ALICE, PRINCESS OF ANTIOCH (1130-1136)

Princess Alice is the second daughter of Baldwin II and the wife of Bohemond II, heir of Antioch. They married in 1126 AD in implementation of the agreement concluded by Baldwin II when he assumed the regency of Antioch after the Field of Blood. After Bohemond's death in 1130, Baldwin intended to once again take over the regency of Antioch which he had controlled before Bohemond's arrival. According to William Alice she allegedly requested guardianship with the intention of depriving the rightful heir, her two-year-old daughter Constance. In order to hold on to power, Alice Baldwin refused entry into the city of Antioch by closing its gates and attempting to forge allegiance with the Muslim general Zengid. It was said that the nobles of Antioch did so in defiance of Alice that she opened Baldwin's gates, causing Alice to flee and lock herself in the castle from where she begged for her father's mercy. Baldwin forgave his daughter but banished her to her dowry lands. Baldwin soon left Antioch after Alice's exile and at this point appointed Joscelin I as Constance's regent. After Jocelin's death in 1131,Alice sets her sights on Antioch while ignoring Constance's claim. It is important to keep in mind that William is the only known contemporary source for this sequence of events; Therefore, we must ask why this alleged crisis was not on a larger scale that Frankish sources wrote about. Many historians still agree with William's depiction of Allis; That Alice was a passionate and ambitious woman enforces medieval stereotypes regarding women. Throughout the medieval period adjectives such as "ambitious" and "passionate" were frequently used in a negative context to describe women