Marie of Champagne
Marie of Champagne (c. 1174; † August 29, 1204 in Acre ) was a countess of Flanders and Latin Empress of Constantinople Opel out of the house Blois.
She was a daughter of Count Henry I of Champagne and Marie de France, a daughter of King Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
They married on January 6, 1186 Count Baldwin IX. of Flanders and Hainaut. Two daughters were born of this marriage:
- Johanna I. ( * 1200 in Valenciennes, † December 5, 1244 ), Countess of Flanders and Hainaut ∞ on January 1, 1212 Infant Ferdinand ( Ferrant ) of Portugal ( † 1233 )
- ∞ on April 2, 1237 with Earl Thomas II of Savoy († 1259 )
- ∞ 1212 Burkhard of Avesnes ( marriage was annulled in 1215 )
- ∞ 1233 with William II of Dampierre
Fourth Crusade
Maria Like her husband took part in the Fourth Crusade. But they did not traveled in the wake of her husband, but went to Marseille, where already was a Flemish fleet under John of Nesle at anchor. With her , she went directly to the Holy Land, which they reached in the spring of 1203.
There you homage in 1204 in Acre surprisingly the prince Bohemond IV of Antioch, as his new liege. Maria and her companions had not yet been put on notice that her husband after the conquest of Constantinople had been elected in May 1204 new Latin Emperor of the Eastern Empire. The prince of Antioch recognized him as his new overlord, so he had the freshly baked Empress Maria, on behalf of her husband worshiped. This action, however, Bohemund had no greater importance for the Latin Empire. It was mainly a demonstration of the independence of the prince to the pope, who had tried in previous years to make its sovereignty claim to Antioch asserted.
Mary herself died after this episode after a short illness, without ever having set foot in her empire.
Source
- Geoffrey of Villehardouin: Histoire de la conquête de Constantinople