Robert of Courtenay

Robert of Courtenay (kôrt'nē, kʊrtənā'), d. 1228, Latin emperor of Constantinople (1218-28). His father, Peter of Courtenay, was elected by the Latin nobles to succeed Henry of Flanders as emperor, but shortly afterward he was captured (1217) by Theodore, despot of Epirus. Robert succeeded to the throne in the next year; his mother, Yolande, was regent until 1219. Disaster befell the Latin Empire in 1224, when Robert was defeated almost simultaneously by Theodore and by John III, emperor of Nicaea. The emperor's territories were reduced to little more than the city of Constantinople. Robert was deposed in 1228, and his brother Baldwin II succeeded him under the regency of John of Brienne.