Villehardouin, Geoffroy De
Villehardouin, Geoffroy De
Born about 1155, at the Villehardouin Castle in Champagne; died about 1213. A leader of the Fourth Crusade.
Villehardouin participated in diplomatic negotiations with the Venetians and Byzantium that led ultimately to a change in the direction of the crusade, as well as in the conquest of Zadar (1202) and Constantinople (1203-04). He was one of the founders of the Latin Empire. In 1204 he received the title of Marshal of Romania (Latin Empire) from Emperor Baldwin, and in 1207 he received the city of Messinople with its surrounding area from the king of Thessalonika.
Villehardouin was the author of a chronicle of the Fourth Crusade in which he tried to justify the capture and destruction of Constantinople by the crusaders. Despite its tendentiousness, Villehardouin’s work presents a wealth of factual material and is an important source on the history of this crusade, as well as an outstanding work of French prose.
WORKS
La Conquête de Constantinople, vols. 1-2. Paris, 1938-39.REFERENCES
Longnon, J. Recherches sur la vie de G. de Villehardouin, Paris, 1940Primov, B. “Zhofroad’o Vilarduen .…” In the collection Godishnik na Sofiiskiia universitet: Istoriko-filologich. fakul’tet, vol. 45, book 2. Sofia, 1948-49.
M. A. ZABOROV