Geoffroi de Villehardouin, considered to be the
first French historian who wrote in his native
tongue, was born into a noble family in Champagne,
France. In 1185, he became Champagne’s
marshal, an important administrative position in
the hierarchy of feudalism.Marshals were responsible
for making and overseeing military preparations
and also served as deputies to their lords in
governing their provinces. Villehardouin must
have had excellent organizational and communication
skills for such a position. From 1198 to
1207, he was involved in the Fourth CRUSADE and
was also made marshal of Romania (presently
Thrace, in Greece) and given a fiefdom there. This
firsthand experience made him well suited to write
an account of the crusade.
The Fourth Crusade began in 1198, when Pope
Innocent III called for a crusade against the Muslims
in Egypt. Initially, his call was ignored, but
French nobles finally gathered together in Champagne
in 1199 to declare and organize the Crusade.
After enlisting the help of the Venetians, the crusaders
quickly became split by differing political
goals. Some decided to go into Syria, but others,
led by the Venetians and Philip of Swabia, decided
that they first needed to restore the rightful heir,
Alexius Angelus, to the Byzantine Empire to the
throne of Constantinople. This group, led by Boniface
of Montferrat, who was also the patron of the
troubadour Peire VIDAL, was the one Villehardouin
accompanied to Constantinople. Byzantines did
not particularly like or want Alexius Angelus as
their emperor, but in 1203, the crusaders conquered
Constantinople, and he was made Emperor
Alexius IV. The crusaders found themselves to be
an unpopular occupying force, putting down
pockets of rebellion throughout Constantinople
and the neighboring countryside.When Alexius IV
died in 1204, the Venetians and French were convinced
he had been murdered and once more attacked
the city. Constantinople fell, and for four
days, the Western forces sacked the city. The
Byzantine Empire was divided among the Venetians,
the French, and other European rulers, and
a Latin Empire was established in the region, with
Baldwin of Flanders elected as the new emperor.
Villehardouin’s history of the Fourth Crusade, La
Conquête de Constantinople (The Conquest of Constantinople)
is significant as a historical and literary
document. A valuable eyewitness account of the important
meetings and decisions that motivated the
crusaders, it is also the first history written in
French. In relating the events of the Fourth Crusade
with exactitude and precision, Villehardouin
pleads in good faith in favor of the Crusaders’ high
command and creates a valuable historical and literary
document. Villehardouin’s style is clear, concise,
and well organized, and his account of the
Fourth Crusade influenced the style of French historians
beyond the Renaissance. Villehardouin disappeared
from the political limelight in 1207 and
died without ever having returned home.
An English Version of a Work by
Geoffroi de Villehardouin
Joinville and Villehardouin: Chronicles of the Crusades.
Translated by M. R. B. Shaw. Baltimore: Penguin
Books, 1963.
A Work about Geoffroi de Villehardouin
Beer, Jeanette M. A. Villehardouin: Epic Historian.
Geneva: Librairie Droz, 1968.