Pierre de Courtenay

Pierre de Courtenay ( German  Peter von Courtenay ; * around 1218, † 1249 or on February 8, 1250 in Egypt ) was a French knight and lord of Conches-en-Ouche and Mehun-sur-Yèvre . As a member of the House of Courtenay , he was himself of Capetian descent .

The armed Pierre de Courtenay depicted in a drawing of a 13th century stone glass window in Chartres Cathedral .

He was the eldest of five sons of Robert von Courtenay († 1239), Lord of Champignelles , and Mathilde von Mehun. He inherited the castles of Conches and Mehun from his parents. On August 25, 1248 he embarked with his cousin, King Ludwig IX. the saint , entered Aigues-Mortes for the crusade to Egypt , in the course of which he died.

In current historical literature, his death is dated February 8, 1250, during the battle for the city of al-Mansura . On this day, Count Robert I of Artois led the vanguard of the crusaders into a trap of the Mameluks during a spontaneous attack on the city , in which the entire vanguard was destroyed. According to the crusade writer Jean de Joinville, however, he died earlier. After the conquest of the Egyptian port city of Damiette in June 1249, a large part of the army camped outside the city walls until they marched on to al-Mansura in the autumn of 1249. During this time, the Sultan of Egypt offered a reward of gold bezels on each head of a crusader, that will be brought to him. Then, several nights in a row, Saracens invaded the camp, killed sleeping crusaders in their tents and stole their decapitated heads. According to Joinville, he was the victim of one such attack. However, it is possible that the chronicler was wrong in his report written down several decades after the events in question, because he mentioned Courtenay two times later, namely in connection with the battle of al-Mansura.

He was married to Petronille de Joigny († 1289), a daughter of Gaucher de Joigny and the Amicia de Montfort . Their only child was:

• Amicia de Courtenay († 1275 in Rome, buried in St. Peter's Basilica), mistress of Conches and Mehun, ⚭ 1262 Count Robert II of Artois († 1302)

His widow married Henri II de Sully († 1269) for the second time in 1252.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Joinville , II, §7, ed. by Ethel Wedgwood (1906).
2. ↑ Joinville , II, §9-10, ed. by Ethel Wedgwood (1906).
3. ↑ However, Guillaume de Courtenay, Lord von Yerre, also took part in the crusade, who was a cousin of Pierre de Courtenay and who had survived the crusade. ( Histoire généalogique de la maison de France , t. I, p. 517).

predecessor	Office	successor
Robert of Courtenay	Lord of Mehun 1239-1250	Robert II of Artois (de iure uxoris)
Robert of Courtenay	Lord of Conches 1239-1250	Robert II of Artois (de iure uxoris)