Isabella, who died on April 5, 1205,…

Isabella, who died on April 5, 1205, had been succeeded at her death as Queen of Jerusalem by her eldest daughter Maria of Montferrat, daughter of Conrad of Montferrat.

Jean of Brienne, a penniless younger son of the French count Erard II of Brienne and Agnes of Montbéliard, had passed most of his life as a minor noble until befriended by Philip II of France, who arranges for him to marry Maria.

Destined originally for a clerical career, he had preferred to become a knight, and in forty years of tournaments and fights he had won himself a considerable reputation, when in 1208 envoys had come from the Holy Land to ask Philip to select one of his barons as husband to the heiress and ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

To overcome his lack of fortune and to enable him to fund his sovereign obligations (court and army) King Philip and Pope Innocent III have each paid him the sum of forty thousand livres.

John reaches Acre on September 3, 1210, and marries Marie the following day.