Boniface I, Marquis of Montferrat

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Boniface I, Marquis of Montferrat" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Boniface I, usually known as Boniface of Montferrat (Italian: Bonifacio del Monferrato;

Boniface was the third son of

Boniface's cousin Philip of Swabia was married to Irene Angelina, a daughter of the deposed Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angelos and niece of Conrad's second wife Theodora. In the winter of 1201 Boniface spent Christmas with Phillip in Hagenau, and while there also met with Alexios IV Angelos, Isaac II's son, who had escaped from the custody of his uncle Alexios III Angelos. At this time the three discussed the possibility of using the crusading army to restore Alexios' right to the throne. Both Boniface and Alexios travelled separately to Rome to ask for Pope Innocent III's blessing for the endeavour. Boniface was specifically told by Innocent not to attack any Christians, including the Byzantines.

The Crusader army was in debt to Enrico Dandolo, the doge of Venice, who had provided their fleet. He instructed them to attack the rebellious cities of Trieste, Muggia, and Zara and beat them into submission before sailing for Cairo. The Pope was angered by these Christian cities being attacked by a Crusader army. Dandolo, was now the true war leader of this Crusade, with Boniface as only a figurehead. Alexios IV Angelus made many promises to the Crusaders and their principal financier, the doge of Venice, for riches and honors if they would help him reclaim his empire. Dandolo placated the Pope by having Alexius Angelus promise to submit the Orthodox Church to Rome when he was restored to his throne in Constantinople. This being done, the fleet set sail for Constantinople in 1203.

After the conquest of Constantinople in 1204, Boniface was assumed to be the new emperor, both by the western knights and the conquered Byzantine citizens. However, the Venetians vetoed him, believing that he already had too many connections in the Empire and, likely, felt that they would not have as much influence in the empire if Boniface was in control. Instead, they chose Baldwin of Flanders. Boniface founded the Kingdom of Thessalonica and also held all the territories that lay east of Bosphorus and territories in Crete, though he later conceded Crete to Baldwin. Late 13th and 14th century sources suggest that Boniface based his claim to Thessalonica on the statement that his younger brother Renier had been granted Thessalonica on his marriage to Maria Komnene in 1180.^[2]

Boniface was killed in an ambush by the

Boniface was first married c. 1170 to Helena del Bosco.[3] They had:

• William VI, (c. 1173-17 September 1226). Marquis of Montferrat^[3]
• Beatrice, married Enrico del Carretto, Marquis of Savona, as the second of his three wives; she is the Bel Cavalher (Fair Knight) of Vaqueiras's songs, composed in the 1190s.
• Agnes of Montferrat (d. 1207), m. Henry of Flanders, Latin emperor of Constantinople, in 1207^[4]

In 1205 in Constantinople he married Margaret of Hungary, daughter of King Béla III of Hungary and widow of Emperor Isaac II Angelos.^[5] They had one child:

• Demetrius, born c. 1205,^[6] who was King of Thessalonica.

References

Sources

• Harris, Jonathan (2003). Byzantium and the Crusades. Hambledon Continuum.
• Kosi, Miha (2021). "The Babenberg Dukes of Austria crusaders – "par excellence"". In Bronstein, Judith; Fishhof, Gil; Shotten-Hallel, Vardit (eds.). Settlement and Crusade in the Thirteenth Century: Multidisciplinary Studies of the Latin East. Routledge.
• Lock, Peter (2015). The Franks in the Aegean: 1204–1500. Routledge.
• Van Tricht, Filip (2011). The Latin Renovatio of Byzantium: The Empire of Constantinople (1204–1228). Leiden: Brill.
  ISBN 978-90-04-20323-5
  .
• Murray, Alan V. (2006). "William VI of Montferrat (d. 1225)". In Murray, Alan V. (ed.). The Crusades: An Encyclopedia. Vol. IV: Q–Z. ABC-CLIO.

• Brand, Charles M. (1968). Byzantium Confronts the West, 1180–1204. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
  OCLC 795121713
  .
• Cognasso, Francesco (1968). Il Piemonte nell'Età Sveva. Turin.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Goria, Axel (1970).
  ISBN 978-8-81200032-6
  .
• Haberstumpf, Walter (1995), Dinastie europee nel Mediterraneo orientale. I Monferrato e i Savoia nei secoli XII–XV, Torino{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Linskill, Joseph (1964). The Poems of the Troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueiras.
• Magoulias, Harry J. (transl.) (1984). O City of Byzantium, Annals of Niketas Choniates. Wayne State University Press.
  ISBN 0-8143-1764-2
  .
• Queller, Donald E.;
  ISBN 0-8122-1713-6
  .
• Runciman, Steven (1951–1954), A history of the Crusades, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Savignac, David. "The Medieval Russian Account of the Fourth Crusade – A New Annotated Translation".
• Usseglio, Leopoldo (1926). I Marchesi di Monferrato in Italia ed in Oriente durante i secoli XII e XIII.
• Vaqueiras, Raimbaut de. The Epic Letter (external link to bilingual text)
• Villehardouin, Geoffrey de (1963). "The Conquest of Constantinople". Chronicles of the Crusades.
  ISBN 0-14-044124-7
  .