Conquest Legitimized: The Making of a Byzantine Emperor in Crusader Constantinople (1204-1261)

This chapter focuses on the imperial dynasty founded in the thirteenth century on the edge of Bosporus by men who hailed from the edge of the North Sea. It examines the public image that dynasty promulgated of itself not only within the immediate confines of the erstwhile Byzantine capital, through coronations and the organization of court ceremonial and culture, but also more widely, by means of the issuing of official documents and, it would seem, coinage. The period under consideration stretches from 1204 to 1261 - that is, from the reign of Baldwin I, who was the first of the crusader emperors, up to and including that of his nephew and namesake, Baldwin II, who was the last of them. The analysis concentrates on what was perhaps the most arresting feature of the new regime, namely its extensive appropriation of the symbols of status - the ornaments or trappings of power - that had been characteristic of the rulers it supplanted.