Demetrius of Montferrat

Demetrius of Montferrat (* 1205 in Thessaloniki, † 1230/39 ) was from 1205 to 1224 a king of Thessaloniki.

Life

Demetrius was the son of Boniface I of Montferrat, the leader of the Fourth Crusade, and of Margaret of Hungary, a daughter of King Béla III. of Hungary and the Byzantine Emperor Isaac II widow Angelos. He succeeded his father in 1207 as King of Thessaloniki. The regency had first held his mother, but they could not prevail against the local nobility and was replaced by Uberto di Biandrate. The Latin Emperor Henry Margaret sat back as regent and let Demetrius on January 6, 1209 crowned king. The coronation was later by Pope Innocent III. confirmed. On Margarete followed by 1210-1216 Henry brother Eustace of Flanders as regent. Theodoros I. Angelos Despot of Epirus conquered successively the Kingdom of Thessalonica, after Demetrius fled to Italy in 1222. Two years later, Theodoros conquered the city of Thessaloniki, this was the end of the kingdom.

Demetrius joined in the wake of Italy Emperor Frederick II in 1228 and accompanied him on his crusade to the Holy Land. Presumably he had taken in Limassol influence on the marriage arrangement of his niece Alix and King Henry I of Cyprus. In 1230 he was called at the signing of the Treaty of San Germano between the Emperor and the Pope.