count Fulk V of Anjou. Alice, the second eldest, was married to Prince Bohemond II of Antioch in 1126. Lewis and Hans E. Mayer believe that Hodierna may have been betrothed to Raymond, son of Count Pons of Tripoli, already at this time. Ioveta, the youngest, was sent to the Convent of Saint Anne. Hodierna's father died in 1131, and was succeeded by Melisende and Fulk.

Count Pons was defeated by Muslims and killed in 1137. He was succeeded by his son, Raymond II. Lewis presumes that Hodierna's marriage to Raymond was delayed until c. 1132 because she was far too young in 1127. Historian Malcolm Barber believes that the union was the result of Queen Melisende's effort to provide for Hodierna and to link the ruling houses of all the crusader states. Hodierna, already called the countess of Tripoli but not accompanied by her husband, attended the court of King Fulk and Queen Melisende in Acre in December 1138. Hodierna and Raymond II had their first child, Raymond III, in 1140.

In 1144 the County of Edessa was conquered by Muslim leader Imad al-Din Zengi, which in 1148 led to the Second Crusade. Raymond's granduncle Count Alfonso Jordan of Toulouse arrived in the Levant with the crusade. Historian Jean Richard proposes that Alfonso intended to claim Tripoli. He died suddenly soon after his arrival; poisoning was widely suspected. An anonymous monk from France wrote that Alfonso was poisoned on the orders of Queen Melisende, who allegedly wished to safeguard Raymond and Hodierna's position in Tripoli. Lewis believes that Alfonso died of natural causes.

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