William II of Villehardouin
Encyclopedia
Villehardouin
The name Villehardouin may refer to:* Villehardouin, a former commune of the Aube department, now part of Val-d'Auzon*Geoffrey of Villehardouin, knight, crusader , Marshal of Romania and author of the "Chronicle of The Fourth Crusade and The Conquest of Constantinople"*Geoffrey I of Villehardouin,...
prince of Achaea
Principality of Achaea
The Principality of Achaea or of the Morea was one of the three vassal states of the Latin Empire which replaced the Byzantine Empire after the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. It became a vassal of the Kingdom of Thessalonica, along with the Duchy of Athens, until Thessalonica...
and ruled the principality at the height of its power and influence.
William was the son of Geoffrey I Villehardouin. In 1236 he aided the Latin Empire
Latin Empire
The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...
against the Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
Empire of Nicaea
Empire of Nicaea
The Empire of Nicaea was the largest of the three Byzantine Greek successor states founded by the aristocracy of the Byzantine Empire that fled after Constantinople was occupied by Western European and Venetian forces during the Fourth Crusade...
, and was rewarded with the overlordship of the Venetian
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
Duchy of the Archipelago
Duchy of the Archipelago
The Duchy of the Archipelago or also Duchy of Naxos or Duchy of the Aegean was a maritime state created by Venetian interests in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea, in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, centered on the islands of Naxos and Paros.-Background and establishment of the...
and other Venetian territories in the Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
. In 1239 he married the daughter of Narjot de Toucy
Narjot de Toucy (died 1241)
Narjot de Toucy , lord of Bazarnes, was the son of Narjot II of Toucy and of his wife Agnes de Dampierre.Alongside his father-in-law Theodore Branas and Geoffroy de Merry, Narjot de Toucy formed part of the council that briefly governed Constantinople from 17 December 1219 Narjot de Toucy (died...
and of Narjot's first wife (who was the daughter of the dowager empress Anna
Agnes of France (Byzantine empress)
Agnes of France was a daughter of Louis VII of France by his third wife Adèle of Champagne.She was a younger half-sister of Marie de Champagne, Alix of France, Marguerite of France and Alys, Countess of the Vexin...
). William came to power in Achaea in 1246 when his brother Geoffrey II Villehardouin died.
As prince he conquered the remaining territory of the Peloponnese
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...
(known at the time as Morea
Morea
The Morea was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. It also referred to a Byzantine province in the region, known as the Despotate of Morea.-Origins of the name:...
) and built the fortress of Mistra near Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
. In 1249 he captured Monemvasia
Monemvasia
Monemvasia is a town and a municipality in Laconia, Greece. The town is located on a small peninsula off the east coast of the Peloponnese. The peninsula is linked to the mainland by a short causeway 200m in length. Its area consists mostly of a large plateau some 100 metres above sea level, up to...
with help from his Euboea
Euboea
Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
n vassals, and later that year accompanied Louis IX of France
Louis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
on the Seventh Crusade
Seventh Crusade
The Seventh Crusade was a crusade led by Louis IX of France from 1248 to 1254. Approximately 800,000 bezants were paid in ransom for King Louis who, along with thousands of his troops, was captured and defeated by the Egyptian army led by the Ayyubid Sultan Turanshah supported by the Bahariyya...
, joining him in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
with 400 knights and 28 ships. Louis also gave him a license to mint
Mint (coin)
A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is usually closely tied to the political situation of an era...
coins in the style of royal French money.
Duchy of Athens
The Duchy of Athens was one of the Crusader States set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade, encompassing the regions of Attica and Boeotia, and surviving until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century....
, and the Venetian lords of Euboea recognized him as their lord. In 1255 his Venetian second wife Carintana dalle Carceri died, leading to a dispute over the inheritance of a fief in Euboea, and war broke out between Venice and Achaea (the "War of the Euboeote Succession
War of the Euboeote Succession
The War of the Euboeote Succession was fought in 1256–1258 between the Prince of Achaea, William II of Villehardouin, and a broad coalition of other rulers from throughout Frankish Greece who felt threatened by William's aspirations...
" terciers being the three Lombard lords of the island). William won the war and also defeated the Duke of Athens in 1258, reaffirming his influence over the duchy.
In 1259 he married Anna Komnene Doukaina, daughter of Michael II
Michael II Komnenos Doukas
Michael II Komnenos Doukas or Comnenus Ducas , often called Michael Angelos in narrative sources, was the ruler of Epirus from 1230 until his death in 1266/68.-Life:...
of Epirus, forming an alliance with the Byzantine Despotate of Epirus
Despotate of Epirus
The Despotate or Principality of Epirus was one of the Byzantine Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire that emerged in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Byzantine Empire, along with the Empire of Nicaea, and the Empire of Trebizond...
against Nicaea, an alliance which also included Manfred of Sicily
Manfred of Sicily
Manfred was the King of Sicily from 1258 to 1266. He was a natural son of the emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen but his mother, Bianca Lancia , is reported by Matthew of Paris to have been married to the emperor while on her deathbed.-Background:Manfred was born in Venosa...
. In September of that year he led the Achaean forces at the Battle of Pelagonia
Battle of Pelagonia
The Battle of Pelagonia took place in September of 1259, between the Empire of Nicaea and the Despotate of Epirus, Sicily and the Principality of Achaea...
against the Nicaeans, but the Epirote army deserted and William was defeated. He fled the field and hid under a haystack, where he was captured and brought to Nicaea. He remained in captivity until 1262, and was forced to hand over Monemvasia and Mistra to the Byzantine Empire, which had been restored in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
the previous year.
William had now lost all of his previous power, as had his former lord, Baldwin II of Constantinople
Baldwin II of Constantinople
Baldwin II of Courtenay was the last emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople.He was a younger son of Yolanda of Flanders, sister of the first two emperors, Baldwin I and Henry of Flanders...
, whose Latin Empire was lost with the Byzantine restoration. William and Baldwin both acknowledged Charles of Anjou as lord of Achaea under the Treaty of Viterbo
Treaty of Viterbo
The Treaty of Viterbo was a pair of agreements made by Charles I of Sicily with Baldwin II of Constantinople and William II Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea, on 27 May 1267, which transferred much of the rights to the Latin Empire from Baldwin to Charles.-Background:The recapture of Constantinople...
in 1267; Charles had earlier defeated and killed William's old ally Manfred. As a vassal of Charles, William and 400 Achaean knights fought against Conradin
Conradin
Conrad , called the Younger or the Boy, but usually known by the diminutive Conradin , was the Duke of Swabia , King of Jerusalem , and King of Sicily .-Early childhood:Conradin was born in Wolfstein, Bavaria, to Conrad...
at the Battle of Tagliacozzo
Battle of Tagliacozzo
The Battle of Tagliacozzo was fought on 23 August 1268 between the French, Provençal, and Italian forces of Charles of Anjou and the Italian, Spanish, Roman, Arab and German troops of the Hohenstaufen army, led by Conradin , the sixteen year old Duke of Swabia and claimant to the throne of Sicily...
in 1268.
William and Anna had two daughters, Isabella
Isabella of Villehardouin
Isabella of Villehardouin was the elder daughter of William II of Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea, and of his second wife Anna, the third daughter of Michael II Komnenos Doukas, the despot of Epiros....
and Margaret; Isabella, the elder daughter, married Charles's son Philip of Sicily, who, however, predeceased his father. Charles personally succeeded William in 1278, ending the Villehardouin dynasty and setting up Angevin rule, with the principality governed essentially as a province of the Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
. With the decreasing power and influence of Achaea, the Duchy of Athens became the most powerful state in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
.
William was also noted as a poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and troubadour
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....
, and the Manuscrit du Roi, containing two of his own compositions, was written in Achaea during his reign. He was fluent in both French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
.