Eschiva of Ibelin (r. 1282–c. 1284)
Eschiva of Ibelin (r. 1282–c. 1284)
Queen of Beirut. Reigned from 1282 to around 1284; younger daughter of John II of Beirut and Alice de la Roche of Athens; younger sister of Isabella (d. 1282), queen of Beirut; married Humphrey of Montfort, younger son of Philip of Montfort, lord of Toron and Tyre (died around 1284); married Guy de Lusignan (d. 1308, youngest son of Hugh XII); children: (first marriage) one son, Roupen.
Eschiva of Ibelin became queen of Beirut in 1282, upon the death of her sister Queen Isabella . Eschiva's first husband Humphrey of Montfort inherited Tyre (in southern Lebanon) in 1283, when his brother John died. When Humphrey died around 1284, Tyre then went to his brother John's widow, Margaret. Eschiva later married Guy de Lusignan, the son of King Hugh XII.
Eschiva is known for her intervention with the Mameluk sultan Qalawun, which resulted in a truce that prevented the Mameluks (former slaves from Russia and Central Asia who founded a dynasty in Egypt and Syria in 1250) from attacking Beirut. In 1291, however, the truce was broken under the leader Shujai, who tore down the walls of Beirut and the Castle of the Ibelins and turned the cathedral into a mosque.