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Queen consort of Aragon
Marie of Lusignan
(1273 –
Tortosa
, April 1319) was a daughter of
Hugh III of Cyprus
and his wife
Isabella of Ibelin
. She was
Queen of Aragon
by her marriage and was a member of the
House of Poitiers-Lusignan
.
[1]
Life
[
edit
]
Marie was the fifth of thirteen children. Her siblings included
John II of Jerusalem
,
Henry II of Jerusalem
and
Amalric, Lord of Tyre
.
Marie remained unmarried for many years; she was recorded as having been present in her brother Amalric's court in 1310. She was however eventually betrothed to
James II of Aragon
in 1315, who had been married twice before and was father to ten legitimate children.
As Marie was heiress to
Cyprus
, James considered a matrimonial union with her to be politically advantageous. They married by proxy at
Santa Sophia
,
Nicosia
on 15 June 1315 and in person at
Girona
on 27 November 1315. Marie was already forty-two and the marriage was purely for reasons of state, so James could rule Cyprus on the death of Marie's brother Henry.
[2]
They had no children.
The couple were only married for four years before Marie died in
Tortosa
in April 1319. As Marie did not outlive her brother, James' plans of ruling Cyprus had failed. After Marie's death James complained that she had been too old and had not proved companionable.
[3]
Marie's brother Henry died five years later and was succeeded by their nephew
Hugh
. James remarried a final time to
Elisenda de Montcada
before his death in 1327.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Arco y Garay, Ricardo del (1945). Sepulcros de la Casa Real de Aragon. Madrid: Instituto Jeronimo Zurita. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas. OCLC 11818414.
- ^
Cyprus
- ^
Letter of King Jaime to the bishop of Tusculum written shortly after Queen Marie's death, cited in Edbury (1994), p. 138
Marie of Lusignan, Queen of Aragon
Born:
1273
Died:
April 1319
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Royal titles
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Preceded by
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Queen consort of Aragon
1314?1319
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Succeeded by
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