Peter II of Courtenay
Peter, also Peter II of Courtenay, was emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople from 1216 to 1217.Biography
Peter II was a son of Peter I of Courtenay, the youngest son of Louis VI of France and his second wife, Adélaide de Maurienne. His mother was Elisabeth de Courtenay, daughter of Renaud de Courtenay and Hawise du Donjon.
Peter first married Agnes I, via whom he obtained the three counties of Nevers, Auxerre, and Tonnerre. He took for his second wife Yolanda of Flanders, a sister of Baldwin and Henry of Flanders, who were afterwards the first and second emperors of the Latin Empire of Constantinople. Peter accompanied his cousin, King Philip Augustus, on the crusade of 1190 and fought in the Albigensian Crusade in 1209 and 1211, when he took part in the siege of Lavaur. He was present at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214.
When his brother-in-law, the emperor Henry, died without sons in 1216, Peter was chosen as his successor, and with a small army he left his residence of château de Druyes in France to take possession of his throne. He was consecrated emperor at the Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls in Rome by Pope Honorius III on 9 April 1217. He then borrowed some ships from the Venetians, promising in return to conquer Durazzo for them, but he failed in this enterprise, and sought to make his way to Constantinople by land. On the journey he was seized by the despot of Epirus, Theodore Komnenos Doukas, and, after an imprisonment of two years, died, probably by foul means. Peter thus never governed his empire, which, however, was ruled for a time by his wife, Yolanda, who had succeeded in reaching Constantinople. Two of his sons, Robert and Baldwin, reigned in turn as emperors of the Latin Empire of Constantinople.Family
By his first wife Agnes I, Countess of Nevers he had one child, Matilda I, Countess of Nevers.
By his second wife Yolanda of Flanders, he had 10 children:
- Philip, Marquis of Namur, who declined the offer of the crown of the Latin Empire
- Robert of Courtenay, emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople
- Henry, Marquis of Namur
- Baldwin II of Constantinople, emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople
- Margaret, Marchioness of Namur, who married first Raoul d'Issoudun and then Henry count of Vianden
- Elizabeth of Courtenay who married Walter count of Bar and then Eudes sire of Montagu
- Yolanda de Courtenay, who married Andrew II of Hungary
- Eleanor, who married Philip of Montfort, Lord of Tyre
- Marie de Courtenay, who married Theodore I Lascaris of the Empire of Nicaea
- Agnes, who married Geoffrey II Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea
He had an illegitimate son:
- Geoffrey, marquis of Lavaur.
