- John of Brienne
John of Brienne (c. 1170 –
27 March ,1237 ) was a French nobleman who becameKing of Jerusalem by marriage, and was later invited to become Latin Emperor of Constantinople.He was the second son of Erard II,
count of Brienne , in Champagne, and ofAgnes de Montfaucon . Destined originally for the Church, he had preferred to become aknight , and in forty years of tournaments and fights he had won himself a considerable reputation, when in 1208 envoys came from theHoly Land to ask Philip Augustus, king ofFrance , to select one of his barons as husband to the heiress and ruler of theKingdom of Jerusalem . Philip selected John of Brienne, and promised to support him in his new dignity. In 1210, John married the heiress (Mary) Maria (daughter of Isabella andConrad of Montferrat ), assuming the title of king in right of his wife. In 1211, after some desultory operations, he concluded a six years' truce withMalik-el-Adil ; in 1212 he lost his wife, who left him a daughter, Yolande (also known as Isabella); soon afterwards he married the princess Stephanie, daughter ofLeo II of Armenia .During the
Fifth Crusade (1218-1221) he was a prominent figure. The legatePelagius of Albano , however, claimed the command; and insisting on the advance fromDamietta , in spite of John's warnings, he refused to accept the favourable terms of thesultan , 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 metPope Honorius III and the emperor Frederick II atFerentino , 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 andEngland , finding little consolation; and thence he travelled toSantiago de Compostela , where KingAlfonso IX of Leon 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 . After a visit toGermany he returned toRome (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 revenge himself on Frederick, by commanding the papal troops which attacked southernItaly during the emperor's absence on theSixth Crusade (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 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 by
John III Doukas Vatatzes , emperor of Nicaea, andIvan Asen II of Bulgaria .After this last feat of arms, which has perhaps been exaggerated by the Latin chroniclers, who compare him to
Hector and theMaccabees , John died in the habit of aFranciscan friar . An agedpaladin , somewhat uxorious and always penniless, he was a typicalknight 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 Leon , he had four children:
#Marie of Brienne (1225-1275), who married EmperorBaldwin II of Constantinople .
#Alphonso of Brienne (c. 1228-1270), who marriedMarie d'Issoudon , countess of Eu, and becamecount of Eu in right of his wife, and was alsoGreat Chamberlain of France.
# Jean (John) de Brienne (c. 1230-1296), who in 1258 becameGrand Butler of France. Married as his first wife, Jeanne, daughter ofGeoffrey VI, Viscount of Chateaudun , and as his second wife,Marie de Coucy , widow of KingAlexander II of Scotland. Had one daughter, Blanche by his first marriage.
#Louis of Acre (c. 1235-1263), who marriedAgnes of Beaumont and became Viscount of Beaumont in her right. His children included Henry de Beaumont, Earl of Buchan, an ancestor of England's RoyalHouse of Lancaster .References
*"Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700" by Frederick Lewis Weis, Lines: 114-28, 120-29
*1911External links
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=4104 John of Brienne on Find-A-Grave]
* [http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/JERUSALEM.htm#_Toc125537468 FMG on Jean de Brienne]
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