Page "Richard I of England" Paragraph 52

King Richard landed at Acre on 8 June 1191.

He gave his support to his Poitevin vassal Guy of Lusignan, who had brought troops to help him in Cyprus.

Guy was the widower of his father's cousin Sibylla of Jerusalem and was trying to retain the kingship of Jerusalem, despite his wife's death during the Siege of Acre the previous year.

Guy's claim was challenged by Conrad of Montferrat, second husband of Sibylla's half-sister, Isabella: Conrad, whose defence of Tyre had saved the kingdom in 1187, was supported by Philip of France, son of his first cousin Louis VII of France, and by another cousin, Duke Leopold V of Austria.

Richard also allied with Humphrey IV of Toron, Isabella's first husband, from whom she had been forcibly divorced in 1190.

Humphrey was loyal to Guy and spoke Arabic fluently, so Richard used him as a translator and negotiator.