The patriarch brought out two crowns: one he placed on the altar, the other he placed on the head of Sybille. When she was crowned he said to her, “Lady, you are a woman, and it is fitting that you have with you a man, who may aid you to govern the realm. Take this crown, and bestow it upon one capable of ruling.”
It must be mentioned that, previous to her coronation, Sybille, in the hope of conciliating the barons, had announced her intention of getting a divorce from her husband. In this hope she was deceived, for not one was present. There was therefore no occasion for further pretence. Taking the crown she called Guy de Lusignan, and said to him, “Sir, advance and receive this crown, for I know not how better to bestow it.”
He knelt before her, she placed the crown upon his head, and so Guy de Lusignan became King of Jerusalem, the only incapable king the little kingdom had, the only worthless king. When his brother Geoffrey heard of the election, he remarked, “If they have made him a king, I suppose they would have made me a god had they known me.”
When the spy got back to Nablous, and told what had happened, Baldwin of Ramleh offered to lay a wager that he would not be king for a year, a bet which he would have won, as the event proved.
“As for me,” said Baldwin, “the country is lost, and I shall go, because I do not wish to share the shame and disgrace of having assisted in the ruin of our kingdom. And for you, my lords, do what you please.”
“Sir Baldwin,” cried Raymond, “have pity on Christianity and remain to help us. Here is Count Humphry with his wife Isabelle, also the daughter of King Amaury. Let us go to Jerusalem and crown them there. We shall have with us at least all the knights of St. John. And I have a truce with the Saracens, who will even help us if we want them.”
It was decided to make Humphry King: but Humphry had no mind for a crown which brought with it so many anxieties and troubles as that of Jerusalem. In the dead of night he rode off to Queen Sybille; and when the barons came to crown him in the morning, they found to their great disgust that he was gone.
He went straight to his sister-in-law, and, being brought into her presence, saluted her as Queen. But she took no notice of him, because he had not been present at her coronation. “Whereupon Humphry began to scratch his head like a child that is ashamed of himself, and said, ‘Dame! I could not. Why, they wanted to make me king in spite of myself. That is why I ran away!’”
Evidently a simple straightforward knight, this Humphry of Toron and of sound, rather than brilliant, parts.
“Since it is so,” said the queen, “I have no longer any animosity towards you. But first do homage to the king.”