Philip I, Latin Emperor

Seal of Philip of Courtenay

Philip, also Philip of Courtenay (1243 – 15 December 1283), was the recognised Latin Emperor of Constantinople from 1273–1283, although he lived in exile and only held authority over Crusader States in Greece. He was born in Constantinople, the son of Baldwin II of Constantinople and Marie of Brienne.

In his youth, his father was forced to mortgage him to Venetian merchants to raise money for the support of his empire, which was lost to the Empire of Nicaea in 1261.

By the Treaty of Viterbo in 1267, his father agreed to marry him to Beatrice of Sicily, daughter of Charles I of Sicily and Beatrice of Provence. Her maternal grandparents were Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence and Beatrice of Savoy.

The marriage was performed in October 1273 at Foggia; shortly thereafter, Baldwin died, and Philip inherited his claims on Constantinople. Although Philip was recognized as emperor by the Latin possessions in Greece, much of the actual authority devolved on the Angevin kings of Naples and Sicily. Philip and Beatrice had a daughter, Catherine (25 November 1274 – 11 October 1307, Paris). Philip died in Viterbo in 1283.

Ancestry

Family of Philip I, Latin Emperor

16. Louis VI of France 8. Peter I of Courtenay 17. Adelaide of Maurienne 4. Peter II of Courtenay 18. Renaud, Lord of Courtenay 9. Elizabeth of Courtenay 19. Elizabeth of Donjon 2. Baldwin II of Constantinople 20. Baldwin IV, Count of Hainaut 10. Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut 21. Alice of Namur 5. Yolanda of Flanders 22. Thierry, Count of Flanders 11. Margaret I, Countess of Flanders 23. Sibylla of Anjou 1. Philip of Courtenay 24. Gautier II, Count of Brienne 12. Erard II, Count of Brienne 25. Adèle of Soissons 6. John of Brienne 26. Amadeus II of Montfaucon 13. Agnes of Montfaucon 27. Beatrice of Grandson-Joinville 3. Marie of Brienne 28. Ferdinand II of León 14. Alfonso IX of León 29. Urraca of Portugal 7. Berengaria of León 30. Alfonso VIII of Castile 15. Berengaria of Castile 31. Eleanor of England

References

• Peter Lock, The Franks in the Aegean 1204–1500, New York, 1995.
• Robert L. Wolff, "Mortgage and Redemption of an Emperor's Son: Castile and the Latin Empire of Constantinople", Speculum, 29 (1954), pp. 45-84