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Emperor of Constantinople | |
---|---|
Imperial | |
Details | |
First monarch | Baldwin I |
Last monarch | Baldwin II |
Formation | 16 April 1204 |
Abolition | 25 July 1261 |
Residence | Bucoleon Palace |
The Latin Emperor was the ruler of the Latin Empire, the historiographical convention for the Crusader realm, established in Constantinople after the Fourth Crusade (1204) and lasting until the city was reconquered by the Byzantine Greeks in 1261. Its name derives from its Catholic and Western European ("Latin") nature. The empire, whose official name was Imperium Romaniae (Latin: "Empire of Romania"), claimed the direct heritage of the Eastern Roman Empire, which had most of its lands taken and partitioned by the crusaders. This claim however was disputed by the Byzantine Greek successor states, the Empire of Nicaea, the Empire of Trebizond and the Despotate of Epirus. Out of these three, the Nicaeans succeeded in displacing the Latin emperors in 1261 and restored the Byzantine Empire.
Portrait | Name | Reign | Succession | Life details |
---|---|---|---|---|
Baldwin I Baudouin | 9 May 1204 – 14 April 1205 (11 months and 5 days) | Son of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut and Margaret I, Countess of Flanders. Crowned emperor on 16 May 1204 in the Hagia Sophia | July 1172 – 1205/1206 (aged 33–34) Married to Marie of Champagne (2 daughters). Captured by the Second Bulgarian Empire in the Battle of Adrianople; died in captivity. | |
Henry Henri | 20 August 1206 – 11 June 1216 (9 years, 9 months and 22 days) | Brother of Baldwin I; ruled as regent until the news of his brother's death arrived to Constantinople | 1178 – 11 June 1216 (aged 37–38) Married to Agnes of Montferrat and Maria of Bulgaria. Died of natural causes | |
Peter Pierre | July 1216 – 1217 (1 year) | Son of Peter of Courtenay, also a cousin of king Philip II of France; crowned emperor in Rome by Pope Honorius III on 9 April 1217 | Married Yolanda of Flanders (10 children). Captured by the despot of Epirus, Theodore Komnenos Doukas in 1217; died in captivity some time after. | |
Yolanda Yolande | 1217 – August 1219 (2 years) | Daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut and wife of Emperor Peter | 1175 – August 1219 (aged 44) Made an alliance with Theodore I Lascaris of the Empire of Nicaea. Died of natural causes | |
Regency of Conon de Béthune (1219) and Giovanni Colonna (1220–1221) | ||||
Robert I | 25 May 1221 – early 1228 (6 years) | Son of Emperor Peter and Yolanda, crowned emperor after an interregnum | Married Lady of Neuville. Died of natural causes in the Principality of Achaea while traveling back to Constantinople. | |
John Jean | 9 April 1229 – 23 March 1237 (7 years, 11 months and 14 days) | Son of Erard II, Count of Brienne, crowned senior co-emperor and regent for Baldwin II | 1170 – 23 March 1237 (aged 67) Married Stephanie of Armenia (1 son) and Berengaria of León (4 children). Only Latin emperor to die in Constantinople. | |
Baldwin II Baudouin | 23 March 1237 – 25 July 1261 (24 years, 3 months and 28 days) | Son of Emperor Peter and Yolanda. Still a child in 1221, he ruled under John's regency until 1237 | late 1217 – October 1273 (aged 56) Married Marie of Brienne (1 son). Fled during the Reconquest of Constantinople. |
Latin Empire was disestablished in 1261, but Latin states in Greece, also known as Frankokratia, continued to recognize Latin emperors in exile as their overlords until 1383.
James of Baux willed his titular claims to Duke Louis I of Anjou, also claimant to the throne of Naples, but Louis and his descendants never used the title.
The Capetian dynasty, also known as the "House of France", is a dynasty of European origin, and a branch of the Robertians and the Karlings. It is among the largest and oldest royal houses in Europe and the world, and consists of Hugh Capet, the founder of the dynasty, and his male-line descendants, who ruled in France without interruption from 987 to 1792, and again from 1814 to 1848. The senior line ruled in France as the House of Capet from the election of Hugh Capet in 987 until the death of Charles IV in 1328. That line was succeeded by cadet branches, the Houses of Valois and then Bourbon, which ruled without interruption until the French Revolution abolished the monarchy in 1792. The Bourbons were restored in 1814 in the aftermath of Napoleon's defeat, but had to vacate the throne again in 1830 in favour of the last Capetian monarch of France, Louis Philippe I, who belonged to the House of Orléans. Cadet branches of the Capetian House of Bourbon are still reigning over Spain and Luxembourg.
John IV Doukas Laskaris was emperor of Nicaea from August 16, 1258, to December 25, 1261. This empire was one of the Greek states formed from the remaining fragments of the Byzantine Empire, after the capture of Constantinople by Roman Catholics during the Fourth Crusade in 1204.
Baldwin II, also known as Baldwin of Courtenay, was the last Latin Emperor ruling from Constantinople.
The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzantine Empire as the Western-recognized Roman Empire in the east, with a Catholic emperor enthroned in place of the Eastern Orthodox Roman emperors. The main objective of the Latin Empire was planned by Venice, which promoted the creation of this state for their self-benefit.
The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire was the largest of the three Byzantine Greek rump states founded by the aristocracy of the Byzantine Empire that fled when Constantinople was occupied by Western European and Venetian armed forces during the Fourth Crusade, a military event known as the Sack of Constantinople. Like the other Byzantine rump states that formed due to the 1204 fracturing of the empire, such as the Empire of Trebizond and the Despotate of Epirus, it was a continuation of the eastern half of the Roman Empire that survived well into the medieval period. A fourth state, known in historiography as the Latin Empire, was established by an army of Crusaders and the Republic of Venice after the capture of Constantinople and the surrounding environs.
The Principality of Achaea or Principality of Morea was one of the vassal states of the Latin Empire, which replaced the Byzantine Empire after the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. It became a vassal of the Kingdom of Thessalonica, along with the Duchy of Athens, until Thessalonica was captured by Theodore, the despot of Epirus, in 1224. After this, Achaea became for a while the dominant power in Greece.
Charles of Valois, the fourth son of King Philip III of France and Isabella of Aragon, was a member of the House of Capet and founder of the House of Valois, whose rule over France would start in 1328.
Philip I of Taranto, of the Angevin house, was titular Latin Emperor of Constantinople by right of his wife Catherine of Valois–Courtenay, Despot of Romania, King of Albania, Prince of Achaea and Taranto.
The King of Thessalonica was the ruler of the Kingdom of Thessalonica, one of the crusader states founded in Greece in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204). The King of Thessalonica was not an independent ruler; the Kingdom of Thessalonica was one of several vassal states created by the crusaders, subservient to the new Latin Empire of Constantinople, which had supplanted the Byzantine Empire.
Philip, also Philip of Courtenay, held the title of Latin Emperor of Constantinople from 1273–1283, although Constantinople had been reinstated since 1261 AD to the Byzantine Empire; he lived in exile and only held authority over Crusader States in Greece. He was born in Constantinople, the son of Baldwin II of Constantinople and Marie of Brienne.
Robert II of Taranto, of the Angevin family, Prince of Taranto (1331–1346), King of Albania (1331–1364), Prince of Achaea (1332–1346), and titular Latin Emperor.
Catherine II, also Catherine of Valois or Catherine of Taranto, was the recognised Latin Empress of Constantinople from 1307–1346, although she lived in exile and only had authority over Crusader States in Greece. She was Princess consort of Achaea and Taranto, and also regent of Achaea from 1332–1341, and Governor of Cephalonia from 1341–1346.
Catherine I, also Catherine of Courtenay, was the recognised Latin Empress of Constantinople from 1283 to 1307, although she lived in exile and only held authority over Crusader States in Greece. In 1301, she became the second wife of Charles of Valois, by whom she had one son and three daughters; the eldest of these, Catherine II of Valois, Princess of Achaea succeeded her as titular empress.
The Treaty of Viterbo was a pair of agreements made by Charles I of Sicily with Baldwin II of Constantinople and William II Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea, on 24 and 27 May 1267, which transferred much of the rights to the defunct Latin Empire from Baldwin to Charles.
The Capetian House of Anjou, or House of Anjou-Sicily, or House of Anjou-Naples was a royal house and cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. It is one of three separate royal houses referred to as Angevin, meaning "from Anjou" in France. Founded by Charles I of Anjou, the youngest son of Louis VIII of France, the Capetian king first ruled the Kingdom of Sicily during the 13th century. The War of the Sicilian Vespers later forced him out of the island of Sicily, which left him with the southern half of the Italian Peninsula, the Kingdom of Naples. The house and its various branches would go on to influence much of the history of Southern and Central Europe during the Middle Ages until it became extinct in 1435.
Marie of Brienne was Latin Empress as the wife of Baldwin II of Courtenay. She served as regent during the absence of Baldwin II twice: in 1237–1239, and in 1243–1257.
Marie of Bourbon was the sovereign baroness of Vostitsa in 1359-1370. She was princess consort of Achaea and titular Latin empress consort by marriage to Robert of Taranto, Prince of Achaea and titular Latin Emperor of Constantinople. Upon the death of Robert in 1364, she became princess regnant of Achaea until her death.
Philippe de Toucy was a French Crusader nobleman and Bailli of the Latin Empire.