Baldwin I.

Baldwin I., the first Latin emperor of Constantinople, was born at Valenciennes in 1171 A.D., and succeeded his parents as Count of Hainault and Flanders in 1195. In 1200 he joined the fourth Crusade, and assisted in the recapture of Constantinople for the Emperor Isaac II. As the latter failed in his payments, the Crusaders turned their arms against him, and sacked the town. Alexis having been murdered in a rising of the citizens, Baldwin was chosen emperor, and crowned in 1204. The Greeks, invoking the aid of the Bulgarians, rose and took Adrianople. Baldwin laid siege to the town; but, defeated and taken prisoner by the Bulgarian king, he died about a year after (1206) in captivity.