Bohemond III of Antioch - Prince of Antioch

Prince of Antioch

In 1164, Bohemond and Raymond III of Tripoli marched out to relieve Harim, under siege from Nur ad-Din Zengi, but when Nur ad-Din retreated Bohemond led a charge against him. The ensuing battle was a disaster and both Bohemond and Raymond were taken prisoner. King Amalric I of Jerusalem hastened back from his invasion of Egypt to take control of the regency of Antioch; Bohemond was freed, for a large ransom (150,000 dinars), in 1165 with the intervention of Amalric and Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus, his nominal overlord; Manuel was also his brother-in-law, as he was married to Bohemond's sister Maria of Antioch. Nur ad-Din was always wary of Byzantine intervention in Syria, which may explain his quick release of Bohemond. Bohemond then visited Manuel in Constantinople, where he agreed to re-establish a Greek Patriarch in Antioch, Athanasius II. The Latin Patriarch, Aimery of Limoges, protested this and imposed an interdict on the city. He did not return until Athanasius died in 1170.

In 1166 the future emperor Andronicus Comnenus, then only governor of Cilicia, arrived in Antioch, having heard of the beauty of Bohemond's sister Philippa. Their subsequent affair angered both Bohemond and Manuel, as Philippa was the sister of Manuel's wife and thus the relationship was considered incestuous by the church. Andronicus was forced to flee to Jerusalem, where he also seduced Queen Theodora Comnena, an even closer relative.

In 1172 Bohemond invaded Armenia, in response to Mleh of Armenia's alliance with Nur ad-Din. In 1177, along with Raymond III and Philip, Count of Flanders, who had arrived on pilgrimage, Bohemond besieged Harim, but they could not recapture it and the siege was abandoned.

In 1180 Bohemond and Raymond attempted to intervene in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which was at the time ruled by their kinsman Baldwin IV, a leper. Because Baldwin could have no heirs, it was vital that his sister Sibylla be married to a suitable candidate for the kingship. After the death of her first husband, William of Montferrat, Baldwin had been trying to negotiate another foreign marriage for her. Raymond and Bohemond, both firsts cousin of Baldwin and Sibylla, brought their forces into the kingdom with the intention of marrying her to one of their supporters, Baldwin of Ibelin. The king pre-empted them by marrying her off to Guy of Lusignan.