BOHEMUND III. was the son of Constance, daughter of Bohemund II., by her
first husband, Raymund of Antioch. He succeeded his mother in the
principality of Antioch in 1163, and first appears prominently in 1164,
as regent of the kingdom of Jerusalem during the expedition of Amalric
I. to Egypt. During the absence of Amalric, he was defeated and captured
by Nureddin (August 1164) at Harenc, to the east of Antioch. He was at
once ransomed by his brother-in-law, the emperor Manuel, and went to
Constantinople, whence he returned with a Greek patriarch. In 1180 he
deserted his second wife, the princess Orguilleuse, for a certain
Sibylla, and he was in consequence excommunicated. By Orguilleuse he had
had two sons, Raymund and Bohemund (the future Bohemund IV.), whose
relations and actions determined the rest of his life. Raymund married
Alice, a daughter of the Armenian prince Rhupen (Rupin), brother of Leo
of Armenia, and died in 1197, leaving behind him a son, Raymund Rhupen.
Bohemund, the younger brother of Raymund, had succeeded the last count
of Tripoli in the possession of that county, 1187; and the problem which
occupied the last years of Bohemund III. was to determine whether his
grandson, Raymund Rhupen, or his younger son, Bohemund, should succeed
him in Antioch. Leo of Armenia was naturally the champion of his
great-nephew, Raymund Rhupen; indeed he had already claimed Antioch in
his own right, before the marriage of his niece to Raymund, in 1194,
when he had captured Bohemund III. at Gastin, and attempted without
success to force him to cede Antioch.[1] Bohemund the younger, however,
prosecuted his claim with vigour, and even evicted his father from
Antioch about 1199: but he was ousted by Leo (now king of Armenia by
the grace of the emperor, Henry VI.), and Bohemund III. died in
possession of his principality (1201).
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