Damsel of Cyprus

The Damsel of Cyprus (born c. 1177), possibly named Beatrice or Maria, was the daughter of Isaac Komnenos, emperor of Cyprus, and an Armenian princess. She was her father's sole heiress. Her given name is not known with certainty and she is known by convention as the "Damsel of Cyprus". She was a hostage in the Principality of Antioch from 1182 until at least 1184. She was captured in 1191 during a brief war between her father and King Richard I of England. She remained an English prisoner, although treated well, until 1194. During her captivity she travelled throughout the Holy Land, Italy and France. After her release, she remained in France. In 1199 or 1200, she married Count Raymond VI of Toulouse, becoming his fifth wife. They divorced by late 1202 or early 1203, when she married Thierry of Flanders, who attempted to claim Cyprus on her behalf. After this failed venture, the couple went to Armenia. Her fate thereafter is unknown. Name The Damsel of Cyprus is specified in contemporary chronicles and documents as "Isaac's daughter" (filia Isaaci) or the "daughter of the emperor [of Cyprus]" (filia imperatoris [Cypri], fille de l'Empereor de Chypre). The chronicles that record her second marriage do not name her husband either, although his identity can be deduced from the information given. Wipertus Rudt de Collenberg suggests that Isaac's daughter may be the domicella (damsel) Beatrice who is listed first among the female beneficiaries of the will of Joan of England, queen of Sicily and fourth wife of Raymond of Toulouse, in 1199. She received the large sum of 200 marks, while the other ladies received 140 marks (Alice), 100 (Helysabeth), 60 (Philippa) and 15 (Malekakxa). She and Alice also inherited two coffers at Verdun and their contents. The title domicella (diminutive of lady) implies an unmarried girl of noble birth. The name Beatrice would have been appropriate for Isaac's daughter, since both of her maternal great-grandparents bore the name: Beatrice of Saone and the daughter of Count Hugh of Rethel. Her great-great-grandmother, the daughter of Constantine I of Armenia, was also named Beatrice. The unusual Greek name of the maid Malekakxa suggests she may have been picked up in Cyprus, perhaps in association with the Damsel.