Henry II of Jerusalem
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Henry II (died August 31, 1324) was the last ruling King of Jerusalem and also ruled as King of Cyprus.
He was the second surviving son of Hugh III and succeeded his brother John I on May 20, 1285; there was some suspicion that Henry had been involved in poisoning John. Charles of Anjou, who contested John's claim to the throne, had died in 1285, allowing Henry to recover Acre from the Angevins. With a fleet Henry attacked Acre, defended by Charles' lieutenant Hugh Pelerin, and the city was captured on July 29. Henry had himself crowned there on August 15, but returned to Cyprus and appointed his uncle Philip of Ibelin as bailiff in his absence. By this time Acre was one of the few coastal cities remaining in the remnant of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. During his reign the Mameluks captured Tyre, Beirut, and the rest of the cities, and destroyed the similarly weakened County of Tripoli in 1289. The final siege of Acre began on April 5, 1291 with Henry present in the city. He escaped to Cyprus with most of his nobles, and the city fell to Khalil on May 28.
Henry continued to rule as King of Cyprus, and continued to claim the kingdom of Jerusalem as well, often planning to recover the former territory on the mainland. He allied with Ghazan, the Mongol ilkhan of Persia, when Ghazan invaded Mameluk territory in 1299; he tried to stop Genoan ships from trading with the Mameluks, hoping to weaken them economically; and he twice wrote to Pope Clement V asking for a new crusade. His reign in Cyprus was prosperous and wealthy, and he was very much involved with the justice and administration of the kingdom - he had the Haute Cour keep written records for the first time (in Italian or French, rather than Latin), and extended the court's role from a feudal advisory body to a true court responsible for trying and punishing criminals. However, Cyprus was in no position to fulfill his true ambition, the recovery of the Holy Land. He suffered from epilepsy, which at times incapacitated him, and his nobles were unsatisfied with him. He had his brother Guy, the constable of Cyprus, put to death in 1303 for conspiring against him. In 1306 his brother Amalric of Tyre, constable of Jerusalem, conspired with the Templars to remove him from power. However, Amalric assumed the title of Governor and Regent of Cyprus, rather than of King. Henry was exiled to Armenia, where King Oshin of Armenia was Amalric's brother-in-law. However, upon the murder of Amalric in 1310, Oshin released Henry, who returned to Cyprus and resumed his throne with the aid of the Hospitallers, imprisoning many of Amalric's co-conspirators, including their brother Constable Aimery, brother-in-law Balian of Ibelin, Prince of Galilee, and other relatives of Balian. In 1313, he oversaw the dissolution of the Templars in Cyprus and the transfer of their property to the Hospitallers.
Henry died on August 31, 1324 at his villa in Strovolos, and was succeeded by his nephew Hugh IV.