Outremer
Death and Marriage
Conrad was overjoyed when he received the news at Tyre. He had come to the Holy Land as just another crusader and God had made him a King. It was the stuff of Crusader legend, the sort of story that got told in the castles of Europe over and over again. But this particular story was not quite over.
Word of Richard's decision reached Conrad on 20 April 1192. On the 28th, he was returning home from dinner in the company of a few friends. Out of the darkness, two men sprang upon Conrad and stabbed him to death. One oof the two assailants was killed on the spot; the other died of his wounds not long after, but was able to confess that he was an Assassin.
No one then or now has been able to establish why the Assassins might want to kill Conrad. Rumor said that King Richard had engineered it. Rumor said that Saladin was behind it. Rumor said all manner of things, but the only thing clear was that Guy was deposed and Conrad was dead, and Jerusalem needed a new king.
Isabella shut herself up in her castle and refused to give the keys to anyone but Richard. Her advisors pleaded with her to marry immediately, for the sake of the Kingdom. The nearly unanimous choice of the barons was Henry of Champagne. After two days, Isabella agreed. With Richard giving his consent, the two were married on 5 May 1192.
Conrad had been about sixty years old, a grim warrior from northern Italy. Henry was in his twenties, was handsome and gallant and well-trained in the ways of chivalry. Isabella married him out of duty, but to everyone's surprise, the two of them fell in love and lived quite happily together.
Guy, meanwhile, was mollified with a new prize. Richard had seized Cyprus from the Byzantines but had no real interest in ruling it. He had sold it to the Templars. They, however, found the island uncongenial and so the island was re-sold to Guy. His descendants became Kings in Cyprus and ruled it for two centuries.