John of Brienne
Encyclopedia
Latin Empire
The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...
as regent.
Life
Jean de Candia-Nevers was the second son of Erard IIErard II of Brienne
Érard II of Brienne was count of Brienne from 1161 to 1191, and a French general during the Third Crusade, most notably at the Siege of Acre. He was the son of Gautier II, count of Brienne, and of Adèle of Soissons. During this siege he saw his brother André of Brienne die on 4 October 1189...
, count of Brienne, in Champagne
Champagne, France
Champagne is a historic province in the northeast of France, now best known for the sparkling white wine that bears its name.Formerly ruled by the counts of Champagne, its western edge is about 100 miles east of Paris. The cities of Troyes, Reims, and Épernay are the commercial centers of the area...
, and of Agnes de Montfaucon. Destined originally for a clerical
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
career, he had preferred to become a knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
, and in forty years of tournaments
Tournament (medieval)
A tournament, or tourney is the name popularly given to chivalrous competitions or mock fights of the Middle Ages and Renaissance . It is one of various types of hastiludes....
and fights he had won himself a considerable reputation, when in 1208 envoys came from the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
to ask Philip Augustus
Philip II of France
Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...
, king of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, to select one of his barons as husband to the heiress and ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
. Philip selected John of Brienne, and promised to support him in his new dignity. In 1210, John married the heiress (Mary) Maria
Maria of Montferrat
Maria of Montferrat was Queen of Jerusalem, the daughter of Conrad of Montferrat and Isabella, Queen of Jerusalem...
(daughter of Isabella
Isabella of Jerusalem
Isabella I was Queen regnant of Jerusalem from 1190/1192 until her death. By her four marriages, she was successively Lady of Toron, Marchioness of Montferrat, Countess of Champagne and Queen of Cyprus....
and Conrad of Montferrat
Conrad of Montferrat
Conrad of Montferrat was a northern Italian nobleman, one of the major participants in the Third Crusade. He was the de facto King of Jerusalem, by marriage, from 24 November 1190, but officially elected only in 1192, days before his death...
), assuming the title of king in right of his wife. In 1211, after some desultory operations, he concluded a five years' truce with Malik-el-Adil; in 1212 he lost his wife, who left him a daughter, Yolande
Yolande of Jerusalem
Isabella II also known as Yolande of Brienne, was a princess of French origin who became monarch of Jerusalem.-Infant Queen:...
(also known as Isabella); soon afterwards he married the princess Stephanie
Stephanie of Armenia
Stephanie of Armenia , also known as Rita, was the only child of Leo I, King of Armenia by his first wife Isabelle, whose origins are uncertain. She was a member of the Rubenid dynasty.- Early Life and Family :...
, daughter of Leo II of Armenia
Leo II of Armenia
Leo II , also Leon II, Levon II or Lewon II was the tenth lord of Armenian Cilicia or “Lord of the Mountains” , and the first king of Armenian Cilicia .During his reign, Leo succeeded in establishing Cilician Armenia as a powerful and a unified Christian...
.
Fifth Crusade
The Fifth Crusade was an attempt to reacquire Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering the powerful Ayyubid state in Egypt....
(1218–1221) he was a prominent figure. The legate Pelagius of Albano, however, claimed the command; and insisting on the advance from Damietta
Damietta
Damietta , also known as Damiata, or Domyat, is a port and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt. It is located at the intersection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile, about north of Cairo.-History:...
, in spite of John's warnings, he refused to accept the favourable terms of the sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
, as the king advised, until it was too late. After the failure of the crusade, King John came to the West to obtain help for his kingdom. In 1223 he met Pope Honorius III
Pope Honorius III
Pope Honorius III , previously known as Cencio Savelli, was Pope from 1216 to 1227.-Early work:He was born in Rome as son of Aimerico...
and the emperor Frederick II
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
at Ferentino
Ferentino
Ferentino is a town and comune in Italy, in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, 65 km southeast of Rome.It is situated on a hill 400 m above sea-level, in the Monti Ernici area.-History:...
, where, in order that he might be connected more closely with the Holy Land, Frederick was betrothed to John's daughter Isabella, now heiress of the kingdom. After the meeting at Ferentino, John went to France and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, finding little consolation; and thence he travelled to Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
, where King Alfonso IX of Leon
Alfonso IX of Leon
Alfonso IX was king of León and Galicia from the death of his father Ferdinand II in 1188 until his own death...
offered him the hand of one of his daughters and the promise of his kingdom. John passed over Alfonso's eldest daughter and heiress in favor of a younger daughter, Berenguela of Leon
Berenguela of León
Berengaria of León was the third wife but only empress consort of John of Brienne, Latin Emperor of Constantinople.-Family:...
. After a visit to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
he returned to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
(1225). Here he received a demand from Frederick II (who had now married Isabella) that he should abandon his title and dignity of king, which, so Frederick claimed, had passed to himself along with the heiress of the kingdom. John, though fifty or fifty-five years of age, was still vigorous enough to avenge himself on Frederick, by commanding the papal troops which attacked southern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
during the emperor's absence on the Sixth Crusade
Sixth Crusade
The Sixth Crusade started in 1228 as an attempt to regain Jerusalem. It began seven years after the failure of the Fifth Crusade. It involved very little actual fighting...
(1228–1229).
In 1229, John was invited by the barons of the Latin Empire of Constantinople to become emperor-regent, on condition that Baldwin of Courtenay
Baldwin II of Constantinople
Baldwin II of Courtenay was the last emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople.He was a younger son of Yolanda of Flanders, sister of the first two emperors, Baldwin I and Henry of Flanders...
should marry his second daughter and succeed him. For nine years he ruled in Constantinople, and in 1235, with a few troops, he repelled a great siege of the city
Siege of Constantinople (1235)
The Siege of Constantinople was a joint Bulgarian-Nicaean siege on the capital of the Latin Empire. Latin emperor John of Brienne was besieged by the Nicaean emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes and Tsar Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria. The siege remained unsuccessful.-Prelude:After Robert of Courtenay died...
by John III Doukas Vatatzes
John III Doukas Vatatzes
John III Doukas Vatatzes, Latinized as Ducas Vatatzes |Nymphaion]]) was emperor of Nicaea 1221–1254.-Life:John Doukas Vatatzes was probably the son of the general Basileios Vatatzes, Duke of Thrace, who died in 1193, and his wife, an unnamed daughter of Isaakios Angelos and cousin of the Emperors...
, emperor of Nicaea
Empire of Nicaea
The Empire of Nicaea was the largest of the three Byzantine Greek successor states founded by the aristocracy of the Byzantine Empire that fled after Constantinople was occupied by Western European and Venetian forces during the Fourth Crusade...
, and Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria
Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria
-Early rule:He was a son of Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria and Elena . Elena, who survived until after 1235, is sometimes alleged to be a daughter of Stefan Nemanja of Serbia, but this relationship is questionable and would have caused various canonical impediments to marriages between various descendants...
, killing around 10,000 of the enemy single-handedly at the age of eighty.
After this last feat of arms, which has perhaps been exaggerated by the Latin chroniclers, who compare him to Hector
Hector
In Greek mythology, Hectōr , or Hektōr, is a Trojan prince and the greatest fighter for Troy in the Trojan War. As the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, a descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy, he was a prince of the royal house and the...
, Roland and the Maccabees
Maccabees
The Maccabees were a Jewish rebel army who took control of Judea, which had been a client state of the Seleucid Empire. They founded the Hasmonean dynasty, which ruled from 164 BCE to 63 BCE, reasserting the Jewish religion, expanding the boundaries of the Land of Israel and reducing the influence...
, John died in the habit of a Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
friar
Friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.-Friars and monks:...
. An aged paladin
Paladin
The paladins, sometimes known as the Twelve Peers, were the foremost warriors of Charlemagne's court, according to the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. They first appear in the early chansons de geste such as The Song of Roland, where they represent Christian martial valor against the...
, he was around 80 years old, somewhat uxorious and always penniless, he was a typical knight errant, whose wanderings led him all over Europe, and planted him successively on the thrones of Jerusalem and Constantinople.
Marriages and issue
John of Brienne married three times. By his first wife, Marie of Montferrat, he had one child, Yolande, later Queen of Jerusalem. He had also one child by his second wife, Stephanie of Armenia, a son named as successor in Armenia, but died in childhood. By his third wife, Berenguela of LeonBerenguela of León
Berengaria of León was the third wife but only empress consort of John of Brienne, Latin Emperor of Constantinople.-Family:...
, he had four children:
- Marie of BrienneMarie of BrienneMarie of Brienne was the Empress consort of Baldwin II of Courtenay, Latin Emperor of Constantinople.-Family:She was a daughter of John of Brienne and his third wife Berenguela of Leon. Marie was a younger, paternal half-sister of Yolande of Jerusalem...
(1225–1275), who married Emperor Baldwin II of ConstantinopleBaldwin II of ConstantinopleBaldwin II of Courtenay was the last emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople.He was a younger son of Yolanda of Flanders, sister of the first two emperors, Baldwin I and Henry of Flanders...
. - Alphonso of BrienneAlphonso of BrienneAlphonso of Brienne or Alphonse I de Brienne, called Alphonse d'Acre was the son of John of Brienne and Berengaria of Leon, born in Acre. He was the Grand Butler of France in 1258....
(c. 1228–1270), who married Marie d'IssoudonMarie of Lusignan, Countess d'EuMarie of Lusignan or Marie I de Lusignan , was the only child and daughter of Raoul II of Lusignan and his second wife, Yolande de Dreux. She became Dame d'Issoudun, Countess of Eu and of Guinness in 1250.She was married around 1249 to Alphonso of Brienne Marie of Lusignan or Marie I de Lusignan...
, countess of Eu, and became count of Eu in right of his wife, and was also Great Chamberlain of France. - Jean (John) de Brienne (c. 1230–1296), who in 1258 became Grand Butler of FranceGrand Butler of FranceThe Grand Butler of France was one of the great offices of state in France, existing between the Middle Ages and the Revolution of 1789. Originally responsible for the maintenance of the Royal vineyards, and provisioning the court with wine, the Grand Butler's role became less and less important...
. Married as his first wife, Jeanne, daughter of Geoffrey VI, Viscount of Chateaudun, and as his second wife, Marie de CoucyMarie de CoucyMarie de Coucy was the daughter of Enguerrand III, Lord of Coucy and his third wife Marie de Montmirel . She was Queen consort of the Kingdom of Scotland.- Biography :...
, widow of King Alexander II of ScotlandAlexander II of ScotlandAlexander II was King of Scots from1214 to his death.-Early life:...
. Had one daughter, Blanche by his first marriage. - Louis of Acre (c. 1235–1263), who married Agnes of Beaumont and became Viscount of Beaumont in her right. His children included Henry de Beaumont, Earl of BuchanHenry de BeaumontHenry de Beaumont, jure uxoris 4th Earl of Buchan and suo jure 1st Baron Beaumont was a key figure in the Anglo-Scots wars of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, known as the Wars of Scottish Independence.-Life:...
, an ancestor of England's Royal House of LancasterHouse of LancasterThe House of Lancaster was a branch of the royal House of Plantagenet. It was one of the opposing factions involved in the Wars of the Roses, an intermittent civil war which affected England and Wales during the 15th century...
.