KINGS OF JERUSALEM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12638, 24 May 1919, Page 12

KINGS OF JERUSALEM.

HISTORIC TITLE ESTABLISHED BY »ns. SOME STRANGE PRETENDERS. (By FREDERICK CUNLIFFE-OWEN, in “ Munsey’s Magazine.”) While the Great Powers pro by no moans fully agreed, as yet. on the subject of the re-shaping of tho map of the world alter the conclusion of the war, there is at any rate one project upon which they appear to be already united, and to which they are definitely commuted. It is the transformation of Palestine from an Ottoman province into an autonomous Jewish State, under their protection. It lias been suggested that owing to the difficulty which is likely to be experienced in reconciling the political views and denominational prejudices of the various fnotons of the Hebrew race, it might ho well to establish a monarchical form of government at Jerusalem, under the sceptre of a. scion of European dynasty. This is quite impracticable. Jew's, especially those of the better class, for whose co-opt ration tho world, looks in the plan to restore national independence to their race, have been influenced, from their birth up, by the particular Gentile nation , among whom their'lot lias been cast. They have proved themselves too useful and too loyal citizens of the country m which they have been domiciled not to have become imbued with its traditions and its views. Tho Jews of America and of France, of whom so much is expected in connection with the formation of a Zionist State in the Holy Land, have been brought up under a Republican form of government, and would naturally demur at the idea of accepting a monarch, even though ho were the King of the Jews. Then, too, tho Sovereign of the Zionist nation, in. order to bo in complete touch, sympathy and understanding with his people, would, need to have been reared as a member of their religion. Now there is no Prince of the blood in Europe who would fill the bill in this respect. Every one is either a Christian or a Moslem. „ Several of the reigning monatchs of Europe claim the title of King of Jerusalem through inheritance from remote ages. Some of them no longer make official mention of it among the honours that have come to them by descent—as, for instance, George V. of Great Britain, and Victor Emmanuel 111. of Italy. Others, again, pride themselves by the possession of tins ancient dignity/ One of these latter is Alfonso XJII. of Spain; another is, or w r as, the dethroned Emperor Charles of AustriaHungary. In the latest issues of the “Almanach de Gotha,” and of similar standard works of reference, each of these two is described as “ King of Jerusalem ”; and whenever a foreign Government has had occasion to address them in official documents, in which it was necessary to enumerate all their many dignities, the title of King of Jerusalem has been included without any hesitation or demur. THE CRUSADER KINGS OF JERUSALEM. In these two the claim to the title dates from tho Crusades. Godfrey de Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine, leader of the first of those wonderful military pilgrimages to the Holy Laud, was proclaimed King of Jerusalem by his victorious army after the capture of the ancient Hebrew capital, 16 will bo recalled that he refused' to be crowned with a diadem of gold, declaring that where the Founder of Christianity had worn a crown of thorns it was not meet that one of His followers should don a circlet of precious metals and jewels, or even wear the laurels of a victor. Consequently—if the. mediieval tradition is_ correct—he was solemnly crowned King of Jerusalem with a crown of thorns. On Godfrey’s death, in 1100, he wafj succeeded on the throne by his brother Baldwin; "and from that time forth all the Dukes of Lorraine were also titular Kings of Jerusalem, until their dynasty became merged in the House of Hapsburg, through tho marriage of Francis of Lorraine to th® Empress Maria Theresa, daughter of Charles VI., last of tho German Emperors of the direct male lino of Hapsburg. This gave tha Austrian rulers a right to stylo themselves with the high-sounding but empty title. They also had another claim to it. Indeed, they had used it for centuries before Maria Theresa’s marriage to Francis of Lorraine. Away back in 1229, Frederick 11. of tho House of Hohenstaufen, King of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor, caused himsolf to bo crowned at Jerusalem as King of the Holv City. He claimed tins dignity, not only because ho had re-conquered the city _ from the Saracens, who had held it einco 1131, hut also ms tho husband of John of Brhmic’s daughter and heiress, Yolande. John of Brienne, who was one o£ the Latin Emperors of Constantinople, had assumed the title of Kine of Jerusalem as a heritage of consort, a Princess of Navarro and descendant of Godfrov do Bouillon. o lower than tour other Princes be-

sides the Gorman Emperor Frederick 11. were indebted for their title of King of Jerusalem to their marriages with heiresses of the first Crusader Sovereign One of these four—John of Brienne—has already been mentioned; the other three wore Henry II of Navarro, Foulcpies, Duke of Anjou, and Guy do Lusiguan. Each of tile four transmitted the titular sovereignty of Jerusalem to his descendants. Guy de Lusiguan even wont further, for he actually ceded it in duo form to tho English Crusader monarch. Richard Cffiur do Lion, in 1192, in exchange for the throne of the island of Cyprus. Later, with utter disregard for - his plighted word, ho took advantage of Richard’s captivity in Austria to resume the title of King of Jerusalem, which was used by all his successors on the throne of Cyprus. The Lusiguan Princes reigned prosperously in Cyprus for nearly three junKlred rears, and in'the fourteenth century their house also furnished five Kings to the throne of Armenia. Their rule ended in 1489, when Caterina Cornaro, widow' of James IT. of Cyprus, ceded her kingdom to the republic _ of Venice. With her dentil the Royal line of Lusiguan became extinct. James 11. of Cyprus was also Duke of Savoy, ami it is through him that the House of Savoy, which now holds the throne of Italy, inherited its claim to the titlo of King- of Jerusalem. BOGUS KINGS OF JERUSALEM. During the reign of Nicholas I. of Russia, some Armenian agitators, on the look-out for a man who could servo as n pretender, to form the nucleus of a nationalist movement, found an adventurer named Klenko, who was wont to boast that he had somewhere in hi a reins the blood of the former Lusignan rulers of Cyprus, of Jerusalem and of

Armenia. For want of someone better, they took the man at his word. They dabbed him with the name of Louis da Lusignan, and too titlo of Prince of Armenia, Cyprus and Jerusalem. They concocted parchments endowing him with a pedigree that traced his descent to Guy do Lusiguan, the crusader sovereign. It stated Russia’s policy, at the time, to countenance his pretensions. It was on the eve of the Crimean War, and the Emperor Nicholas I. was anxious to secure the support and goodwill of tne Armenians subject to the Turkish Ssdtan’s sway. Klenko, alias Louis do Lusiguan, was invested by the Czar with the rank of colonel in the Russian, army, and hailed as Prince—not King —of Armenia, Cyprus and Jerusalem. But when tho Czar found that the Armenians in Asia Minor did not give the promised assistance to the Muscovite army of invasion, he caused the socallca prince to bo dismissed from the S a Yo bira a. sum of money with which to leave Russia, and declined to have anything further to do with him. Louis de Lusiguan died in extreme povcity at Milan, leaving an only sou named Michael. Michael earned a precarious living as a> waiter at Milan and at If lorenco: and in the course of liisl services he succeeded in interesting two or throe credulous, good-natured sians in his behalf. At their suggestion, and with money furnished by tacm, he proceeded to Potrograd, bopivrr to obtain some financial compensation for the treatment that his father had received. It is understood that lie aid obtain some pecuniary assistance from Alexander HI.. j n the closing years of his reign, ns an act of pure chanty, and also from the late Nicholas wuo caused the withdrawal of a chaigc of forgery and fraud, foil

which tho man had been arrested in tile Russian metropolis. Michael repeatedly endeavoured to ameliorate his lot by marrying spma rich woman. About ten years ago ho addressed to the head of the marriage license bureau at the New York City Hall a remarkable letter inviting tho assistance of that official in securing a rich American wife tor “ a prince of royal blood, Prince Michael de Lusignan, nrince of Armenia, Cyprus and! Jerusalem, Comte do la Marche, fiftyseven years of age, and without a fortune.” His matrimonial designs were as fruitless in America as they were in Russia, however, and he died in October, 1912, at Petrograd, in tho Oboufsky Hospital, in the utmost poverty and obscurity, and without leaving any heir. With him there disappeared the solo and only person who m modem times! has over hoen officially, if erroneously, recognised by any foreign Government as entitled to bear the name of Lusignan. More than questionable as was his own status, he was never tired of denouncing tho soi-disant Prince Guy do Lusignan of Paris, and the latter’s son Leon, as utter frauds. THE SELF-STYLED GUT DE LUSIGNAN. With regard to this Prince Guy do Lurignan, who persuaded a number of credulous English and Americans into a belief in tho authenticity of hia claims, and induced them to accept tho bogus orders of knighthood which hrt conferred upon them, his real name was Kalfajan. He was tho son of an American stonemason, and with his younger brother was educated by public charity at the Armenian monastery of San Lazzaro, at Venice. Both worts trained for the priesthood, and when a

branch school of their monastic order! was established in Paris, they were appointed to it as teacelim From Paris they went to Romo, and. subsequently tile younger brother appeared in Constantinople, where for some reason ho changed bis name from Kalfajan to Khoren-Nax. He rose to be an archbishop of the Armenian rite, but died suddenly, presumably by poison, after being implicated in a conspiracy against the life of the Sultan Abdul Hamid* The elder of the Kalfajan brothers, c after various adventures, made his way 1 hack to Paris, where he first gave out a that he was a grandson of the great Napoleon’s famous Mameluke, Rons- I tan. and subsequently blossomed forth as Guy de Lusignan, King of Jemsa- I lem, Cyprus and Armenia. It was previous to this that he had succeeded in j; winning tho hand, and incidentally tho fortune, of the wealthy widow of ond o of tlie great French art dealers. After her death, lie married a riclp English- 1 woman named Broadley; and it was on . the strength of tho money thus acquired that he adopted his ridiculous royal titles and founded his ridiculous i orders of knighthood. Thesojast were the Order of Melusine, named after the legendary ancestress of the real Lusignan family, and the Order of St Catherine of Mount Sinai, which was v restricted to women. f THE DETHRONED KAISER’S f ■ PRETENSIONS. No sketch of the Kings of Jerusa-J g lem, past and present, bogus and auth-_ ontic, would bo complete witbou t mention of tho dethroned Kaiser s ex- (. traordinary pretensions to the .titta Ho j. boldly assumed it on the occasion of Ids j. theatrical entry into Jerusalem in 1898, when ho rode into the Holy City nrrayed in the white mantle of the cru- c sader sovereigns, and carrying their emblem, a cross. In tho almost bias- * phemons sermons that he preached on j the Mount of Olives and in the Lu- ; theran Church at Jerusalem, lie empha- J sised his chum to the kingly title once , held by Frederick 11. of the old Ger- ‘ man Empire. At home, however, he , never included it in the official list of j his multifarious honours as German ; Kaiser and autocrat of Prussia. The former Kaiser was not content j to ascribe his rights in the matter to descent from one of-the medieval rulers of Jerusalem. He goes back loan , epoch much more remote—to King j David of the Old Testament, whom he i claims as an ancestor. Hanging in a . conspicuous position lu his workroom in the in cues Palais at Potsdam is, or was, a huge and beautifully framed , genealogical tree, showing tho name of j King David at the root and that of the Emperor William at the top. According to this tree, tho dethroned Kaiser is descended from King David through the eldest daughter of Zedekinh. who, with her sister, iled to Ireland in charge of tho Prophet Jeremiah, to be married - to Heremou, King of Ulster. This genealogical tree is the work of a clergyman of the Church, of England, named Glover, who devoted most of hit. life to the study of genealogy. In 1869 he wrote to Queen Victoria, informing her that he had discovered her to bo descended in an unbroken line from King David. The Queen sent tor him - to come to Windsor, and to his amazement informed him that what ho thought he had been the first to discover had been known to herself and to her hate husband, the Prince Consort, for many years. It is quite natural that Victoria’s grandson, the former Kaiser, with hia intense if somewhat curious religion;! ideas, should have been deeply interested in this family tree. Soon after! his accession to the throne of Germany he requested his grandmother to let j | him have a copy, wiiich was sent to- 1 1 him handsomely engrossed and gorge- j 8 ously framed. Its contemplation natu- ! j rally _tendod_ to increase his belief in j j tho divine origin of his sovereignty. He 1 [ never went unite so far as to"deebribei ’ I himself in official documents as “ first; I cousin of the Almighty.” like some of j the old French Kings, but it is prob- I able that ho sincerely believes himself , I to he a distant kinsman of that otbeft 1 I and very different Son of David, the j ! Founder of Christianity, ~nnr~~»rinrTmiißwi mum ■imn.mumj