page_title: Bohemond III of Antioch
section_title: Last years
hierarchical_section_title: Bohemond III of Antioch / Prince of Antioch / Last years
context_page_description: Bohemond III of Antioch, also known as Bohemond the Child or the Stammerer, was Prince of Antioch from 1163 to 1201. He was the elder son of Constance of Antioch and her first husband, Raymond of Poitiers. Bohemond ascended to the throne after the Antiochene noblemen dethroned his mother with the assistance of Thoros II, Lord of Armenian Cilicia. He fell into captivity in the Battle of Harim in 1164, but the victorious Nur ad-Din, atabeg of Aleppo released him to avoid coming into conflict with the Byzantine Empire. Bohemond went to Constantinople to pay homage to Manuel I Komnenos, who persuaded him to install a Greek Orthodox Patriarch in Antioch. The Latin Patriarch of Antioch, Aimery of Limoges, placed Antioch under interdict. Bohemond restored Aimery only after the Greek patriarch died during an earthquake in 1170.
  Bohemond remained a close ally of the Byzantine Empire. He fought against Mleh, Lord of Armenian Cilicia, assisting in the restoration of Byzantine rule in the Cilician plain. He also made alliances with the Muslim rulers of Aleppo and Damascus against Saladin, who had begun to unite the Muslim countries along the borders of the crusader states.
context_section_description: Bohemond's wife, Sibylla, wanted to secure Antioch for her son, William, with the assistance of Leo of Cilicia (whose wife, Isabel, was her niece). Leo invited Bohemond and his family to Bagras, saying that he wanted to start negotiations regarding the surrender of the fortress either to Antioch or to the Templars in early 1194. The meeting was a trap: Bohemond was captured and taken to Leo's capital, Sis.
  Bohemond was compelled to surrender Antioch to Leo. He appointed his marshal, Bartholomew Tirel, to accompany the Armenian troops, which were under the command of Hethoum of Sason, to Antioch. The Antiochene noblemen allowed Leo's soldiers to enter the town, but the mainly Greek and Latin burgers opposed Leo's rule. An Armenian soldier's rude remark about Saint Hilary, to whom the royal chapel was dedicated, provoked a riot, forcing the Armenians to withdraw from the town. The burghers assembled in the cathedral to form a commune under the auspices of Patriarch Aimery. They declared Bohemond's eldest son, Raymond, regent for his imprisoned father. Raymond's younger brother, Bohemond, also hurried from Tripoli to Antioch, and the Armenian forces had to return to Cilicia.
  Henry I of Jerusalem came to Antioch to mediate a peace treaty in early 1195. After Bohemond renounced his claim to suzerainty over Cilicia and acknowledged Leo's possession of Bagras, Leo released him and his retainers. Before long, Bohemond's son, Raymond, married Leo's niece and heir, Alice.
  Raymond died in early 1197, but his widow gave birth to a posthumous son, Raymond-Roupen. The elderly Bohemond sent her and her infant son to Cilicia wanting either to secure Antioch for his son by Sibylla, or to guarantee their security. Bohemond assisted Henry I, Duke of Brabant, in capturing Beirut in October 1197. Before long, he decided to besiege Jabala and Latakia, but he had to return to Antioch to meet the papal legate, Conrad of Wittelsbach, Archbishop of Mainz. The archbishop had come to Antioch to secure Raymond-Roupen's right to succeed Bohemond. On Conrad's demand, Bohemond summoned the Antiochene noblemen, who swore fealty to his grandson.
  Bohemond of Tripoli regarded himself his father's lawful heir, because he was Bohemond's elder surviving son. He came to Antioch at the end of 1198 and persuaded the commune to accept his rule. Before long, the younger Bohemond returned to Tripoli, enabling his father to re-take control of state affairs, suggesting that the elder Bohemond had tacitly supported his son's coup. Leo I of Cilicia appealed to the Holy See to protect Raymond-Roupen's interest, but the Knights Templar submitted a complaint against him for refusing to restore Bagras to them.
  Bohemond died in April 1201. His son hurried to Antioch to attend his funeral. The commune proclaimed him prince, but many noblemen who remained loyal to Raymond-Roupen fled to Cilicia. The ensuing War of the Antiochene Succession lasted for years, until the death of Leo in May 1219.
caption: Coat-of-Arms of Poitiers of Antioch