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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1996-01 > 0820979449


From: Stewart L Baldwin <>
Subject: Re: Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
Date: Sun, 7 Jan 1996 01:50:49 GMT


Robert W Burke () wrote:
: Does anyone know which royal family can claim the title "King of
: Jerusalem"? The De Lusignans were the last claimants in the Middle Ages
: but I'm not sure who could have technically claimed the title after the De
: Lusignans died out.

: Bob Burke

This comes from "Encyclopedia Britannica" (my old 1942 version), so
somebody correct me if I'm wrong about this. The title of "King of
Jerusalem" was claimed by the Lusignan kings of Cypress (who also
claimed to be kings of Armenia). This claim was carried to the
House of Savoy by the marriage of Anne of Lusignan and Louis of
Savoy (d. 1465), who then claimed the titles of King of Armenia,
Cypress, and Jerusalem (all empty titles). His descendant Victor
Amadeus II married Anne of Orleans, granddaughter of Charles I of
England, whose descendants eventually inherited the Jacobite claim
to Great Britain, which now rests with the duke of Bavaria. However,
the Savoy line descended in some cases through younger sons, so there
may have been a female heiress before Victor Amadeus II who carried
the claim to her descendants. (Of course, it has been meaningless
for hundreds of years.) See the articles "Savoy" and "Jacobites"
in EB. Someone with access to "Europaischen Stammtafeln" could
probably tell you more.

Stewart Baldwin

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