Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1921-03-24

Lusignan died in poverty at Milan leaving an only
son named Michael. Michael earned precarious
living as a waiter at Milan and at Florence. and
repeatedly endeavored to ameliorate his lot by
marrying some rich woman. About ten years ago
he addressed to the head of the marriage-license
bureau at the New York city hall, remarkable
letter inviting the assistance of that official Id
securing a rich American wife for "a prince OF
royal blood, Prince Michael de Lusgnan, Prince
OF Armenia, Cyprus, and Jerusalem; Comte de Id
Marche, ffty-seven years of age, and without a
fortune" His matrimonial designs were as frult-
less in America as they were abroad, however,
and he died in October 1912, at Petrograd. in the
Oboukofsky hospital, in the utmost poverty and
obscurity, and without leaving any heir.
With him there disappeared the sole and only per-
son who in modern times has ever been officially
if enormously, recognized by any foreign govern
ment entitled to bear the name of Lusignan.
More than questionable as was his own status, ne
was never tired Of denouncing the soidisant
Prince Guy de Lusignan of Paris, and the Iatters 8
son Leon, utter frauds
With regard to this Prince Guy de Lusignan,
who persuaded a number of credulous Engllsh
and Americans into belief in the authenticity
of his claims and induced them to accept the
bogus orders of knighthood which he conferred
upon them, his real name was Kalfajan. He was
the son Of an Armenian stone mason, and was cd
ucated by public charity at the Armenian mon
astery of San Lazzaro, at Venice
In Paris he first gave out that he was a grandson
of the great Napoleon's famous Mameluke,
Roustan, and subsequently blossomed forth Guy
de Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, Cyprus and Ar
menia. 1t was previous to this that he had sue
ceeded in winning the hand and fortune OF the
wealthy widow of of the great French art
dealers After her death, he married r1eh Eng
lishwoman named Broadley; and it on the
strength of the money thus acquired that he
adontad his royal titles and founded his ridicu-
lous orders of knighthood. These last were the
Order of Melusine, named after the legendary
sncestress of the real Lusignan family and the
Order of st. Catherine of Mount Sinai, which was
restricted to women and which this self-styled
King of Jerusalem had the impudence to confer
upon Miss Clara Barton, then head Of the Ameri-
can Red Cross.
No sketch of the Kings of Jerusalem, past and
present bogus and authentic, would be complete
without mention of the dethroned Kaisers extra
ordinary pretensiOns to the title. He boldly as
sumed it on the occasion of his theatrical entry
into Jerusalem in 1885, when he rode into the Holy
CITY arrayed in the white mantle of the crusader
sovereigns, and carrying their emblem, cross.
In the almost blasphemOus sermons that he
preached on the Mount of Olives and in the
Lutheran church at Jerusalem, he emphasized his
claim to the kngly title once held by Frederick
IT of the old German empire. At home how
ovor he never included it in the official list of
his multifarious honors as German Kaiser and
autocrat of Prussia.
The former Kaiser was not content to ascrtbe
his rights in the matter to descent from one of
the medieval rulers of Jerusalem. He goes back
+o an epoch much more remote-to King David
of the Old Testament, whom he claims as an an
ooetor Hanging in conspicuous position in his
,,orlxroom in the Neues Palais at Potsdam is, or
1vos huge and beautifully framed genealogical
+roo showing the name of King David at the root
and that of the Emperor William at the top. Ac-
oording to this tree the dethrOned Kaiser is de-
coonded from King David through the eldest
daughter of Zedekiah who with her sister, fed
~ ireland in charge Of the Prophet Jeremiah, to
ho married to Heremon, King of Ulster.
This genealogical tree is the work of a clergy
, Of the Church Of England named Glover
- davoted most Of his life to the study of gene
oIoov In 1859 he wrote to Queen Victoria, inform
49,. Ior that he had discovered her to be descended
q. an unbroken line from King David. The queen
80 for him to come to Windsor, and to his
oroozement informed hin. that what he thought
10 hod been the first to discover had been known
20 herself and to her late husband, the Prince
Consort for many years.
II is unite natural that VictOria's grandson the
former Kaiser with his intense, If somewhat curl
ous religious ideas, should have been deeply in
+orested in this family tree. Soon after his &C
cossion TO the throne of Germany he requested
his grandmother to let him have copy which
was sent to him handsomely engrOssed and gorge
ousIy framed. Its contemplation naturally tended
to increase his belief in the divine origin of his
sovereignty.