Editing Aimery of Cyprus (section)

=== Lord of Cyprus ===

Guy died in May 1194, and bequeathed Cyprus to his elder brother, Geoffrey. However Geoffrey had already returned to Poitou, thus Guy's vassals elected Aimery their new lord.{{sfn|Edbury|1994|p=29}} Henry of Champagne demanded the right to be consulted about the succession in Cyprus, but the Cypriote noblemen ignored him. Around the same time, Henry replaced Aimery with [[John, Old Lord of Beirut|John of Ibelin]] as constable of Jerusalem.{{sfn|Runciman|1989b|p=84}}

Aimery realized that the treasury of Cyprus was almost empty because his brother had granted most landed property on the island to his supporters, according to Ernoul.{{sfn|Furber|1969|p=604}} He summoned his vassals to an assembly.{{sfn|Furber|1969|p=604}} After emphasizing that each of them owned more land than he had, he persuaded them one by one "either by force, or by friendship, or by agreement" to surrender some of their rents and lands.{{sfn|Furber|1969|p=604}}

[[File:Kaiser Heinrich VI. im Codex Manesse.jpg|thumb|right|alt=A young bearded man sitting on a throne|[[Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI]], who authorized the coronation of Aimery in exchange after Aimery acknowledged his suzerainty]]

Aimery dispatched an embassy to [[Pope Celestine III]], asking him to set up Roman Catholic [[Diocese|dioceses]] in Cyprus.{{sfn|Edbury|1994|p=29}} He also sent his representative, [[Rainier of Gibelet]], to the Holy Roman Emperor, [[Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry VI]], proposing that he would acknowledge the emperor's suzerainty, if the emperor sent a royal crown to him.{{sfn|Runciman|1989b|p=85}} Aimery primarily wanted to secure the emperor's assistance against a potential [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] invasion of Cyprus,{{sfn|Furber|1969|p=604}} but he also wanted to strengthen his own legitimacy as king.{{sfn|Edbury|1994|p=31}} Rainier of Gibelet swore loyalty to Henry VI on behalf of Aimery in [[Gelnhausen]] in October 1196.{{sfn|Lock|2006|p=80}} The emperor who had decided to lead a crusade to the Holy Land promised that he would personally crown Aimery king. He dispatched the archbishops of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brindisi-Ostuni|Brindisi]] and [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie|Trani]] to take a golden [[sceptre]] to Aimery as a symbol of his right to rule Cyprus.{{sfn|Johnson|1969|p=119}}