Henry of Flanders

Henry was born around 1178 and rode east with the Fourth Crusade, the expedition that veered catastrophically off-mission in 1204 to storm Christian Constantinople instead of Jerusalem. When the crusaders divided the Byzantine Empire's remains and crowned his brother Baldwin as Latin emperor, Henry became a field commander in the new regime. Two years later Baldwin vanished in battle, and Henry inherited the throne. He ruled for a decade, 1206 to 1216, navigating the impossible: Greek resentment, rival crusader barons, and the Bulgarian kingdom pressing in from the north. He died in June 1216,…