Following the death of Prince Bohemund II of Antioch in 1130, the principality came under the regency first of King Baldwin II (1130-31), then King Fulk (1131-35), and finally Princess Alice (1135-36), Bohemond's widow.
The first years of their joint rule were spent in conflicts with the Byzantine Emperor John II Comnenus, who had come south partly to recover Cilicia from Leo of Armenia, and to reassert his rights over Antioch.