Peter (Latin Empire)

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Depiction of Peter in a manuscript from the 14th century

Peter of Courtenay (French .: Pierre de Courtenay * 1155, † ~ 1217 / 19 ) from the younger House Courtenay was when Peter II. Lord of Courtenay and as I. Peter Kaiser of the Latin Empire of Constantinople Opel 1216-1217. He was also Count of Nevers , Auxerre and Tonnerre and Margrave of Namur by marriage .

He was a son of Peter I von Courtenay († 1181/83), a younger son of King Ludwig VI. of the thick of France . His mother was Elisabeth von Courtenay.

Count of Nevers, Auxerre and Tonnerre

Peter inherited the castles of Courtenay and Montargis from his father, who died no later than 1181/83 . On the mediation of his cousin, King Philip II August , he married Agnes in 1184 , daughter of Count Guido von Nevers and heiress of the counties of Nevers, Auxerre and Tonnerre. In return for this considerable inheritance, he left Montargis to the crown. Peter accompanied the king on the third crusade from 1190 and returned home in his entourage in 1191.

Shortly after his return, Peter's wife died in 1193 and left the three counties to their daughter Mathilde (* probably 1188), which he could continue to administer as her guardian. Immediately afterwards he agreed with Count Baldwin IX. von Flanders started a marriage project by marrying his sister Jolante . It was also agreed that Mathilde should marry the brother of the Count of Flanders, Margrave Philip I of Namur , as soon as she reached marriageable age. In 1197, however, the Count of Flanders revolted against King Philip II August, who in turn forbade the heiress of Nevers to marry the brother of his enemy in 1199, after he had written from Pope Innocent III. was warned about it.

At the same time Peter had got into a conflict with Hervé von Donzy over possession of the castle of Gien . Although Peter had received support from the king in the form of mercenary companies, he was defeated by his enemy on August 3, 1199 in a battle not far from Donzy and put to flight. In order to settle the conflict, the king intervened directly and brokered the marriage between Mathilde and Hervé von Donzy, to whom the rule in Nevers was transferred. Peter in turn was granted a lifelong right to use Auxerre and Tonnerre. The subject of dispute, Gien, on the other hand, was to immediately become the property of the crown.

From 1209 to 1211 Peter took part in the Albigensian Crusade with his brother Robert von Courtenay and fought in the Battle of Bouvines in 1214 . As early as 1212, his wife had taken over the Margraviate of Namur as her brother's heir.

Emperor of Constantinople

Peter's second wife was since July 1, 1193 Jolante († 1219), a sister of Baldwin I and Heinrich , the first two emperors of the Latin Empire of Constantinople established as a result of the fourth crusade . When her brother Philip died in 1212, Jolante inherited his margraviate of Namur, which Peter ruled from then on out of their rights.

The death of Emperor Heinrich in 1216 placed the burden of finding a successor on the Latin feudal nobility established in Constantinople as a result of the fourth crusade, since the emperor had left no children entitled to inherit. The choice of the barons finally fell on Peter von Courtenay as the husband of the eldest sister of the deceased, to whom the imperial dignity was offered in the same year. What is noteworthy about this process is the disregard of a female principle of succession, because Peter's succession to the throne was based on the choice he had made and not on his marriage to the eventual heiress of the first two Latin emperors. Also possible inheritance rights of the daughters of Emperor Baldwin I living in Flanders were obviously not taken into consideration. The decision in favor of him was probably due to the political circumstances in which the still young and barely established empire of the Latins found itself in the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) , as it had to wage a constant struggle to assert itself against the heirs of the long-established Greek state aristocracy. So in Asia Minor against the Greek counter-empire of Nicaea of Theodoros I Laskaris and in Europe against the despotate of Epirus by Theodoros I Angelos . The emerging Bulgarian empire of the Aesir posed a further threat . Under these impressions the Latin barons must have come to the conclusion that only a military leader on the throne of Constantinople could guarantee the continued survival of their empire, and Peter von Courtenay was a crusade veteran and participant in battle known. Another point that spoke for him was his Capetian ancestry and thus blood relationship to the French royal family, through which political connections to the "motherland" of the Latins could be maintained. In addition, Peter already had his own rich offspring, which could guarantee a smooth succession for the future. One of his daughters was already married to the King of Hungary, the most powerful ruler in Southeastern Europe, who could thus be won as a valuable ally.

In the spring of 1217, Peter started the journey to Constantinople with his wife, four of their children and a small entourage. They left the maternal inheritance of Namur to the eldest son Philipp , and the second eldest, Robert, was to stay behind at home. Her route on the route that was common at the time, especially for French travelers to the Orient, led her via Italy, where the journey by ship was to continue to her destination. At his urging, Peter was in Rome in St. Laurentius outside the walls of Pope Honorius III. anointed and crowned emperor on April 9, 1217. He was to remain the only Latin Eastern Emperor to receive his crown from the hand of the spiritual head of the Latin Church. Note also the location of the coronation ceremony. According to Konrad von Fabaria's report , Peter was not crowned in the cathedral of Saint Peter only because this place was reserved solely for the coronation of the western emperors ruling over the city of Rome and not for the eastern emperors residing in Constantinople, so that the impression was given would be that the Greek emperor also had rights over the city of Rome. In any case, the authorization of the incumbent West Emperor should have been obtained. In 1217 this was Otto IV , who had meanwhile been largely disempowered , while the Staufer Friedrich II, supported by the Pope, had already been designated for the dignity of emperor, but was not yet crowned. On April 11, 1217, Peter first documented it with an imperial title ("Petrus, Dei gratia fidelissimus in Christo Constantinopolitanus Imperator a Deo coronatus, Romanie moderator et semper augustus"); He confirmed here to the Venetian Doge Pietro Ziani the treaty of 1204 agreed by the leaders of the fourth crusade with Enrico Dandolo , which regulated the division of the Byzantine Empire between the Latins and Venice. On April 16, 1217, Peter documented a second and last time as emperor, when he recognized the inheritance rights of the sons of Boniface von Montferrat , i.e. above all the successor to Demetrius in the Kingdom of Thessaloniki .

At the end of April 1217, Peter continued the journey with his followers and now accompanied by the cardinal legate Giovanni Colonna . On Venetian ships, Constantinople should be reached by sea around Greece. In Brindisi he separated from his family, who were to travel ahead of him, while in the spirit of the fourth crusade for Venice he himself was supposed to conquer the important port city of Durazzo , which was subordinate to the Greek despot of Epirus, in return for shipping . With only a small number of armed entourage, the attack on the heavily fortified city immediately failed. Apparently the Venetian fleet returned to their mother city because of the null and void transport contract. Therefore Peter made the decision to take the direct march overland to Constantinople, for which he had to cross the hostile territory of the despot of Epirus. This decision quickly turned out to be fatal when the tour group was discovered and imprisoned by the despot's men.

The end of Emperor Peter is a mystery of history. An exact date of his death was not recorded in any chronicles, his death in captivity is mostly mentioned in connection with his capture. Papal letters of July 28, 1217 and November 4, 1217 still name him as a prisoner and among the living, but then the news about him ends. Cardinal Colonna, who was also captured, was released by the despot in the spring of 1218 after the papal threat of a crusade, but Peter is no longer mentioned, which suggests his death. On the other hand, after her arrival in Constantinople, his wife Jolante took over the deputy reign for him as emperor's wife and held this until her own death in late 1219 without discussing any succession arrangements for the imperial dignity. You and the barons of Constantinople must have assumed that Peter would continue to live, otherwise there would have been no basis for Jolante's reign and one of Peter's sons would have been offered the emperor's dignity. However, this only happened after Jolante's death in 1219, when Peter's death had now apparently become a definitive certainty. The Greek author Georgios Akropolites reported that Peter died by the sword, which describes an execution. However, no other report confirms this claim.

In December 1219, the Latin barons agreed on Peter's eldest son, Philip, to succeed him to the throne of Constantinople. But this rejected the emperor's dignity in favor of his younger brother Robert.

progeny

From his first marriage to Agnes, Peter had only one child, Mathilde. From his second marriage he had 13 children:

  1. Margarete (* ca. 1194 † July 17, 1270) Margravine of Namur 1228–1237 ⚭ 1) around 1210 Raoul III. d'Issoudun († March 1 after 1212), ⚭ 2) before 1217 Count Heinrich I. von Vianden († November 19, probably 1253)
  2. Elisabeth († after August 1253) ⚭ 1) Gaucher Count of Bar-sur-Seine († 1219) ( Le Puiset house ), ⚭ 2) 1220 Eudes I. de Montagu († after August 1253)
  3. Jolante († 1233) ⚭ 1215 Andrew II, King of Hungary
  4. Agnes († after 1247) ⚭ 1217 Gottfried II of Villehardouin , Prince of Achaia († 1245)
  5. Maria († after 1228) ⚭ 1218 Theodor I. Laskaris Emperor of Nicaea
  6. Eleonore († before 1230) ⚭ Philip of Montfort († 1270), Lord of Castres, Lord of Tire and Toron
  7. Konstanze, 1210
  8. Sibylle (* 1197, † 1210) nun
  9. Philip II (* 1195; † 1226), 1216 Margrave of Namur and Lord of Courtenay
  10. Peter (III.), 1210, clergyman
  11. Robert († 1228 before February 13) Emperor of Constantinople ⚭ 1228 NN, daughter of Baldwin de Neufville
  12. Henry II († 1229), 1226 Count of Namur
  13. Baldwin II (* 1218, † after October 15, 1273) Emperor of Constantinople ⚭ April 19, 1229 Marie de Brienne († after May 5, 1275), daughter of John of Brienne , King of Jerusalem , then co-emperor in Constantinople

literature

  • John C. Moore: Count Baldwin IX of Flanders, Philip Augustus, and the Papal Power , in: Speculum 37 (1962), pp. 86-88
  • Kenneth M. Setton: The Papacy and the Levant (1204-1517), I: The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Philadelphia, 1976, pp. 44f.

swell

Remarks

  1. ↑ See Robert von Auxerre, p. 247.
  2. ↑ See Delaborde, Henri-François: Recueil des actes de Philippe II Auguste, Vol. 1 (1916), No. 106, pp. 134-135.
  3. ↑ Cf. Gesta Regis Henrici Secundis et Gesta Regis Ricardi Benedicti abbatis , ed. by William Stubbs in: Rolls Series 49, Vol. 2 (1867), p. 156 and Roger von Hoveden , Chronica , ed. by William Stubbs in: Rolls Series 51 (1870), Vol. 3, p. 126.
  4. ↑ Cf. Potthast, August : Regesta Pontificum Romanorum , Vol. 1 (1874), No. 675, p. 64.
  5. ↑ On the conflict between Peter von Courtenay and Hervé von Donzy and the peace initiative of King Philip II August cf. Raoul de Diceto , Ymagines Historiarum , ed. by William Stubbs: The Historical Works of Master Ralph of Diss , Vol. 2 ( Rolls Series 68) (1876), p. 167. On the marriage between Mathilde von Courtenay and Hervé von Donzy, see also Robert von Auxerre, p. 259.
  6. ↑ Cf. Delisle, Léopold: Catalog des actes de Philippe Auguste (1856), No. 574, p. 136.
  7. ↑ The participation in the Albigensian Crusade is mentioned by Wilhelm von Tudela in his chanson. See La Chanson de la Croisade contre les Albigeois , tome premier, ed. by Paul Meyer (1875), §XII, p. 13, §LXIII, p. 67 and §LXXI, p. 75. For participation in the Battle of Bouvines see Wilhelm der Bretone , Gesta Philippi Augusti , in: RHGF 17 (1878 ), P. 98.
  8. ↑ Cf. Tafel, GL Fr. & Thomas, GM: Documents on the older commercial and state history of the Republic of Venice, Vol. 2 (1856), No. CCIL, p. 193ff.
  9. ↑ Cf. Pressutti, P .: Regesta Honorii papae III, Vol. 1 (1888), No. 508, p. 89.
  10. ↑ See Potthast, A .: Regesta Pontificum Romanorum, Vol. 1 (1874), No. 5590, pp. 491f; No. 5613, pp. 493f. For the latter letter, see also RHGF 19, p. 638.
  11. ↑ See Setton, p. 45.

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Peter I. Lord of Courtenay 1181 / 83-1216
Blason Courtenay.svg
Philip
Peter I. Lord of Montargis
1181 / 83–1284 		French crown domain
Agnes Count of Nevers
(from 1184 iure uxoris with Agnes, from 1193 as guardian of Mathilde)
1184–1200 		Mathilde
and
Hervé from Donzy
Agnes Count of Auxerre
Count of Tonnerre
(from 1184 iure uxoris with Agnes, from 1193 as guardian of Mathilde, from 1199 in his own right)
1184–1216 		Mathilde
Philip I. Margrave of Namur
(iure uxoris with Jolante)
1212–1216 		Philip II
Heinrich Latin emperor 1216–1217 / 19
Blason Empire Latin de Constantinople.svg
Robert
personal data
SURNAME Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Peter II of Courtenay; Peter I of Constantinople; Pierre de Courtenay
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Latin Emperor of Constantinople (1216-1217)
DATE OF BIRTH around 1155
DATE OF DEATH 1219