John of Brienne

Common card · No. 334167

John of Brienne (c. 1170 – 19–23 March 1237) was the king of Jerusalem from 1210 to 1225 and Latin emperor of Constantinople from 1229 to 1237. He was the youngest son of Erard II of Brienne, a wealthy nobleman in Champagne. John, originally destined for an ecclesiastical career, became a knight and owned small estates in Champagne around 1200. After the death of his brother Walter III, he ruled the County of Brienne on behalf of his minor nephew Walter IV, who lived in Italy. The barons of the Kingdom of Jerusalem proposed that John marry Maria, the heir to the kingdom. With the consent of Philip II of France and Pope Innocent III, he left France for the Holy Land; in 1210, he married Maria and they were crowned king and queen. After Maria's death in 1212, John administered the kingdom as regent for their infant daughter, Isabella II. Maria's influential uncle, John of Ibelin, attempted to depose him. King John was a leader of the Fifth Crusade. Although his claim of supreme command of...

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