noblemen in the kingdom after Count Raymond III of Tripoli; Nablus commanded twice as many knights as Balian's lordships of Ibelin and Mirabel. Their union was happy and Maria played a great role in Balian's politics. They had four children: Helvis, John, Margaret, and Philip. Remarriage ended any possibility that Maria might manage the king's court; the role was assumed by Agnes, whose influence over Sibylla and Baldwin steadily increased. Maria's brother-in-law Baldwin of Ibelin was captured by Saladin in 1179. It is probably she who informed her granduncle Manuel about the scheme to have Baldwin marry Sibylla, prompting the Byzantine emperor to pay his extortionate ransom. Sibylla was instead married to Guy of Lusignan in early 1180, leading to a rift among the nobility. Guy had the support of the king, the king's mother and maternal family, and the lord of Oultrejordain, Raynald of Châtillon, while the opposing faction consisted of the queen dowager, the Ibelin brothers, Count Raymond III of Tripoli, and Prince Bohemond III of Antioch. In October, King Baldwin arranged the betrothal of his half-sister Isabella, Maria's daughter, to Raynald's stepson, Humphrey IV of Toron. This served to prevent the faction of the Ibelins from using her as a pawn in a dynastic conflict. Isabella was sent to live at Kerak Castle with Humphrey's mother, Stephanie of Milly, who prevented her from visiting Maria at Nablus. Muslim threat Isabella and Humphrey's wedding was held at Kerak in late 1183. Maria attended despite being a personal enemy of the groom's stepfather, Raynald. Extravagant festivities were cut short by news of the approach of the Muslim army under Saladin. The sultan had heard about the gathering and carefully planned his attack to increase the odds of obtaining valuable prisoners. It is probably from Maria, wife of his patron, that the chronicler Ernoul derives his account of the siege of Kerak. According to him, Humphrey's mother sent dishes from the wedding banquet to Saladin in return for his promise not to bombard the newlywed's lodgings. King Baldwin had meanwhile fallen out with Guy; he disinherited him and Sibylla, had Sibylla's son, Baldwin V, crowned as co-king, and led his army to the relief of Kerak. In 1184, Saladin again besieged Kerak and once more fled before Baldwin IV's army. Knowing that all the king's troops were at Kerak, he attacked Nablus between 8 and 10 September. As Balian was