Hamo le Strange


Hamo le Strange, Heimon Lestrange, Hamo L'Estrange or Hamo Extraneus was an English Crusader. His surname means the Foreigner. By marriage to Isabella of Beirut he was Lord of Beirut in the Kingdom of Jerusalem - he was the second of her four husbands.

Life

He was the second son of the English knight John le Strange and his wife Lucy, daughter of Robert Tresgoz. He was lord of Ellesmere, Shropshire and during the De Montfort Rebellion was part of the entourage of Edward, Prince of Wales. In 1270 he left his lands to his younger brother Robert and joined Edward on the Seventh Crusade. Edward returned to Europe in 1272 after his father's death, leaving Hamo in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. On 21 March 1272 he married Isabella of Beirut, Lady of Beirut and daughter of John II of Beirut. She was the widow of Hugh II of Cyprus.
Hamo's death was known in England by the end of April 1273 and so probably occurred late in 1272 or early in 1273. On his deathbed he put Isabella and the Lordship of Beirut under the protection of the Mamluk sultan Baibars. After Hamo's death, Hugh III of Cyprus tried to join Beirut to Cyprus by bringing Isabella to Cyprus to marry a man of his choosing, but Baibars cited Hamo's deathbed wish and prevented this. This move forced Isabella to return to Beirut in 1277, where she married Nicolas l’Aleman, Lord of Caesarea, and after his death William Barlais..