A pirate, pillager, plunderer and a Prince all rolled into one. I would like to think that after suffering in a Moslem prison for 16-17 years much of his bloodlust could be blamed on what is known today as PTSD. I do not know. It’s hard to get an accurate diagnosis on a man dead more than 825 years. Reynald of Châtillon (also Rainard or Reginald of Chastillon) (c.1125-July 4, 1187 was a knight who served in the Second Crusade and remained in the Holy Land after its defeat. There he ruled as Prince of Antioch from 1153. He was a younger son of Henry, lord of Châtillon, from the middle-ranking noble family of Champagne that had produced Eudes of Châtillon, Pope Urban II. Reynald had joined the Second Crusade in 1147 to seek his fortune. He entered the service of Constance of Antioch, whose first husband had died in 1149. She married Reynald in secret in 1153, without consulting her liege lord, Baldwin III of Jerusalem. Neither King Baldwin nor Aimery of Limoges, the Latin Patriarch of Antioch, approved of Constances choice of a husband of such lower birth. In 1156 Reynald claimed that the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus had reneged on his promise to pay Reynald a sum of money, and vowed to attack the island of Cyprus in revenge. When the Latin Patriarch of Antioch refused to finance this expedition, Reynald had the Patriarch seized, stripped naked, covered in honey, and left to suffer in the burning sun. When the Patriarch was released, he collapsed in exhaustion and agreed to finance Reynalds expedition against Cyprus. Reynalds forces attacked Cyprus, ravaging the island, and raping and pillaging the inhabitants. The Emperor Manuel I Comnenus raised an army and began a march into Syria. Faced with a much larger and more powerful force, Reynald was forced to grovel, barefoot and shabby, before the emperors throne for forgiveness. In 1159 Reynald was forced to pay homage to Manuel I Comnenus as punishment for his attack, promising to accept a Greek Patriarch in Antioch. When Manuel came to Antioch later that year to meet with Baldwin III, King of Jerusalem, Reynald was forced to lead Manuels horse into the city. Soon after this, in 1160, Reynald was captured by the Muslims during a plundering raid against the Syrian and Armenian peasants of the neighborhood of Marash. He was confined at Aleppo for the next seventeen years. He was ransomed for the extraordinary sum of 120,000 gold dinars in 1176, emerging from his long captivity more bloodthirsty and ambitious than ever. Because his wife Constance had died in 1163, Reynald married another wealthy widow, Stephanie, the widow of both Humphrey III of Toron and Miles of Plancy, and the heiress of the lordship of Oultrejordain, including the castles Kerak and Montreal. These fortresses controlled the trade routes between Egypt and Damascus and gave Reynald access to the Red Sea. He became notorious for his wanton cruelty at Kerak, often having his enemies and hostages flung from the walls of castle to be dashed to pieces on the rocks below. In November 1177, at the head of the army of the kingdom, he defeated Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard; Saladin narrowly escaped. In 1181 the temptation of the caravans which passed by Kerak proved too strong, and, in spite of a truce between Saladin and Baldwin IV, Reynald began to plunder. Saladin demanded reparations from Baldwin IV, but Baldwin could only reply that he was unable to coerce his unruly vassal. The result was a new outbreak of war between Saladin and the Latin kingdom in 1182. In the course of the hostilities Reynald launched ships on the Red Sea, partly for piracy, but partly as a threat against Mecca and Medina, challenging Islam in its own holy places. His pirates ravaged villages up and down the Red Sea, before being captured by the army of Al-Adil I only a few miles from Medina. Although Reynalds pirates were taken to Cairo and beheaded, Reynald himself escaped to the Moab. Saladin vowed to behead Reynald himself, and at the end of the year Saladin attacked Kerak, during the marriage of Reynalds stepson Humphrey IV of Toron to Isabella of Jerusalem. The siege was raised by Count Raymond III of Tripoli, and Reynald was quiet until 1186. That year he allied with Sibylla and Guy of Lusignan against Count Raymond, and his influence contributed to the recognition of Guy as king of Jerusalem, although Raymond was the better candidate. Later in 1186 Reynald attacked a caravan in which Saladins sister was traveling, breaking the truce between Saladin and the Crusaders. King Guy chastised Reynald in an attempt to appease Saladin, but Reynald replied that he was lord of his own lands and that he had made no peace with Saladin. Saladin swore that Reynald would be executed if he was ever taken prisoner. In 1187 Saladin invaded the kingdom, defeating the Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin. The battle left Saladin with many prisoners. Most prominent among these prisoners were Reynald and King Guy, both of whom Saladin ordered brought to his tent. The chronicler Imad al-Din, who was present at the scene, relates: Saladin invited the king [Guy] to sit beside him, and when Arnat [Reynald] entered in his turn, he seated him next to his king and reminded him of his misdeeds. How many times have you sworn an oath and violated it? How many times have you signed agreements you have never respected? Reynald answered through a translator: Kings have always acted thus. I did nothing more. During this time King Guy was gasping with thirst, his head dangling as though drunk, his face betraying great fright. Saladin spoke reassuring words to him, had cold water brought, and offered it to him. The king drank, then handed what remained to Reynald, who slaked his thirst in turn. The sultan then said to Guy: You did not ask permission before giving him water. I am therefore not obliged to grant him mercy. After pronouncing these words, the sultan smiled, mounted his horse, and rode off, leaving the captives in terror. He supervised the return of the troops, and then came back to his tent. He ordered Reynald brought there, then advanced before him, sword in hand, and struck him between the neck and the shoulder-blade. When Reynald fell, he cut off his head and dragged the body by its feet to the king, who began to tremble. Seeing him thus upset, Saladin said to him in a reassuring tone: This man was killed only because of his malfeasance and perfidy. King Guy was spared and was taken to Damascus for a time, then allowed to go free. Many of the Crusaders considered Reynald a martyr, although all evidence shows him to have been a plunderer and a pirate who had little concern for the welfare of the Kingdom. The successes of the Kingdom were almost single handedly undone by Reynalds recklessness and selfishness. Reynald and Constance had two daughters: Agnes, who married king Bela III of Hungary; and Alix, who married Azzo V dEste. A largely fictionalized version of Reynald is played by Brendan Gleeson in the 2005 movie Kingdom of Heaven. He is an ancestor of King James IV of Scotland. The coat of arms is that of the Prince of Antioch. Europäische Stammtafeln, Band II, Frank Baron Freytag von Loringhoven, 1975, Isenburg, W. K. Prinz von Page 117
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 12:48:49 +0000
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