John of Caesarea

John (died 1238–1241) was the Lord of Caesarea from 1229 and an important figure in the kingdoms of Cyprus and Jerusalem. He was the only son of Walter III of Caesarea and Margaret, daughter of Balian of Ibelin. He was often called "the young lord of Caesarea" throughout his life to distinguish him from his father, who had been called "the old lord of Caesarea".

Civil war (1229–1232) John was a page at the feast held in Limassol in 1228, where the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II tried to depose John's uncle, John of Ibelin, from his posts of Bailiff of Cyprus and Lord of Beirut. According to the chronicler Philip of Novara, John conspired with Anceau de Brie to assassinate Frederick on this occasion. He was dissuaded by his uncle, who said: "ll Christendom would cry out: 'These traitors overseas have slain their lord the Emperor.' Since he would be dead and we alive and safe, our right would become wrong, and the truth of it would never be believed. He is our lord; whatever he does we will guard our faith and our honour." In October 1232 he was again second of the secular witnesses, after Odo of Montbéliard, in an accord between Henry I and John's uncle-in-law, , Archbishop of Nicosia. In October 1233, he was present at a court held by Odo in Acre. There he signed third an agreement between the municipality of Marseille and the Knights Hospitaller and Knights Templar, and fourth a treaty between Jerusalem and Genoa. This passage is referring to the year 1241, and John's death must have preceded Richard Filangieri's assault on Acre, which occurred while John of Arsuf was at Arsuf, and after Theobald's departure. John was not present when the Haute Cour elected a bailiff for King Conrad II when he attained his majority in 1243. The lord of Caesarea who was present was John's successor, John Aleman, the husband of his daughter and heiress, Margaret.

John and his wife, Alice de Montaigu—who was the niece of the archbishop of Nicosia, of Guerin, Hospitaller grand master, and of Peter, Templar grand master—had one son (perhaps named Eudes), who died in infancy, and several daughters besides Margaret. The names of the other daughters are uncertain because of contradictions in the principal source, the Lignages d'Outremer. According to one section of the Lignages, a daughter named Alice married Richard de Dampierre and was the mother of Eudes. According to another section, Alice became a nun and died young, while the mother of Eudes de Dampierre was Isabelle, the only other daughter mentioned in the other section. The second section also mentions daughters named Marie, who died without heirs, and Peretine, who died young.