Isabella I of Jerusalem tried to play Isabella and her husband off against him, but Humphrey did homage to the royal couple. Isabella was the daughter of Amalric, King of Jerusalem, by his second wife, Maria Comnena. Maria Comnena (who was a grandniece of the Byzantine Emperor, Manuel I Komnenos) married Amalric on 29 August 1171. Isabella was born before September 1172. Amalric died unexpectedly on 11 July 1174. His son by his first marriage, Baldwin IV, was crowned king two weeks later. Before long, it became obvious that Baldwin suffered from lepromatous leprosy. To secure the succession of the ailing king, his sister,
Baldwin I of Jerusalem Christian (mainly Armenian) peasants should be transferred to the lands west of the Euphrates, because the Seljuq rulers had frequently raided the eastern regions. While the peasants were gathering at a ferry on the river, Mawdud made a sudden raid and massacred most of them. Sigurd I of Norwaythe first king to visit the Kingdom of Jerusalemhad meanwhile landed at Acre. Baldwin made an alliance with him and they laid siege to Sidon in October 1110. An Egyptian fleet routed the Norwegians, but the Doge of Venice, Ordelafo Faliero, and his fleet soon joined the crusaders and the town capitulated