Editing Robert I, Latin Emperor

{{Short description|Latin Emperor from 1221 to 1228}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Robert I
| succession = [[Latin Emperor of Constantinople]]
| reign = 25 March 1221{{dash}}1228
| predecessor = [[Yolanda, Latin Empress|Yolande]]
| successor = [[Baldwin II, Latin Emperor|Baldwin II]]
|coronation=25 March 1221
| birth_date = 
| death_date = 1228
| death_place = [[Morea]], [[Principality of Achaea]]
| spouse = [[Lady of Neuville]]
| house = [[House of Courtenay]]
| father = [[Peter II of Courtenay]]
| mother = [[Yolanda of Flanders]]
}}
'''Robert I''' (died 1228), also known as '''Robert of Courtenay''', was [[Latin Emperor of Constantinople]] from 1221 until his death in 1228. He was a younger son of the emperor [[Peter II of Courtenay]], and [[Yolanda of Flanders]].{{sfn|Nicol|1993|p=12-13}}

When it became known in [[France]] that Peter of Courtenay was dead, his eldest son, [[Philip II of Namur|Philip]], [[Marquis of Namur]], renounced the succession to the Latin empire of Constantinople in favor of his brother Robert, who set out to take possession of his distracted inheritance.{{sfn|Nicol|1993|p=12-13}} On the way to his new homeland, Robert stayed in [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]] from autumn 1220 to early 1221, enjoying the hospitality of his brother-in-law [[Andrew II of Hungary]]. It is possible that [[Villard de Honnecourt]] also belonged to his entourage. Robert and Andrew made political alliance against [[Theodore Komnenos Doukas]], [[Despotate of Epirus|Despot of Epirus]]. Andrew II and his heir [[Béla IV of Hungary|Béla]] escorted Robert until the [[Second Bulgarian Empire|Bulgarian]] border. There Robert mediated the wedding between Tsar [[Ivan Asen II]] and Andrew's daughter, [[Anna Maria of Hungary|Anna Maria]].{{sfn|Bárány|2016|pp=71–74}}

Crowned emperor on 25 March 1221, Robert's first loss was Thessalonica in 1224 to Theodore Doukas of Epirus.{{sfn|Nicol|1993|p=13}} Worried about the situation of the Catholic Latin Empire, pope [[Honorius III]] called for a crusade for the defense of Thessalonica,{{sfn|Nicol|1993|p=13}} but the response was ineffective.{{sfn|Nicol|1993|p=13}} In the same year, Robert's empire would suffer another defeat to [[John III Ducas Vatatzes|John Ducas Vatatzes]] at the [[Battle of Poimanenos]].{{sfn|Tricht|2013|p=1000}}

Following this defeat Robert was compelled to make peace with his chief foe, John III Ducas Vatatzes, [[emperor of Nicaea]], who was confirmed in all his conquests. Robert promised to marry [[Eudokia Laskarina Angelina|Eudokia]], daughter of the late emperor of Nicaea, [[Theodore I Lascaris]]<ref>A Chronology of the Byzantine Empire, editor T. Venning, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, 567</ref> and [[Anna Angelina]]. He had been betrothed to Eudokia on a former occasion; the circumstances surrounding the failed negotiations are unclear, but [[George Akropolites]] states that the arrangement was blocked on religious grounds by the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|Orthodox Patriarch]] [[Patriarch Manuel I of Constantinople|Manuel Sarantenos]]: Robert's sister [[Marie de Courtenay]] was married to Emperor [[Theodore I Laskaris]]. Accordingly, Robert, already Theodore's brother-in-law, could not also be his son-in-law.{{sfn|Akropolites|2007|p=157-158}}  Regardless, Robert soon repudiated this engagement, and married the [[Lady of Neuville]], already the fiancée of a [[Duchy of Burgundy|Burgundian]] gentleman. Heading a conspiracy, the Burgundian drove Robert from Constantinople, he fled to Rome to seek redress from the pope who convinced him to return to Constantinople, but on his return trip, in early 1228, the emperor died in [[Morea]].{{sfn|Nicol|1993|p=13}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
{{refbegin|2}}
*{{cite book |first=George |last=Akropolites |editor-first=Ruth |editor-last=Macrides |title=The History:Introduction, Translation and Commentary |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2007 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Angold|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Angold|chapter=The Latin Empire of Constantinople, 1204–1261: Marriage Strategies|title=Identities and Allegiances in the Eastern Mediterranean after 1204|year=2011|location=Farnham|publisher=Ashgate Publishing Limited|pages=47–68|isbn=9781409410980|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p_mazcfdpVIC}}
* {{cite book |last=Bárány |first=Attila |editor1-last=Bárány |editor1-first=Attila |editor2-last=Benkő |editor2-first=Elek |editor3-last=Kárpáti |editor3-first=Zoltán |title=Pilisi gótika. II. András francia kapcsolatai |publisher=Ferenczy Múzeumi Centrum |year=2016 |pages=71–76 |chapter=Courtenay Róbert Magyarországon (1220–1221) [''Robert of Courtenay in Hungary (1220–1221)''] |isbn=978-963-508-837-9 |language=hu}}
* {{Cite book|last=Nicol|first=Donald M.|year=1993|orig-year=1972|title=The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453|edition=2.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521439916|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y2d6OHLqwEsC}}
* {{Cite book|last=Ostrogorsky|first=George|author-link=George Ostrogorsky|year=1956|title=History of the Byzantine State|location=Oxford|publisher=Basil Blackwell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bt0_AAAAYAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Perry|first=Guy|title=John of Brienne: King of Jerusalem, Emperor of Constantinople, c. 1175–1237|year=2013|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781107043107|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xfTXAAAAQBAJ}}
*{{cite journal |title=Robert of Courtenay (1221-1227): An Idiot on the Throne of Constantinople? |first=Filip Van |last=Tricht |journal=Speculum |volume=88| issue =  4 October|year=2013 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press}}
{{refend}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Counts of Flanders family tree|House of Courtenay]]||||1228||}}
{{s-reg}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|last=[[Yolanda of Flanders]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Latin Emperors|Latin Emperor of Constantinople]]|years=1221&ndash;1228}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Baldwin II of Constantinople]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{1911|wstitle=Robert of Courtenay|volume=23|page=401}}
{{Constantinople Monarchs}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robert 01, Latin Emperor}}
[[Category:Year of birth missing]]
[[Category:1228 deaths]]
[[Category:13th-century Latin emperors of Constantinople]]
[[Category:Christians of the Crusades]]
[[Category:Capetian House of Courtenay]]