- Agnes of Montferrat
Agnes of Montferrat (c. 1187 - 1207/1208) was the first Empress consort of
Henry of Flanders , Latin Emperor ofConstantinople .Family
She was a daughter of
Boniface I, Marquess of Montferrat , founder of theKingdom of Thessalonica , and his first wife Helena del Bosco. Her maternal grandfather was Anselmo, Marquess of Bosco.She was a sister of
William VI, Marquess of Montferrat and Beatrice of Montferrat, wife of Henry II del Carretto, Marquess ofSavona . She was also an older, paternal half-sister ofDemetrius of Montferrat , King of Thessalonica.Empress consort
According to
Geoffrey of Villehardouin , Agnes was residing inLombardy until her father summoned her toThessaloniki in 1206. Boniface proceeded to sendOtto de la Roche , "megaskyr" or grand seignior ofAthens , as his envoy to Henry, proposing a marriage between her and the emperor. Henry agreed to the offer. [ [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/villehardouin.html Geoffrey de Villehardouin, "Memoirs or Chronicle of The Fourth Crusade and The Conquest of Constantinople "] ]Boniface sent Agnes to
Abydos, Hellespont ,Mysia through agalley . His messengers then reached Henry with information to her location. Geoffrey Villehardouin himself and Miles of Brabant were assigned to escort her. Villehardouin describes Agnes as "very good and fair". Agnes was escorted to Constantinople with no mentioned incident. On4 February ,1207 , Agness married Henry of Flanders. According to Villehardouin, the marriage took place inHagia Sophia , Constantinople on the Sunday following Candemass. The wedding feast took place inBoukoleon Palace . [ [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/villehardouin.html Geoffrey de Villehardouin, "Memoirs or Chronicle of The Fourth Crusade and The Conquest of Constantinople "] ] According to the "Dictionnaire historique et Généalogique des grandes familles de Grèce, d'Albanie et de Constantinople" (1983) by Mihail-Dimitri Sturdza, the marriage was part of a new alliance between Boniface and Henry againstKaloyan of Bulgaria .Villehardouin records that in about September, 1207, Henry informed his father-in-law of Agnes being pregnant. A source or rejoicing for both allies. The chronicle ends with the death of Boniface on
4 September ,1207 and thus does not report of the conclusion of the pregnancy. [ [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/villehardouin.html Geoffrey de Villehardouin, "Memoirs or Chronicle of The Fourth Crusade and The Conquest of Constantinople "] ] As there seems to be no further mention of Agnes, the empress is considered to have died in childbirth, probably along with her child.In 1208, there is mention by Henri de Valenciennes of a daughter of Henry marrying Alexander, a nephew of
Peter IV of Bulgaria ,Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria andKaloyan of Bulgaria . However as a daughter of Agnes, said daughter would be a newborn, an unlikely age for marriage. She is therefore considered to have been an illegitimate child of Henry by a mistress.External links
* [http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/LATIN%20EMPERORS.htm#HenriIEmpdied1216 Her profile, along with her husband, in "Medieval Lands" by Charles Cawley]
* [http://www.shocking.com/~gregbard/genealogy/fam01733.php A genealogical profile of her]References
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