Baldwin II was born in Constantinople, a younger son of
Yolanda of Flanders, sister of the first two emperors,
Baldwin I and
Henry of Flanders. Her husband,
Peter of Courtenay, was the third emperor of the
Latin Empire, and had been followed by his son
Robert of Courtenay, on whose death in 1228 the succession passed to Baldwin, then an 11-year-old boy. The barons chose
John of Brienne as Baldwin's co-ruler for life. Baldwin was also to marry
Marie of Brienne, daughter of John and his third wife,
Berenguela of Leon, and on John's death, to enjoy the full imperial sovereignty. The marriage contract was carried out in 1234. Since the death of Baldwin's uncle
, Emperor Henry in 1216, the Latin Empire had declined, and the
Byzantine (
Nicene) power advanced, and the hopes that John of Brienne might restore it were disappointed. was bought by
Louis IX from Baldwin II. It was preserved in a 19th-century reliquary in
Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, until recently relocating to the Louvre after the 2019 fire. The realm Baldwin governed contained little beyond than the city of Constantinople. He adopted the Byzantine title of
porphyrogenetos. His financial situation was desperate, and his life was chiefly occupied with begging at European courts. He went to the West in 1236, visiting Rome, France, and
Flanders, trying to raise money and men to recover the lost territory of his realm. In 1237, with the support of the King of France and the Countess of Flanders, he chased his sister
Margaret from power to become the next
Marquis of Namur. But Baldwin was practically never present, and after the invasion and conquest of Namur by
Henry V, Count of Luxembourg in 1256, he sold the rights on the county to his cousin
Guy, Count of Flanders. In around March 1238, Baldwin II's regency council pawned the
Crown of Thorns to the
Venetian Podestà of Constantinople for 13,134
hyperpyra from a "consortium of creditors". His efforts met with success, and in 1240 he returned to Constantinople (through Germany and Hungary) at the head of a considerable army. Circumstances hindered him from accomplishing anything with this help, and in 1245 he traveled again to the West, first to Italy and then to France, where he spent two years. The empress Marie and
Philip of Toucy governed during his absence. He was happy to be able to get money from
King Louis IX in exchange for relics. In 1249 he was with King Louis at
Damietta. The extremity of his financial straits reduced him soon afterwards to handing over his only son,
Philip, to Venetian merchants as a pledge for loans of money. Philip was later redeemed by
Alfonso X of Castile. Baldwin spent the rest of his reign in mendicant tours in western Europe. On the night of 24 July 1261, a group of soldiers under
Alexios Strategopoulos entered Constantinople through a secret passageway and
captured the city. Baldwin was asleep in the
Blachernae Palace when the noise of the fighting awoke him; upon seeing the Byzantine troops advance upon him, he fled in such haste that he left his crown and sceptre behind him. Baldwin made his way to the harbor, where he boarded a Venetian galley to
Negropont. From there he proceeded to
Athens, then to
Apulia, and finally to France. As titular emperor, his role was still the same: to beg help from the western powers. In 1267 he went to Italy; his hopes were centred on
Charles of Anjou. Charles seriously entertained the idea of conquering Constantinople, though his efforts were destroyed during the
Sicilian Vespers, an event perhaps engineered by
Michael VIII Palaeologus of Constantinople. To this intent, he signed the
Treaty of Viterbo with Baldwin (May 1267). During the next year Baldwin and his son Philip lived on pensions from Charles. In October 1273 Philip married Beatrice, daughter of Charles, at
Foggia. A few days later Baldwin died in Naples. Under Baldwin II, Constantinople's population had fallen to a mere 35,000 inhabitants. ==Ancestors==