Isabella I of Jerusalem was a queen of Jerusalem during the crisis following Saladin’s conquests. Her succession and repeated marriages became central to competing claims over the crusader kingdom, especially during the Third Crusade.
Isabella I of Jerusalem also held the offices or ranks of King of Jerusalem and queen consort of Cyprus. Isabella I of Jerusalem belonged to the House of Gâtinais-Anjou and operated within Kingdom of Jerusalem. Isabella I of Jerusalem was born in Nablus and died in Acre.
Robert Broomall’s Death and Glory reaches Isabella I of Jerusalem through the crisis created by the murder of her husband Conrad of Montferrat. Conrad’s death abruptly changes the kingdom’s succession and the political balance among the crusaders just as Richard I’s campaign enters its closing phase. Isabella’s queenship therefore forms part of the dynastic stakes behind the novel’s military action, where personal loss, royal legitimacy and the future of Jerusalem remain inseparable.