Alice, King Baldwin’s second daughter, was married to the son of Prince Bohemund, the baby who had been born while he was back in Sicily. Bohemund II grew up in Europe. Around age 18, he came to Antioch to take over. Alice was about 16. She began her married life conventionally enough by bearing a daughter in the first two years. Then it was all derailed when her husband died in battle.
The Middle East at this time was a swirl of competing Turkish tribes. Some were more Persianized or had been converted to Islam longer than others. Just when I think I know the names of all of them — Cumans, Pechenegs, Khazars, Bulgars, Danishmends, Seljuks, Oghuz — I run into new names. In looking back, we generalize them to “Turks” and project unity onto them, a unity that came only later with the Ottoman kings. At that time, nobody could see which tribe was going to rise to the top, so they were all trying.
In this case, the Danishmends were coming to the aid of Christian Armenians. The same ruling family that had welcomed the first Crusaders now realized that they were just another invading force. Bohemund II was trying to take more territory, not from Muslims, but from King Baldwin’s brother-in-law. The Crusades were only sometimes stereotypical wars of religion.
Bohemund II and Alice had only been married about four years, and they had only this one child, Constance. The men around Alice wanted to appoint a male regent for the child Princess until she was old enough to be married to a man who could help reign. But Alice, having grown up watching Melisende being treated like an heir, did not see any reason why she could not be a reigning Princess on her own.
Her father, King Baldwin II, saw two very good reasons why not. First, this was a very dangerous neighborhood. He had already chosen to import a seasoned warrior to marry — and rule with — Melisende. Second, he had an opportunity to exert influence over Antioch, making his kingship more real. He had known Bohemund in the old days; suddenly, Bohemund’s legacy came down to this baby girl, and as baby Constance’s grandfather, he could step in and protect her with a regent. He must have known Alice well enough to feel sure that she would not rule the way he wished!
Alice attempted three coups, starting right away. She sent a secret message to the Turkish ruler of Aleppo, asking him to ally with her. Her toddler’s hand in marriage was held out as a reward. But Alice’s father had troops in the area. They caught and tortured her messenger. Then Alice ordered the gates barred against King Baldwin’s entry, but the nobles of Antioch saw no good in defying the King of Jerusalem. They opened the gates. Alice ran into the Citadel, the one that had originally held out against the Crusaders, but she couldn’t really hold out all on her own.
King Baldwin sent Alice away to live in Latakia. Almost certainly, baby Constance stayed in Antioch with her nurse and nanny staff. Medieval royal infants were often separated from their parents, partly as a guard against one good epidemic wiping them all out. Baldwin appointed his old friend Sir Joscelin, now Count of Edessa, to rule Antioch as regent, but the arrangement didn’t last long.
King Baldwin II died in 1131. As Melisende became Queen on her own, Sir Joscelin also died. Alice saw her chance; she came back from her city of Latakia, and seized Antioch again. Joscelin II of Edessa and Pons of Tripoli were willing to ally with her against the new Queen and King in Jerusalem. Only two generations out from the original Crusade, they were rebelling against Jerusalem! When King Fulk, Melisende’s husband, tried to go to Antioch to take control, he had to sail from Jaffa since Tripoli would not let him pass by land. But only one minor battle was fought, and the rebel Counts submitted to the new King. Alice was again out of luck, sent back to Latakia.
Alice tried one more time when Constance was about 7. She started negotiating to have the Byzantine Emperor marry the little girl! Remember that first Bohemund had positioned Antioch as Constantinople’s determined rival and adversary? The nobles of Antioch panicked. They told Alice that they were getting a prince from Europe, Raymond of Poitiers, to come marry her—not the daughter, but Alice herself. The Patriarch played along until Raymond arrived. Then the child was brought into the church and married off at age 7. Raymond, a son of the Duke of Aquitaine, was about 21, so it was assumed that he had time to wait for Constance to grow up. In the meanwhile, his legal marriage effectively blocked the very disappointed Alice.
Where was Alice’s maternal feeling all this time? She seems to have had little of it; perhaps her sisters would have said “oh that’s just Alice, you know how she is.” Perhaps it was a traumatic response to her husband’s sudden death; perhaps it was a projection of hidden dislike for her husband. We can speculate anything, but it’s clear that she wasn’t much like her mother, Morphia, who stayed close to her children. In any case, little Constance was important as a descendant of Bohemund in a way that Alice, the mother, was not. Once Constance had her own household staff and Alice was sent away, they apparently had limited contact.