He was the son of Philip of Montfort (lord of Louisiana Ferté-Alais, of Bréthencourt, of Castres, of Toron and of Tyre), and his second wife Maria of Antioch-Armenia (the elder daughter of Raymond-Roupen of Antioch and hence Lady of Toron and pretender of Armenia).
When he came of age, he received the lordship of Toron from his father, but the Mamluks conquered it in 1266. Marguerite de Lusignan was the sister of king Hugh III of Cyprus, who later became king of Jerusalem and negotiated a certain number of alliances with the nobility of the kingdom in order to shore up his pretence against Charles I of Sicily. On the occasion of this marriage, Hugh III confirmed Montfort"s possession of Tyre but reserved the throne"s right to retake the fiefdom if Jean and Marguerite died without issue.
Jean succeeded his father in 1270 after he was killed by the Assassins, and governed Tyre until his death in 1283.
