The New International Encyclopædia/Baldwin II.

BALDWIN II. (1217–73). The last Latin Emperor of Constantinople, from 1239 to 1261. He was the son of Peter II. (de Courtenay), and the nephew of Baldwin I. When his brother Robert died, in 1228, Baldwin was too young to rule, and an agreement was made with John of Brienne, who had been King of Jerusalem, by which Baldwin was to marry John’s second daughter, and John was to be emperor until his death. John died March 23, 1237, but as Baldwin was in Western Europe he was not crowned emperor until December, 1239. His reign was disastrous. He spent much of the time in the West, seeking aid in the defense of his capital. In order to obtain money he sold to Saint Louis of France some of the most sacred relics at Constantinople, to hold which Louis built the Sainte Chapelle at Paris. On the night of July 25 or 26, 1261, his capital was taken by one of the generals of Michal Palæologus, ruler of Nicæa, and Baldwin fled to Italy. With him terminated the Latin Empire in the East. Consult Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, new ed., Vol. VI. (London, 1898).