Geoffrey I of Villehardouin

Gottfried I of Villehardouin († 1228 ) was Prince of Achaia 1209-1228. He was the nephew of the historian Geoffrey of Villehardouin, a knight and crusader. Gottfried went to Palestine in 1205 and helped William I to conquer Champlitte the Morea. After his death he became ruler of the principality of Achaia.

Gottfried came as his uncle Geoffrey of Villehardouin from the Champagne region. While the other Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade from its actual destination Jerusalem departed to conquer Constantinople Opel, Gottfried went to Palestine. On his way back his ship in 1204 sailed into the Morea ( Peloponnese ) in the port of Modon. He helped Boniface I of Montferrat and William I to conquer Champlitte the Morea.

They overcame the spring of 1205 the only serious resistance offered by the Byzantine army - probably under the command of Michael I Komnenos Doukas - made ​​in the battle in the olive grove of Kunduros, and occupied most of the Morea. For his services, Wilhelm gave him Koroni and Kalamata. When William traveled to France in 1209, Gottfried took the place of William's deputy, his nephew Hugh of Champlitte, and became Prince of Achaia. He defeated the Byzantine governor Leon Sgouros in Argos and Nafplion and conquered the whole of the Morea in 1212. With its Orthodox inhabitants of the Morea against tolerant policies he won their support. He died in 1228. His son Gottfried II of Villehardouin was his successor.