Antioch
Dynastic Battles
Raymond III of Tripoli had died shortly after the Battle of Hattin and leaving behind no direct heir, he had named his godson, Raymond of Antioch, the eldest son of prince Bohemond III, as his successor. Bohemond, however, installed his younger son, the future prince Bohemond IV, as count of Tripoli. Shortly after the conclusion of the Third Crusade Raymond of Antioch was married (c. 1194) to Alice, a niece of Leo II of Lesser Armenia, a vassal to Antioch. To this union a son, Raymond Roupen, was born, after which Raymond of Antioch died. In 1194 Leo II tricked Bohemond III with the result that the Norman prince was captured by the Roupenians. Leo attempted to capture the city but was repulsed by the city commune. Henry of Champagne, who had been in the Levant since 1190 and who was nephew to both Richard I and Philip II, traveled to Lesser Armenia and persuaded Leo, in exchange for Antioch renouncing its overlordship to Lesser Armenia, to release Bohemond, who in 1201 died.
With the death of Bohemond III, a 15-years struggle between Tripoli and Lesser Armenia over control of Antioch ensued. According to the rules of primogeniture, Leo's great-nephew Raymond Roupen was the rightful heir of Antioch, and Leo's position was supported by the higher nobility and the pope. On the other hand, the city commune of Antioch supported the claim of Count Bohemond of Tripoli on the grounds that he was the nearest relative of the last ruling prince, a principle which was becoming more and more important in the crusader states. In 1207 Bohemond installed a Greek patriarch in Antioch, forfeiting the support of the Latin clergy there, but Bohemond was able to rely on help from Aleppo which, under al-Zahir, drove Leo out of Antioch on several occasions. The citadel, however, had always remained under Bohemond's control.