The Beaumonts: Kings of Jerusalem

The Brienne/Beaumonts, a noble family originally from Champagne, spread across Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean in the Middle Ages. Their story begins with John de Brienne (c. 1175/78-1237), who was the emperor of Constantinople, became king of Jerusalem by marriage, and claimed the throne of a kingdom in modern-day Turkey called Armenian Cilicia. His life, his children and his grandchildren’s lives were remarkably international. His daughters were born in Italy and what is now Lebanon; one of his sons, who grew up in Constantinople, France and Spain, was the stepfather of the king of Scotland; one of his grandchildren was the king of Germany, Italy and Sicily; and several other grandchildren settled in England, where one married a Scottish heiress and was the great-grandfather of a king of England and an English-born queen of Portugal. The Beaumonts tells the story of the places where the Brienne/Beaumont family settled and held influence between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. It begins in the Crusader states and moves to the Latin Empire of Constantinople, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, France, Scotland, and England.