Peter II of Courtenay
Peter of Courtenay (Pierre de Courtenay ) (* 1155, † 1219 ) from the younger house Courtenay was as Peter II of Courtenay and Mr. Peter I as emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople Opel 1216-1217 He was by marriage. Count of Nevers, Auxerre and Tonnerre, and Margrave of Namur.
He was a son of Peter I of Courtenay († 1181/83 ), a younger son of King Louis VI. the thicknesses of France. His mother was Elizabeth of Courtenay.
Count of Nevers, Auxerre and Tonnerre
Peter inherited from his latest 1181/83 father died the castles of Courtenay and Montargis. With the assistance of his cousin, King Philip II Augustus, he married in 1184 Agnes, daughter of Count Guy of Nevers and heiress of the counties of Nevers, Auxerre and Tonnerre. In return for this considerable legacy he left Montargis the crown. The king accompanied Peter from 1190 to the third crusade and returned to his entourage also in 1191 in the homeland.
Shortly after his return died Peters wife in 1193, leaving the three counties of their daughter Mathilde (* probably in 1188 ), he could as their guardian, however, continued management. Immediately afterwards he agreed with Count Baldwin IX. of Flanders, a marriage project by marrying his sister Yolanda. It was also agreed that Mathilde should marry the brother of the Count of Flanders, the Margrave Philip I of Namur, as soon as they would reach the marriageable age. In 1197, the Count of Flanders, however, rose against King Philip II Augustus, which in turn forbade in 1199 the marriage of the heiress of Nevers with the brother of his enemy after he sent a letter of Pope Innocent III. been warned.
About the same time Peter had come to the possession of the Castle of Gien in a conflict with Hervé Donzy. Although Peter had received support in the form of mercenary companies of pages of the King, he was defeated in a battle not far from Donzy of his enemy on August 3, 1199 and put to flight. For the settlement of the conflict, when the king intervened directly and mediated the marriage between Mathilde and Hervé Donzy, where this rule was transferred to Nevers. Peter in turn was granted a lifelong right to use Auxerre and Tonnerre. The object of dispute Gien, however, should proceed immediately to the Kronbesitz.
In the years 1209 to 1211 Peter participated with his brother Robert of Courtenay on the Albigensian Crusade in 1214 and fought in the Battle of Bouvines with. Already in 1212 his wife had taken the Margraviate of Namur as the heir of her brother.
Emperor of Constantinople Opel
Peters second wife was since July 1, 1193 Jolante ( Yolande, † 1219 ), a sister of Baldwin I. and Henry, the first two emperors of the Latin Empire of Constantinople Opel. Jolante inherited in 1212 upon the death of her brother Philip the Margraviate of Namur, the Peter henceforth ruled from their right.
When his brother Henry died without children in 1216, Peter was elected his successor as Latin emperor. With a small army he left for France to take his crown in possession. He was in Rome in S. Lorenzo fuori le mura by Pope Honorius III. anointed emperor on April 9, 1217. He borrowed from Venice some ships with a promise to go to conquer Durazzo for them what he did not succeed, and put the rest of the way to Constantinople Opel land back. On his journey he was fixed by Theodoros I. Angelos, Despot of Epirus and died after two years of captivity. Peter ruled his kingdom no day, his place was his wife Yolanda, who had managed to reach Constantinople Opel. Two of his sons, Robert and Baldwin II, however, ascended the throne of the Latin Empire.
Progeny
From his first marriage with Agnes Peter had only one child, Matilda. From his second marriage he had 13 children: