Henry of Flanders
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...
of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
. He was a younger son of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut
Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut
Baldwin V of Hainaut was count of Hainaut , count of Flanders as Baldwin VIII and margrave of Namur as Baldwin I .-History:...
(later Baldwin VIII, count of Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
), and Margaret I of Flanders
Margaret I, Countess of Flanders
Margaret I of Flanders was countess of Flanders from 1191 to her death.-History:She was the daughter of Thierry, Count of Flanders and Sibylla of Anjou, and the heiress of her childless brother, Philip of Flanders.-Family:...
, sister of Philip of Alsace
Philip, Count of Flanders
Philip of Alsace was count of Flanders from 1168 to 1191. He succeeded his father Thierry of Alsace.-Count of Flanders:...
, count of Flanders
Count of Flanders
The Count of Flanders was the ruler or sub-ruler of the county of Flanders from the 9th century until the abolition of the position by the French revolutionaries in 1790....
.
Leadership in the Fourth Crusade
Having joined the Fourth CrusadeFourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
in about 1201, he distinguished himself at the sieges of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
and elsewhere. During the July 1203 siege, Henry was one of eight division generals, the others including Boniface of Montferrat (the crusade leader), Doge Enrico Dandolo
Enrico Dandolo
Enrico Dandolo — anglicised as Henry Dandolo and Latinized as Henricus Dandulus — was the 41st Doge of Venice from 1195 until his death...
(leader of the Venetians
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
), Louis of Blois
Louis I, Count of Blois
Louis I of Blois was count of Blois from 1191 to 1205. He was the son of Theobald V and Alix of France. His maternal grandparents were Louis VII of France and his first wife Eleanor of Aquitaine....
(one of the first nobles to take the cross), and Henry's own brother, Baldwin of Flanders
Baldwin I of Constantinople
Baldwin I , the first emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, as Baldwin IX Count of Flanders and as Baldwin VI Count of Hainaut, was one of the most prominent leaders of the Fourth Crusade, which resulted in the capture of Constantinople, the conquest of the greater part of the Byzantine...
, who controlled the largest division. During the 1204 siege, Henry led a chevauchée
Chevauchée
A chevauchée was a raiding method of medieval warfare for weakening the enemy, focusing mainly on wreaking havoc, burning and pillaging enemy territory, in order to reduce the productivity of a region; as opposed to siege warfare or wars of conquest...
expedition to gain supplies and raided a castle in Philia
Sile
Şile is a small holiday city on the Black Sea, 70 km from the city of Istanbul, Turkey. Şile is the also the name of the district and the municipality that contain the city center of Şile...
, near the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
with, according to Robert de Clari
Robert de Clari
Robert de Clari was a knight from Picardy. He participated in the Fourth Crusade with his lord, Count Peter of Amiens, and his brother, Aleaumes de Clari, and left a chronicle of the events in Old French...
, about 30 knights and an unspecified number of mounted sergeants. An ambush was laid for him by Emperor Alexius V "Murzuphlus" Ducas, but Henry and his force routed the Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
soundly, captured a revered icon supposedly containing relics of Christ, and returned to the crusader camp. He soon became prominent among the princes of the new Latin Empire
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...
.
In the Latin Empire
When his elder brother, the emperor Baldwin IBaldwin I of Constantinople
Baldwin I , the first emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, as Baldwin IX Count of Flanders and as Baldwin VI Count of Hainaut, was one of the most prominent leaders of the Fourth Crusade, which resulted in the capture of Constantinople, the conquest of the greater part of the Byzantine...
, was captured at the Battle of Adrianople
Battle of Adrianople (1205)
The Battle of Adrianople occurred on April 14, 1205 between Bulgarians under Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria, and Crusaders under Baldwin I. It was won by the Bulgarians after a skillful ambush using the help of their Cuman and Greek allies. Around 300 knights were killed, including Louis of Blois, Duke...
in April 1205 by the Bulgarians
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
, Henry was chosen regent of the empire, succeeding to the throne when the news of Baldwin’s death arrived. He was crowned 20 August 1206.
Henry was a wise ruler, whose reign was largely passed in successful struggles with Kaloyan
Kaloyan of Bulgaria
Kaloyan the Romanslayer , Ivan II , ruled as emperor of Bulgaria 1197-1207. He is the third and youngest brother of Peter IV and Ivan Asen I who managed to restore the Bulgarian Empire...
, Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
of Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, and with his rival, Theodore I Lascaris, 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...
. He later fought against Boril of Bulgaria
Boril of Bulgaria
Boril reigned as emperor of Bulgaria from 1207 to 1218. He was the son of an unnamed sister of his predecessor Kaloyan.-Biography:It is unclear whether Boril was party to the murder of Kaloyan in front of the walls of Thessalonica in 1207, but Kaloyan's intended heirs, his nephews Ivan Asen and...
(1207–1218) and managed to defeat him the Battle of Philippopolis. Henry campaigned against the Nicean Empire, expanding a small holding in Asia Minor (at Pegai) with campaigns in 1207 (at Nicomedia
Nicomedia
Nicomedia was an ancient city in what is now Turkey, founded in 712/11 BC as a Megarian colony and was originally known as Astacus . After being destroyed by Lysimachus, it was rebuilt by Nicomedes I of Bithynia in 264 BC under the name of Nicomedia, and has ever since been one of the most...
) and in 1211–1212, where he captured important Nicean possessions at Nymphaion. Though Theodore I Laskaris
Theodore I Laskaris
Theodoros I Komnenos Laskaris was emperor of Nicaea .-Family:Theodore Laskaris was born to the Laskaris, a noble but not particularly renowned Byzantine family of Constantinople. He was the son of Manuel Laskaris and wife Ioanna Karatzaina . He had four older brothers: Manuel Laskaris Theodoros...
could not oppose this later campaign, it appears that Henry decided it best to focus on his European problems, for he sought a truce with Theodore I in 1214, and amicably divided Latin from Nicean possessions to the favour of Nicea.
Domestically, Henry appears to have a different character than many of the other Crusader nobles as seen in his even-handed and pragmatic treatment of the Greeks. George Akropolites, the contemporary 13th century Greek historian, notes that Henry "though a Frank by birth, behaved graciously to the Romans who were natives of the city of Constantine, and ranked many of them among his magnates, others among his soldiers, while the common populace he treated as his own people." Indeed, when a Papal legate (Pelagio Galvani
Pelagio Galvani
Pelagio Galvani was a Leonese Cardinal, and canon lawyer. He became a papal legate and leader of the Fifth Crusade....
, Cardinal Bishop of Albano) arrived in Constantinople in 1213 and began to imprison Orthodox clergy and to close churches on the orders of Pope Innocent III, Henry countermanded the orders on the request of the city's Greek clergy.
Henry appears to have been brave but not cruel, and tolerant but not weak, possessing "the superior courage to oppose, in a superstitious age, the pride and avarice of the clergy." The emperor died, poisoned, it is said, by Oberto di Biandrate, ex-regent of Thessaloniki, on 11 June 1216. Gardner suggests this happened at the instigation of his Bulgarian
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
wife Maria of Bulgaria
Maria of Bulgaria, Latin Empress
Maria of Bulgaria was the second Empress consort of Henry of Flanders, Latin Emperor of Constantinople.-Family:She was a daughter of Kaloyan of Bulgaria. Her mother may have been his wife Anna of Cumania. She went on to marry Boril of Bulgaria, a nephew of her first husband. Her paternal uncles...
. On his death his nephew Peter was crowned Emperor in Rome, but never arrived in Constantinople. In the years 1217 to 1219, therefore, the Latin Empire was effectively ruled by Iolanda, Henry's sister and Peter's mother, in regency.
Family
Henry first married (in 1204) Agnes of MontferratAgnes of Montferrat
Agnes of Montferrat was the first Empress consort of Henry of Flanders, Latin Emperor of Constantinople.- Family :She was a daughter of Boniface I, Marquess of Montferrat, founder of the Kingdom of Thessalonica, and his first wife Helena del Bosco...
, daughter of Boniface of Montferrat
Boniface of Montferrat
Boniface of Montferrat was Marquess of Montferrat and the leader of the Fourth Crusade. He was the third son of William V of Montferrat and Judith of Babenberg, born after his father's return from the Second Crusade...
, the Crusade leader, but she had died (probably in childbirth) before her father's death in 1207. Henry's only child by his first wife Agnes apparently died in childbirth with his mother
Some contemporary historians say that Henry made a peace with Bulgarians after the death of Kaloyan, and a marriage was arranged in 1213 between Henry and Maria of Bulgaria
Maria of Bulgaria, Latin Empress
Maria of Bulgaria was the second Empress consort of Henry of Flanders, Latin Emperor of Constantinople.-Family:She was a daughter of Kaloyan of Bulgaria. Her mother may have been his wife Anna of Cumania. She went on to marry Boril of Bulgaria, a nephew of her first husband. Her paternal uncles...
, daughter of Kaloyan and stepdaughter of Boril, Tsar of Bulgaria.
Henry had a daughter with an unnamed mistress. This daughter, whose name is not recorded, later married Alexii Slav who established his own state in the Rodophe mountains. He was later given the title of despot.
Ancestry
Sources
- Akropolites, George (Ruth Macrides, ed.), The History. Oxford: University Press, 2007.
- Queller, Donald. The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople (Middle Ages), 1999
- This article uses information found on the project page of Medieval Lands http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/LATIN%20EMPERORS.htm#HenriIEmpdied1216