Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
: ''Theodoricus de Flandria'',
Old French
Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th Flemish nobleman and crusader active in 1197–1207.
Thierry was the illegitimate son of Count Philip I of Flanders">County of Flanders">Flemish nobleman and crusader active in 1197–1207.
Thierry was the illegitimate son of Count Philip I of Flanders and thus the first cousin of Count Baldwin IX of Flanders, whose mother, Margaret I, Countess of Flanders, Margaret, was Philip's sister. In his official acts, however, Baldwin generally referred to Philip as "my nephew". He had no title and was qualified simply as "the son of Count Philip". His grandfather and namesake, Count Thierry of Flanders, was a distinguished crusader and his father died on the
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt led by King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. F ...
in 1191.
In June or July 1197, Thierry witnessed the treaty of alliance between Baldwin and King
Richard I of England
Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199), known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion () because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ru ...
. Following the lead of his cousin, he joined the
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...
in 1202 and was one of the commanders of the Flemish fleet alongside John II of Nesle and
Nicholas of Mailly
Nicholas is a male name, the Anglophone version of an ancient Greek name in use since antiquity, and cognate with the modern Greek , . It originally derived from a combination of two Greek words meaning 'victory' and 'people'. In turn, the name ...
. He and Baldwin were still in Flanders in April 1202. The fleet sailed in the summer of 1202, attacked an unnamed Muslim city on the African coast and overwintered in
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
. During this stop in Marseille, Thierry married the " damsel of Cyprus", the daughter and heiress of the Emperor Isaac of Cyprus. He was her second husband after her marriage to Count Raymond VI of Toulouse failed. Probably she hoped to recover her inheritance on the crusade. The only source for this marriage is the '' Chronicle of Ernoul and Bernard the Treasurer''. At Marseille, the fleet received news of the planned attack on Constantinople and Baldwin ordered it to rendezvous with him off Methoni. Ignoring this order, it sailed directly for the
Holy Land
The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...
.
The Flemish fleet stopped in Cyprus, where Thierry, with the support of the Flemish knights, pressed King Aimery of Cyprus to hand the kingdom over to him. Aimery refused and ordered him to leave his kingdom, whereupon Thierry went to the
kingdom of Cilician Armenia
The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, also known as Cilician Armenia, Lesser Armenia, Little Armenia or New Armenia, and formerly known as the Armenian Principality of Cilicia, was an Armenian state formed during the High Middle Ages by Armenian ...
and entered the service of King Leo I, since Aimery also held the
kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Crusader Kingdom, was one of the Crusader states established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1 ...
at the time. Cilicia was the homeland of his wife's mother, who was a daughter of Prince Thoros II.
Thierry and his wife went to Constantinople sometime after Baldwin's imperial coronation in 1204. He is not attested there until 1207, but his fellow commander, Nicholas of Mailly, was definitely there by 1204. Evidence from the Arabic chronicler Ibn al-Athīr suggests that the Latin emperors in Constantinople may have controlled Cyprus during the minority of Aimery's successor, Hugh I, from 1205 to 1210, a fact which may be connected to the presence in Constantinople of a pretender to the Cypriot throne (Thierry). In July or August 1207, Thierry, his cousin
Eustace
Eustace ( ) is the rendition in English of two phonetically similar Greek given names:
*Εὔσταχυς (''Eústachys'') meaning "fruitful", "fecund"; literally "abundant in grain"; its Latin equivalents are ''Fæcundus/Fecundus''
*Εὐστά ...
Henry
Henry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters
* Henry (surname)
* Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone
Arts and entertainmen ...
to raid
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
. This episode, recorded by
Geoffrey of Villehardouin
Geoffrey of Villehardouin (c. 1150 – c. 1213) was a French knight and historian who participated in and chronicled the Fourth Crusade. He is considered one of the most important historians of the time period,Smalley, p. 131 best known for wr ...