Plaisance of Antioch

Plaisance of Antioch (late 1230s–1261) was a Cypriot queen dowager who ruled the kingdoms of Cyprus and Jerusalem as regent from 1253 and 1258, respectively, until her death. She was the third wife of King Henry I of Cyprus and the mother of his only child, King Hugh II of Cyprus.

Hugh II succeeded to the throne as a minor, and the widowed Plaisance took up government in his name. She took Balian of Arsuf as her second husband in 1254, but separated from him in 1255. She attempted to marry herself and her son into the English royal family, but did not succeed. In 1258 she travelled to Acre with her son and was recognized as his bailli in his capacity as titular regent for his kinsman King Conradin. As such, she intervened in the war waged by the Venetians and their allies against the Genoese and their allies, supporting the former. Around that time she became involved with a married man, Count John of Jaffa, prompting Pope Urban IV to write an admonishing letter. She might have never received it, having died around the same time.