Geoffrey de Villehardouin

Geoffrey of Villehardouin was born around 1150 in Champagne, in northeastern France, into a family of the lesser nobility. A layman and a soldier, he became marshal of Champagne, a senior officer in the service of the count. He was among the leaders of the Fourth Crusade, which was called by Pope Innocent III in 1198, and in 1201 he was one of the envoys sent to Venice to arrange ships to carry the crusading army. Unable to pay the Venetians in full, the crusaders were diverted first to the city of Zara and then to Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which they captured and sacked in April 1204. Villehardouin took part in these events and in the founding of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, where he was made marshal of Romania. His account, On the Conquest of Constantinople, is an eyewitness history of the crusade, and it is the earliest surviving historical narrative in French prose. He spent his last years in the Latin Empire and died there around 1213.

Geoffrey de Villehardouin is also an author in the library: author page and works.

Faith: A knight who took part in and chronicled the Fourth Crusade. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911) (via Wikisource)