Antioch
Antioch on the Brink
The situation for Antioch seemed grim. Not only was Raymond dead and his heir still quite young, but Fulk of Jerusalem too had left behind a child son and widow and Joscelin II of Edessa was being held captive, where he would die some ten years later. The principality was officially ruled by Raymond's widow, but real control was effectively in the hands of Aimery, Patriarch of Antioch. Baldwin III of Jerusalem came of age in 1152 but from 1150 he and the barons had proposed three different and respectable suitors for Constance's hand, all of whom she rejected. At last in 1153 she chose a political nonentity, Reynald of Châtillon. The future actions of this upstart would prove to be the particular nexus between viability and demise for the Latin states. In the meantime, however, Reynald showed his true self by allying with the Armenian prince Thoros to attack Byzantine Cypress. Three weeks of rapine, slaughter and plunder were sufficient to anger the king and the emperor, who entered into negotiations with each other. The talks were concluded during the autumn of 1158. The terms included a Greek bride for the king and the requirement that Jerusalem would humble Reynald in exchange for Byzantine help against Nur ed-Din. Shortly after, Manual I and his army began their march. Reynald threw himself at the mercy of the emperor who insisted on the installation of a Greek patriarch and the surrender of the citadel in Antioch. The following spring Manual made a triumphal entry into the city and established himself as the unquestioned suzerain of Antioch. In 1160 Reynald was captured in battle and held for the next 16 years, with no Latin attempt at ransom, by the governor of Aleppo. The new regent, chosen by Baldwin III, was the patriarch Aimery. Manuel was able to further consolidate his claim to Antioch by choosing Maria of Antioch as his bride. But the government remained in crisis until, in 1163, the barons deposed Constance and installed her son Bohemond III, brother-in-law to the emperor.
A year later Nur ed-Din captured Bohemond III when he decisively defeated a joint Antiochene-Tripolitan army. Though the prince was soon released, Harenc, which Reynald of Châtillon had been able to recapture in 1158, was lost again, and the frontier of Antioch was permanently placed west of the Orontes. Byzantine influence over Antioch was patently evidenced when, in 1165, Bohemond married a niece of the emperor and installed a Greek patriarch in the city, who remained in his position until he died in an earthquake five years later.