Peter
- Also called:
- Peter of Courtenay
- French:
- Pierre de Courtenay
- Born:
- c. 1165
- Died:
- 1219?
- Title / Office:
- emperor (1217-1219), Byzantine Empire
Peter (born c. 1165—died 1219?) was briefly Latin emperor of Constantinople, from 1217 to 1219.
The son of Peter of Courtenay (died 1183) and a grandson of the French king Louis VI, he obtained the counties of Auxerre and Tonnerre by his first marriage. He later married Yolande (died 1219), sister of Baldwin I and Henry of Flanders, first and second Latin emperors of Constantinople; she brought him the marquessate of Nevers.
Chosen successor to Henry of Flanders when Henry died without sons in 1216, Peter was consecrated emperor in the church of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura, Rome, by Pope Honorius III on April 9, 1217. Accompanied by an army and a papal legate, he subsequently embarked at Brindisi on ships furnished by the Venetians, for whom he tried to conquer Durazzo from Theodore Ducas, Greek despot of Epirus. Failing in that enterprise, Peter set out overland toward Thessalonica. In the mountains near Elbasan, he was taken by Theodore. He died probably by assassination.
