Maria Komnene (; – 1217), Latinized Comnena, was the queen of Jerusalem from 1167 until 1174 as the second wife of King Amalric. She occupied a central position in the Kingdom of Jerusalem for twenty years, earning a reputation for intrigue and ruthlessness.

Maria was a grandniece of Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. Her marriage to Amalric in 1167 served to establish an alliance between the Byzantine Empire and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. When Amalric died in 1174, the crown passed to Maria's stepson, Baldwin IV, and she withdrew with her daughter, Isabella, to the city of Nablus, which she was to rule as queen dowager. Due to Baldwin's leprosy, Maria's stepdaughter, Sibylla, and daughter, Isabella, were regarded as potential successors. Maria married the lord of Ibelin, Balian, in 1177, and had four more children.

From 1180, Maria was one of the leaders of the faction opposing Sibylla and her husband Guy of Lusignan. Baldwin IV died in 1185, leaving Sibylla's son, Baldwin V, as king. When Baldwin V died the next year, Maria and her party planned to crown her daughter Isabella and son-in-law Humphrey IV of Toron, but Humphrey submitted to Sibylla and Guy, who thus solidified their hold on the kingdom. Saladin, ruler of Egypt and Syria, invaded in 1187, capturing Jerusalem and most of the kingdom. Sibylla died in 1190 while Guy was retaking Acre, and his opponents asserted that his reign had thus ended and that Isabella was the rightful heir. Maria had her daughter's marriage to Humphrey annulled so that Isabella could marry a more capable candidate, Conrad of Montferrat. Maria died in the reign of her great-granddaughter Isabella II, having outlived all her allies and adversaries.

Background Maria was the daughter of the Byzantine John Doukas Komnenos and grandniece of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. The Byzantine Empire was a Greek Orthodox state that claimed suzerainty over the crusader states in the Levant. Nearly all of the Christian peasants in the Kingdom of Jerusalem belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church, but the ruling class, the Franks, were Roman Catholics. The crusader states were constantly threatened by neighbouring Muslim powers.

Maria's cousin Theodora Komnene was queen of Jerusalem as the wife of King Baldwin III. Their marriage sealed Baldwin's alliance with Emperor Manuel. They had no children, however, and Baldwin was succeeded upon his death in 1163 by his brother, Amalric. The High Court of Jerusalem forced Amalric to agree to an annulment of his marriage to Agnes of Courtenay, but he successfully appealed to Pope Alexander III to have their children, Sibylla and Baldwin, declared legitimate.

Queenship

Wishing to restore the alliance with the powerful Byzantine Empire, King Amalric took his vassals' advice and in 1165 sent his butler, Odo of St Amand, and the archbishop of Caesarea, Ernesius, as envoys to Emperor Manuel. Negotiations for Amalric's marriage with one of the emperor's relatives lasted two years. Maria was eventually selected and sent to the Levant.

Maria landed with Odo and Ernesius at Tyre in August 1167. Like her cousin and predecessor, Theodora, but in contrast to the Western practice, Maria was crowned before wedding. The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Amalric of Nesle, celebrated her marriage to the king at the Cathedral of Tyre on 29 August 1167. Both ceremonies were lavish. The historian Bernard Hamilton concludes that the new queen was neither particularly attractive, as not even her supporters flattered her, nor endowed with an impressive dowry, as her cousin Theodora had been.

Maria and her household represented Byzantine interests in the crusader states, but like Theodora in Baldwin III's reign, she had no influence on the government as queen. Amalric and Baldwin III were both keen to avoid sharing authority with their wives; Hamilton suggests that they might have been mindful of the power once wielded by their mother, Queen Melisende. Hamilton believes that Maria was also disadvantaged by having no son, while historian Deborah Gerish considers it "highly likely" that her Greek heritage and religion were also obstacles. The historian Hans E. Mayer suggests that Maria converted to Roman Catholicism after her marriage. Amalric introduced Byzantine clothing fashion into his court, which Gerish credits to his inclination towards closeness with the imperial court rather than Maria's influence.

Maria and Amalric had a daughter who died in infancy, likely born in 1171. Their only surviving child was Isabella, born in 1172. There was little affection in the relationship between the queen and her stepson, Baldwin. Maria proved markedly ambitious, and Hamilton believes that she probably resented Baldwin's precedence over her own progeny in the line of succession. The lack of a son in the royal marriage became troubling as suspicion grew that Baldwin had contracted leprosy, which was then an incurable and much stigmatised illness.

Queen dowager

Widowhood Maria's husband, Amalric, came down with dysentery in June 1174. On his deathbed, he granted the city of Nablus, formerly held by his mother, to Maria to be held in fief as dower. He died on 11 July. Maria may have taken part in the ensuing discussion about succession to the throne. Amalric was succeeded by his only son, 13-year-old Baldwin, who had not yet been formally diagnosed with leprosy. Despite ominous symptoms, he was seen as a better candidate than his slightly older sister, Sibylla, because she was a girl and unmarried. The claim of Maria's daughter, Isabella, was unviable because she was only two years old.

Maria found herself in an unusual situation after Amalric's death: she was the queen dowager, but the new king, Baldwin IV, had a living mother, Agnes of Courtenay. Maria thus had no right to rule the kingdom as regent for the underage monarch. Having no role at court, she retired from public life and moved to Nablus with her daughter. When Count Raymond III of Tripoli assumed the regency, Agnes returned to court. Soon after his accession it became clear that Baldwin was indeed afflicted with leprosy. The diagnosis meant that he could not marry and father an heir. Amalric's daughters, Sibylla and Isabella, therefore became crucial figures, and Maria became more powerful as Isabella's mother than she had been as Amalric's wife.

Diplomacy Baldwin reached the age of majority in 1176 and assumed personal rule. The young king started planning an invasion of Egypt, ruled by the Muslim sultan Saladin, who had become a threat to crusader states during Raymond's regency. Baldwin sought the help of Emperor Manuel, who wanted a Byzantine protectorate in the crusader states in return. Having retired from public life, Maria could not be relied upon to act as the emperor's representative in Jerusalem, and so Manuel proposed the restoration of the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem instead. The emperor at the same time arranged for another Frankish ruler, Prince Bohemond III of Antioch, to marry the emperor's kinswoman Theodora Komnene. Hamilton believes that this Theodora was probably Maria's sister.

Count Philip I of Flanders arrived in Jerusalem in 1177. His liege, King Louis VII of France, tasked him with discussing a Franco-Byzantine alliance with Emperor Manuel on his way back to Europe. Philip was expected to assist in the Egyptian campaign, but prevaricated when he realized that he would not be granted sovereignty over conquered territory. In 1178 he visited Maria in Nablus to seek her advice about the Byzantine court. The queen dowager must have been in contact with the Byzantines in the Levant and aware of their intention to cancel the expedition due to their allies' failure to cooperate. It is likely she who explained to Philip that the High Court would pin the blame on him, thereby damaging his standing with Manuel. Philip quickly announced his readiness to assist, but the Byzantines doubted his sincerity and broke off the alliance.

Ibelin alliance

In late 1177, Queen Maria married Balian of Ibelin. As a female holder of a fief, Maria was required to ask the king's permission to marry. The match may have been a consolation prize to the House of Ibelin, as Balian's brother Baldwin had been denied marriage to Maria's stepdaughter, Sibylla, who was heir presumptive to the throne. Balian was to enjoy the usufruct of Nablus during Maria's lifetime, but she retained her authority. She also continued to use her royal title. The acquisition of the fief of Nablus made the Ibelin brothers the most powerful noblemen in the kingdom after Count Raymond III of Tripoli; Nablus commanded twice as many knights as Balian's lordships of Ibelin and Mirabel. Maria and Balian's union was happy and Maria played a great role in Balian's politics. They had four children: Helvis, John, Margaret, and Philip. Remarriage ended any possibility that Maria might manage the king's court; the role was assumed by Agnes, whose influence over Sibylla and Baldwin steadily increased.

In 1179, Saladin captured Maria's brother-in-law Baldwin of Ibelin. It is probably Maria who informed her granduncle Manuel about the scheme to have Baldwin marry Sibylla, prompting the emperor to pay his extortionate ransom. Sibylla was instead married to Guy of Lusignan in early 1180, leading to a rift among the nobility. Guy had the support of the king, the king's maternal family, and the lord of Oultrejordain, Raynald of Châtillon, while the opposing faction consisted of Queen Maria, the Ibelin brothers, Count Raymond III of Tripoli, and Prince Bohemond III of Antioch. In October, King Baldwin arranged the betrothal of his half-sister Isabella, Maria's daughter, to Raynald's stepson, Humphrey IV of Toron. Historian Steven Runciman believed this to have been Baldwin's attempt to reconciliate the two factions, while Hamilton argues that, on the contrary, the match served to prevent the Ibelin faction from using Isabella as a pawn in a dynastic conflict and that it was "almost certainly" the idea of the king's mother, Agnes. Isabella, then aged eight, was sent to live at Kerak Castle with Humphrey's mother, Stephanie of Milly, who prevented her from visiting Maria in Nablus.

Muslim threat

Isabella and Humphrey's wedding was held at Kerak in late 1183. Maria attended despite being a personal enemy of the groom's stepfather, Raynald. Extravagant festivities were cut short by the news of the approach of Saladin's army. The sultan had heard about the gathering and carefully planned his attack to increase the odds of obtaining valuable prisoners. It is probably from Maria, wife of his patron, that the chronicler Ernoul derives his account of the siege of Kerak. According to him, Humphrey's mother sent dishes from the wedding banquet to Saladin in return for his promise not to bombard the newlywed's lodgings. King Baldwin had meanwhile fallen out with Sibylla's husband, Guy. Upon hearing about the siege, he disinherited Guy and Sibylla and had Sibylla's son, Baldwin V, crowned as co-king. The king then led his army to the relief of Kerak.

In 1184, Saladin again besieged Kerak and once more fled before Baldwin IV's army. Knowing that all the king's troops were at Kerak, he attacked Nablus between 8 and 10 September. As Balian was at Kerak too, Hamilton concludes that it was presumably Maria who conducted the defence. The city was unwalled and she could do nothing to prevent Saladin from sacking it, but no Franks were killed because she took the entire population inside the citadel.

Succession dispute