Latin Emperor

The Latin Emperor was the ruler of the Latin Empire, the historiographical convention for the Crusader realm, established in Constantinople after the Fourth Crusade (1204) and lasting until the city was recovered by the Byzantine Greeks in 1261. Its name derives from its Catholic and Western European ("Latin") nature. The empire, whose official name was Imperium Romaniae (Latin: "Empire of Romania"), claimed the direct heritage of the Eastern Roman Empire, which had most of its lands taken and partitioned by the crusaders. This claim however was disputed by the Byzantine Greek successor states, the Empire of Nicaea, the Empire of Trebizond and the Despotate of Epirus. Out of these three, the Nicaeans succeeded in displacing the Latin emperors in 1261 and restored the Byzantine Empire.

Latin emperors of Constantinople, 1204–1261

Monarch	Portrait	Birth	Coronation	Marriages	Death
Baldwin I 1204–1205		July 1172 son of Baldwin V, Count of Hainault and Margaret I, Countess of Flanders	16 May 1204 in the Hagia Sophia began reign on 9 May	Marie of Champagne 6 January 1186 2 daughters	1205 possibly Tsarevets, Bulgaria aged about 33
Henry 1206–1216		c. 1174 son of Baldwin V, Count of Hainault and Margaret I, Countess of Flanders	20 August 1206 began reign in July	(1) Agnes of Montferrat 4 February 1207 1 child? (2) Maria of Bulgaria 1213 no children	11 June 1216 aged about 42
Peter 1216–1217		c. 1155 son of Peter and Elizabeth de Courtenay	9 April 1217 in a church outside Rome began reign in 1216	(1) Agnes of Nevers one daughter (2) Yolanda of Flanders 10 children	1219 aged about 64
Yolanda (regent) 1217–1219[1]		1175 daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Hainault and Margaret I, Countess of Flanders		Peter, Latin Emperor 10 children	August 1219 aged 44
Conon de Béthune (regent) 1219		before 1160			17 December 1219
Giovanni Colonna (regent) 1220–1221		ca. 1170			28 January 1245
Robert I 1221–1228		son of Peter II of Courtenay and Yolanda of Flanders, Latin Emperors	25 March 1221	Lady of Neuville 1227 no children	January 1228 Morea, Principality of Achaea
John (senior co-emperor for the underage Baldwin II) 1229–1237		c. 1170 son of Erard II of Brienne and Agnes de Montfaucon		(1) Queen Maria of Jerusalem 14 September 1210 one daughter (2) Stephanie of Armenia one son (3) Berengaria of León 1224 4 children	27 March 1237 aged about 67
Baldwin II 1228–1261		1217 son of Peter II of Courtenay, Latin Emperor and Yolanda of Flanders, Latin Empress	15 April 1240 began reign in 1228	Marie of Brienne 1234 one son	October 1273 Naples, Kingdom of Sicily aged 43

Latin emperors of Constantinople in exile, 1261–1383

Seal of Catherine of Courtenay

• Baldwin II (1261–1273), in exile from Constantinople
• Philip I (1273–1283), his son
• Catherine I (1283–1307), his daughter, with...
• Charles (1301–1307), her husband
• Catherine II (1307–1346), their daughter, with...
• Philip II (1313–1332), her husband
• Robert II (1346–1364), their son
• Philip III (1364–1373), his brother
• James (1373–1383), his nephew

James of Baux willed his titular claims to Duke Louis I of Anjou, also claimant to the throne of Naples, but Louis and his descendants never used the title.

References

See also

• List of Roman emperors
• List of Byzantine emperors