John of Brienne
King of Jerusalem, Emperor of Constantinople, c.1175–1237

This book explores John of Brienne's remarkable thirteenth-century career from mid-ranking knight to king of Jerusalem and Latin emperor of Constantinople.

Guy Perry (Author)

9781107043107, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 October 2013

232 pages, 5 b/w illus. 5 maps 3 tables
23.7 x 15.7 x 1.8 cm, 0.5 kg

'So unlikely, so varied and highly coloured can John of Brienne's career appear to us that the relative lack of attention it has received from historians is all the more surprising. Guy Perry's assured and very readable new study of John is the first full-length treatment of his career since 1938. Since then, of course, crusading historiography has changed almost out of recognition, and Perry's John of Brienne is a very different and more nuanced figure.' Crusades

John of Brienne's progress, from mid-ranking knightly status to king of Jerusalem and, later, Latin emperor of Constantinople, traces one of the most remarkable careers in the entire medieval period. But how and why did he achieve such heights? This biographical study of aristocratic social and geographical mobility in the 'Age of the Crusades' reassesses John's fascinating life, and explores how families and dynasticism, politics, intrigue, religion and war all contributed to John's unprecedented career. John was a major figure in the history of the thirteenth-century Mediterranean, and yet very much a product of the workings of the society of his day. This book reveals how John's life, and its multifarious connections to France, Italy, the German empire and the papacy, can illuminate the broad panorama of the early thirteenth-century world, and the zenith of the crusading movement.

Introduction
1. Origins and half a life
2. Ruling from Acre and Tyre
3. The Fifth Crusade
4. A decade in the West
5. Imperium
Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Crusades [HBWC], History: specific events & topics [HBT], Medieval history [HBLC1]