Geoffrey de Villehardouin, 19th-century engraving after Claude Jacquand. Source · Public domain
About Geoffrey de Villehardouin
Geoffrey de Villehardouin (c. 1150-c. 1213) was marshal of Champagne, a senior officer of the count's household, when he took the cross with Count Thibaut in 1199. He served as one of the six envoys who contracted with Venice for the crusade fleet, took part in the councils and battles that followed, and after the fall of Constantinople became marshal of the new Latin Empire of Romania, holding lands in Thrace from Boniface of Montferrat. His nephew and namesake became prince of Achaea in the Peloponnese. He died in the East, probably between 1212 and 1218.
Frequently Cited
“he was an old man, and albeit his eyes were unclouded, yet he saw naught, having lost his sight through a wound in the head. He was of a great heart.”
Villehardouin's chronicle is the eyewitness account of the Fourth Crusade by one of its leaders. It opens in 1198-99 with the preaching of Fulk of Neuilly and the indulgence proclaimed by Pope Innocent III, and with a tournament at Écry in Champagne where Count Thibaut of Champagne and Count Louis of Blois take the cross, soon joined by Count Baldwin of Flanders.
