Constance of Antioch

Constance
Coat-of-arms of the House of Hauteville
Princess of Antioch together with Raymond (1136–1149) and Raynald (1153–1160 or 1161)
Reign	1130 to 1163
Predecessor	Bohemond II
Successor	Bohemond III
Regent	Alice of Jerusalem Baldwin II of Jerusalem Fulk of Anjou Baldwin III of Jerusalem
Born	1128
Died	1163 (aged 34–35)
Spouse	Raymond of Poitiers Raynald of Châtillon
Issue	Bohemond III Maria Philippa Baldwin of Antioch Agnes (or Anna)
House	House of Hauteville
Father	Bohemond II
Mother	Alice of Jerusalem
Religion	Catholicism

Constance of Hauteville (1128–1163) was the ruling Princess of Antioch from 1130 to 1163. She was the only child of Bohemond II of Antioch by his wife, Alice of Jerusalem. Constance succeeded her father, who fell in battle, at the age of two, although his cousin, Roger II of Sicily, laid claim to Antioch. Her mother assumed the regency, but the Antiochene noblemen replaced her with her father (Constance's grandfather), Baldwin II of Jerusalem. After he died in 1131, Alice again tried to take control of the government, but the Antiochene barons acknowledged the right of her brother-in-law, Fulk of Anjou, to rule as regent for Constance.

Constance was given in marriage to Raymond of Poitiers in 1136. During the subsequent years, Raymond ruled Antioch while Constance gave birth to four children. After Raymond was murdered after a battle in 1149, Fulk of Anjou's son, Baldwin III of Jerusalem, assumed the regency. He tried to persuade Constance to remarry, but she did not accept his candidates. She also refused to marry a middle-aged relative of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenus. Finally, she found a love interest and was married to Raynald of Châtillon, a knight from France, in 1153.

After her second husband fell into captivity around 1160–1161, Constance wanted to rule Antioch alone, but Baldwin III of Jerusalem declared her fifteen-year-old son, Bohemond III, the lawful prince. Constance disregarded this declaration and took control of the administration of the principality with the assistance of Emperor Manuel. Constance was dethroned in favor of her son shortly before her death.

Constance who was born in 1128 was the only child of Prince Bohemond II of Antioch and Alice, the second daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem. Bohemond was killed in a battle at the Ceyhan River in February 1130. After his death, Alice assumed the regency for Constance. According to rumors spreading in Antioch, Alice was planning to send Constance to a monastery or to marry her off to a commoner. Bohemond's cousin, Roger II of Sicily, regarded himself as Bohemond's lawful successor because he was the senior member of the House of Hauteville.