An examination of the marriage of Isabella I of Jerusalem and Conrad de Montferrat in 1190. Medieval scandal or a matter of political expediency?

The marriage of Isabella I of Jerusalem to Conrad de Montferrat has been variously described as a medieval scandal, bigamous and incestuous, a power grab by Conrad and the Ibelin faction and a pragmatic solution to two potentially damaging crises. The death of Queen Sibylla and her children during the siege of Acre led to a succession crisis in the kingdom of Jerusalem.
Contemporary chroniclers point to the growing tension between the Court faction which supported Sibylla’s husband, Guy de Lusignan, as king and the Ibelin faction who supported Sibylla’s sister Isabella as the rightful ruler. For the marriage to take place, Isabella’s existing marriage to Humphrey of Toron needed to be canonically annulled. No detailed examination has been made of the validity of the annulment, the validity of the Isabella/Conrad marriage, its reflection on 12th century marriage laws, the short-term and long-term importance of the marriage for the future of the kingdom and in Europe, and its personal impact on Isabella. This dissertation addresses these omissions and seeks to establish that this contentious marriage is more important than just being the medieval scandal portrayed by contemporary chroniclers and later historians.