Page 590

 590 A HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES II 
hand. On the advice of the Hospital young king Henry sent an envoy from Cyprus
to Acre to negotiate for his recognition there. The commune, the Hospitallers,
and the Teutonic Knights at once offered their support, and the Templars
followed suit after a little hesitation. But Odo Poilechien, with the sole
support of the French regiment (still paid for by the king of France) refused
to resign his office. King Henry landed at Acre on June 4, 1286. The representatives
of the three orders cautiously did not come to welcome him, but when they
saw with what impatient enthusiasm he was received by the citizens, who threatened
to take up arms to drive Odo out of the citadel, they persuaded Odo to hand
it over to them, and they handed it on to the king. Odo and his Frenchmen
were allowed to leave unharmed with all their possessions.81 
 On August 1 Henry was crowned at Tyre by the archbishop, Bonnacorso, acting
for the patriarch Elias. The court then moved to Acre, where there was a
fortnight of frivolous festivity, with tournaments and pageants and banquets.
The fifteen-year-old king, who had not yet begun to suffer from the epilepsy
that crippled his life, was immensely popular. His advisers were his uncles
Philip and Baldwin of Ibelin. On their advice he soon returned to Cyprus,
leaving Philip as bailie. It seemed to them clear that Acre preferred an
absentee monarch.82 
 The hopes raised by the new reign were not fulfilled. Next spring (1287)
war broke out between the Genoese and Pisan colonies all along the coast,
and the Genoese, who had obtained the friendly neutrality of the sultan,
blockaded the seaports and, after a victory over the Pisans and the Venetians
who had joined them, planned to force their way into Acre. Only the intervention
of the masters of the Temple and the Hospital persuaded them to raise the
blockade and withdraw to Tyre.83 
 While this war was raging, the sultan annexed the last remnant of the principality
of Antioch. The Moslem merchants of Aleppo had long complained of the inconvenience
of having to send their goods through the Christian port of Latakia. In March
1287 its defenses were seriously damaged by an earthquake. Kalavun took advantage
of this and, claiming that Latakia, as part of the prin cipality of Antioch,
was not covered by his truce with Tripoli, sent an army to take over the
town. It fell at once, and the garrison, 
 81 Gestes des Chiprois, 435—438 (pp. 792—793); Amadi, Chronique,
pp. 216—217; Sanudo, Liber secretorum, p. 229; Mas Latrie, Documents,
III, 671—673. 
 82 Gestes des Chiprois, 439 (p. 793); Annales de Terre Sainte, p. 548; Amadi,
Chronique, 
p. 217. 
 83 Gestes des Chitrois, 440—460 (pp. 793—799); Annales Januenses,
p. 317.