Jean de Brienne, King of Jerusalem and Latin Emperor

In the history of the 13th century there would be no other person with a very colorful yet unknown story than Jean de Brienne (John of Brienne, 1170-1237), a Frenchman who rose up the ranks from a knight, to a minor noble, to King of Jerusalem, and lastly to Latin emperor of Constantinople while Byzantium was at this time in exile as the Empire of Nicaea. Just recently I have been inspired by his story when reading the book about him by Guy Perry, and as a result I made this drawing.
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Jean was originally not destined to rule but when his brother Count Walter III of Brienne died in 1205 in battle, he had to take over as the Count of Brienne in France, reigning until 1221 when Walter's son came of age. In 1210, Jean was chosen to marry the Queen of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem- which at this time was based in Acre since Jerusalem fell to the Ayyubid Sultanate in 1187- thus making him become its king following his wife's death. As King of Jerusalem, Jean notably led the 5th Crusade in Egypt against the Ayyubids despite it failing, and played a major role in the founding of the Franciscan Order as a patron. In 1225, Jean however lost the throne of Jerusalem to the Holy Roman emperor Frederick II Hohenstaufen. In the meantime, Jean had traveled across Europe as well going to England, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, and when fighting for the pope at the war against Frederick II in Italy, Jean was elected as the emperor of the dying Latin Empire of Constantinople founded by the 4th Crusade in 1204.
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As Latin emperor of Constantinople (1229-1237), he ruled as senior emperor to the young ruler Baldwin II Courtenay (r. 1228-1261) who would marry Jean's daughter Marie. The most notable part of Jean's reign as Latin emperor was in successfully defending Constantinople from 1235-36 with only a few soldiers against the combined forces of the Emperor of Nicaea John III Vatatzes and the Bulgarian tsar Ivan Asen II consisting of thousands, that the difficulty in besieging made Asen turn on Vatatzes while Jean was given such praise by Western authors for his bravery in defending the city despite his old age. Though Jean had won, the battle was worthless anyway as he lost a lot of men, thus Jean retired as a Franciscan monk dying in 1237 in Constantinople, being the only Latin emperor to die in Constantinople. In addition, the age of Jean is conflicting as Byzantine historians like George Akropolites who saw Jean says Jean was in his 80s based on his looks while Western sources say he was much younger.
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Concept art of Jean de Brienne in medieval stained glass style (and one of the most difficult I've made so far). The 3 crests show the states he ruled in the 13th century which are the County of Brienne in France (left), Kingdom of Jerusalem (right), and Latin Empire (top).

© Powee Celdran, 2021