Roger of San Severino was the
bailiff of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1277 to 1282. He was sent to
Acre, then the capital of the kingdom, with a small force by the new king
Charles I, also
King of Sicily, to act as
regent.
Charles, an
Angevin and brother of the
Louis IX of France, had purchased the rights to the kingdom from
Mary of Antioch, one of the claimants after the death of
Conradin in 1268. The succession, however, was disputed between Mary and
Hugh III of Cyprus.
Roger had the support of the
Knights Templar and the
Republic of Venice when he landed at Acre. The bailiff at the time was
Balian of Ibelin, Lord of Arsuf, who initially refused to admit him into the citadel until papers signed by Charles, Mary, and
Pope John XXI were produced and the
Knights Hospitallers and
Patriarch of Jerusalem John of Versailles had refused to intervene. The state of the kingdom became anarchy as Roger raised Charles' standards and demanded oaths of homage from the barons, who in turn refused to accept the transferral of the royal rights without a decision of the
Haute Cour. The barons requested Hugh of Cyprus to release them from their oaths, but he refused. Roger then threatened all the barons with confiscation if they did not do him homage. They did. Even
Bohemond VII of Tripoli recognised him as regent in Acre.
Roger governed the remnant of the Latin kingdom in the East in peace. He continued the alliance with the
Mamluk sultan of Egypt,
Qalawun, at the request of Charles and extended it for another ten years in May 1281. He also refused to aid the
Mongol ilkhan of Persia,
Abaqa, against the Mamluks at the
Second Battle of Homs. He even personally congratulated Qalawun on his victory. In 1281, following the
Sicilian Vespers of
30 March, Roger was recalled with his troops to Italy and he left
Odo Poilechien behind as his deputy.
Sources
- Setton, Kenneth M. (general editor) A History of the Crusades: Volume II — The Later Crusades, 1189 – 1311. Robert Lee Wolff and Harry W. Hazard, editors. University of Wisconsin Press: Milwaukee, 1969.
Category:Christians of the Crusadescs:Roger ze San Severina
