Alice of Champagne

Alice of Champagne
Alice of Champagne
	Alice's arrival at Acre
Queen consort of Cyprus
Tenure	1210–1218
Predecessor	Isabella I of Jerusalem
Successor	Alice of Montferrat
Regent of Cyprus; (absent from Cyprus from 1224)
Tenure	1218–1232
Monarch	Henry I
Regent of Jerusalem; Contested by Emperor Frederick II
Tenure	1243–1246
Monarch	Conrad II
Co-regent	Ralph of Nesle (1243)
Countess of Jaffa
Tenure	1210–1233
Predecessor	Aimery of Lusignan
Successor	Walter of Brienne
Born	c. 1193
Died	1246
Spouses	Hugh I, King of Cyprus; Bohemond V, Prince of Antioch; Ralph of Nesle
Issue	Mary; Isabella; Henry I, King of Cyprus
House	House of Blois;
Father	Henry II, Count of Champagne
Mother	Isabella I, Queen of Jerusalem

Alice of Champagne (French: Alix; c. 1193 – 1246) was the queen consort of Cyprus from 1210 to 1218, regent of Cyprus from 1218 to 1232, and of Jerusalem from 1243 to 1246. She was the eldest daughter of Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem and Count Henry II of Champagne. In 1210, Alice married her stepbrother King Hugh I of Cyprus, receiving the County of Jaffa as her dowry. After her husband's death in 1218, she assumed the regency for their infant son, King Henry I, but her maternal uncle Philip of Ibelin became the actual head of state administration as bailli (governor).

Alice began seeking contacts within her father's counties in France to bolster her claim to Champagne and Brie against her cousin, Theobald IV, but the kings of France never acknowledged her claim. After a dispute with Philip of Ibelin, she left the island in 1223. She married Bohemond, heir apparent to the Principality of Antioch and the County of Tripoli, but their marriage was annulled because they were too closely related according to canon law. In 1229, she laid claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem against the infant Conrad (the son of her niece Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem and the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II) who was absent from the kingdom, but the High Court of Jerusalem rejected her claim. When her son reached the age of majority in 1232, Alice abdicated her regency and departed for France to claim Champagne and Brie. She subsequently renounced her claim and returned to the Holy Land.

In 1240, she married Raoul of Nesle who was about half of her age at the time. The High Court of Jerusalem proclaimed Alice and her husband regents for Conrad in 1243, but their power was only nominal. Raoul of Nesle left the kingdom, and Alice, before the end of the year. Alice retained the regency until her death in 1246.