Thursday, April 10, 2008

Emperor Pierre de Courtenay

On the 9th day of April . . . in the year 1217 . . . Pierre de Courtenay is consecrated as emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople . . . this Pierre / Peter is believed to be a 23rd great-grandpa of our Josephine (1842-1899) . . . who is a 2nd great-grandma of the Keeper of this genealogy blog . . .

A General History of the Catholic Church From the Commencement of the Christian Era to the Twentieth Century By Joseph Epiphane Darras, Martin John Spalding, Charles Ignatius White: "was Henry of Hainaut who was poisoned in 1216 The imperial crown was offered to Peter of Courtenay count of Auxerre who had married the Princess Yolande sister of Henry of Hainaut His many noble alliances made him one of the most powerful lords of Christendom He was cousin german to Philip Augustus king of France He had given his daughter Yolande in marriage to Andrew king of Hungary Peter of Courtenay was crowned at Rome by the Sovereign Pontiff April 9 1217 and set out in company with the Apostolic legate John Colonna to take possession of his new empire While crossing the mountains of Albania he was seized by the troops of Theodore despot of Epirus and died in chains Robert his brother was chosen to succeed him and received the"

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire By Edward Gibbon: "The virtuous Henry died at Thessalonica in the defence of that kingdom and of an infant the son of his friend Boniface In the two first emperors of Constantinople the male line of the counts of Flanders was extinct But their sister Tolande was the wife of a French prince the mother of a numerous progeny and one of her daughters had married Andrew king of Hungary a brave and pious champion of the cross By seating him on the Byzantine throne the barons of Romania would have acquired the forces of a neighbouring and warlike kingdom but the prudent Andrew revered the laws of succession and the princess Yolande with her husband Peter of Courtenay count of Auxerre was invited by the Latins to assume the empire of the East The royal birth of his father the noble origin of his mother recommended to the barons of France the first cousin of their "

"his zeal and valour Vanity might applaud the elevation of a French emperor of Constantinople but prudence must pity rather than envy his treacherous and imaginary greatness To assert and adorn his title he was reduced to sell or mortgage the best of his patrimony By these expedients the liberality of his royal kinsman Philip Augustus and the national spirit of chivalry he was enabled to pass the Alps at the head of one hundred and forty knights and five thousand five hundred sergeants and archers After some hesitation pope Honorius the Third was persuaded to crown the successor of Constantine but he performed the ceremony in a church without the walls lest he should seem to imply or to bestow any right of sovereignty over the ancient capital of the empire The Venetians had engaged to transport Peter and his forces beyond the Adriatic and the emp"

"that Peter of Courtenay was released from his hopeless captivity The long ignorance of his fate and the presence of the lawful sovereign of Tolande his wife or widow delayed the proclamation of a new emperor Before her death and in the midst of her grief she was delivered of a sou who was named Baldwin the last and most unfortunate of the Latin princes of Constantinople His birth endeared him to the barons of Romania but his childhood would have prolonged the troubles of a minority and his claims were superseded by the elder claims of his brethren The first of these Philip of Courtenay who derived from his mother the "

Posted by Vickie Everhart at Thursday, April 10, 2008
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