GeoffreyVillehardouin
GeoffreyVillehardouin (in French Geoffroi de Villehardouin) (1160 - c.1212) wasknighthistorian who participated inchronicledFourth Crusade.He was MarshalChampagne,joinedCrusade1199 duringtournament held by Count ThibaudChampagne. Thibaud named him one ofambassadorsVeniceprocure ships forvoyage,he helped elect BonifaceMontferrat asnew leader ofCrusade when Thibaud died.
Although he does not say so specificallyhis own account, he probably supported divertingCrusade firstZarathenConstantinople. While at Constantinople he also served as an ambassadorIsaac II Angelus,was inembassy that demanded Isaac appoint Alexius IV co-emperor.
Afterconquest ofByzantine Empire1204, he served asmilitary leader,ledretreat from BattleAdrianople1205 after Baldwin I was captured.
In 1207 he beganwrite his chronicle ofCrusade, De la Conquête de Constantinople (OnConquestConstantinople). It wasFrench rather than Latin, makingone ofearliest worksFrench prose. Unfortunately, he leaves out information that may have portrayedCrusaders negatively;example, he does not mention why or whenCrusade was diverted. The historian Nicetas Choniates chroniclessame events fromByzantine perspective,is often read alongside Villehardouin's account.
Villehardouin's nephew (also named Geoffrey) went onbecome PrinceAchaeaMorea (the medieval name forPeloponnesus)1209. Villehardouin himself seemshave died shortly afterwards, perhaps1212.
External Link
- Villehardouin's chronicle atInternet Medieval Sourcebook website
- Colin Morris, "Geoffroy de Villehardouin andConquestConstantinople", History 53 (February 1968): 24-34
