Duke of Brittany Conan III 'Le Gross'

Matilde d'Albon

Count d'Albon Guiges VI

Guillaume De Chalon

Lady of Chalon-Sur-Saone Isabelle De Thiern

King of Jerusalem Conrad di Montferrat

Notes:

-- w as killed," wrote Ibn al-Athir. Certainly, theloss of a potentially formidable king was of ad vantage to theSaracens. The murder remains unsolved. Under torture, the surviving Hashshashinclaimed that Richard wa s behind the killing, though this is impossibleto prove. Another suspect was Humphrey IV of T oron, Isabella's firsthusband. Saladin's involvement has also been alleged, but as Conradwa s in the middle of amicable negotiations with him, this seems lesslikely; also, Saladin himse lf had no love for the Hashshashin. In1970, Patrick A. Williams argued a plausible case for H enry ofChampagne's guilt, but if so, it is difficult to imagine him takingsuch a bold step wi thout his uncle Richard's approval. Later, while returning from the crusade in disguise, Richard wasrecognised by Meinhard II o f Görz, who is described as Conrad's nephew(which suggests the identity of his first wife), a nd then imprisonedby his cousin Leopold V of Austria. Conrad's murder was one of thecharges a gainst him. Richard requested that the Hashshashin vindicatehim, and in a letter allegedly fr om their leader, Rashid al-Din Sinan,they appeared to do so. The letter claimed that in 1191 , Conrad hadcaptured a Hashshashin ship that had sought refuge in Tyre during astorm. He kill ed the captain, imprisoned the crew, and stripped theship of its treasure. When Rashid al-Di n Sinan requested that theship's crew and treasure be returned, he was rebuffed, and so a dea thsentence was issued for Conrad of Montferrat. However, this letter isbelieved to have bee n forged: Sinan was already dead, and apart fromthis letter and the chronicle entries based u pon it, there is no otherevidence for the Hashashin being involved in shipping. The timing of the murder, and its consequences - the pregnant Isabella was marriedoff within the week to He nry of Champagne, much to the disgust ofMuslim commentators - suggest that the chief motive m ay be sought inFrankish politics. Family Conrad's brother Boniface was the leader of the Fourth Crusade. Theiryoungest brother Renie r was a son-in-law of Byzantine emperor Manuel IComnenus, and the eldest, William, had been t he first husband ofSibylla and father of Baldwin V of Jerusalem. Conrad was also brieflyMarqu ess of Montferrat, following his father's death in 1191. InMontferrat he was succeeded by Bon iface, but his own heiress was bornposthumously: a daughter Maria of Montferrat, 'La Marquise ', who in1205 became Queen of Jerusalem on Isabella's death, but died young inchildbirth. Con rad's ex-wife, Theodora, was still living in themid-late 1190s, when she was having the monas tery of Dalmatiosconverted into a convent, possibly for her own residence. Conrad in fiction, film and art The Monferrine court was Occitan in its literary culture, and providedpatronage to numerous t roubadors. Bertran de Born and Peirol mentionConrad in songs composed at the time of the Thir d Crusade. He was seenas a heroic figure, the noble defender of Tyre - the "Marqués valens ep ros" ("the valiant and worthy Marquess") as Peirol called him. InCarmina Burana 50: Heu, voc e flebili cogor enarrare, he is describedas "marchio clarissimus, vere palatinus" ("the mos t famous Marquess,truly a paladin"). However, subsequently, the long-term prejudice ofpopula r English-language writing towards Richard I and his "Lionheart"myth has adversely affected p ortrayals of Conrad in English-languagefiction and film. Because Richard (and his chroniclers ) opposed hisclaim to the throne, he is generally depicted negatively, even whenRichard himse lf is treated with some scepticism. An entirely fictionalised, unambiguously wicked version of Conradappears in Walter Scott's Th e Talisman, misspelled as 'Conrade ofMontserrat' (the ailing novelist apparently misreading ' f' as a long's' in his sources) and described as a "marmoset" and "popinjay". Heis also a vil lain in Maurice Hewlett's fanciful The Life and Death ofRichard Yea-and-Nay (1900). He is als o briefly depicted in a negativelight in Ronald Welch's Knight Crusader (1954): the descripti on owesmuch to his portrayal in Cecil B. de Mille's The Crusades, mentionedbelow. The nadir o f his fictional appearances is in Graham Shelby's1970 novel The Kings of Vain Intent. In this , he is thoroughlydemonised - depicted as a sinister figure, physically resembling avampire , who habitually beats and rapes Isabella. These works reflectthe later Renaissance and Gothi c novel cultural/ethnic stereotype ofthe 'Machiavellian' Italian: corrupt, scheming, dandifie d, not averseto poisoning, even (as in Shelby's novel) sexually sadistic. Incontrast, the Rus sian-born French novelist Zoé Oldenbourg gives him amore positive but fleeting cameo-role - p roud, strong, and as handsomeas Choniates described him - in her 1946 novel Argile et Cendre s (Clayand Ashes, published in English as The World Is Not Enough in 1948). In film, he has been consistently depicted as a villain, and withscant regard for accuracy. I n Cecil B. de Mille's 1935 film TheCrusades, he is played by Joseph Schildkraut as a schemin g traitor,plotting Richard's death with Prince John in England at a time when hewas actuall y already defending Tyre. The 1954 film King Richard andthe Crusaders, loosely based on The T alisman, similarly depicts him asa villain, played by Michael Pate. The 1963 Egyptian film E l NaserSalah el Dine also shows Scott's influence in its hostility towardsConrad (played by M ahmoud El-Meliguy) and Philip, while depictingRichard more favourably. In painting and drawing, Conrad figures in a small contemporarymanuscript sketch of his shi p sailing to Tyre in the Annals of Genoa,and various illustrations to Scott's The Talisman. T here is animaginary portrait of him, c. 1843, by François-Edouard Picot for theSalles des Cro isades at Versailles: it depicts him as a handsome,rather pensive man in his forties, wearin g a coronet and fancifulpseudo-mediæval costume. He is shown with dark hair and beard; it ism ore likely that, like the rest of his family, he was blond.

Earl of Richmond Alan III 'The Black'

Count d'Albon Guigues VII

Béatrix di Montferrat

Caesar of Byzantium Renier di Montferrat

Notes:

Alice de Gaunt

Isabel Fitz Richard de Clare

King of Aragón Raimund V Berenguer

Vicomte de Porhoët Geoffrey I La Zouche

Count of Anjou Geoffrey IV Martel

Notes:

King of Castile & Laeon Alphonso Raimundez VII

Gontrode Perez Diaz de Asturias

Sancha Rodrigues De Castro

Estefania Alfonso de Castilla

King of Castile Sancho III "The Desired" Alfonsez