Most historians think he died during the battle for the city of Al Mansurah on 8 February 1250. On that day, Count Robert I of Artois led a vanguard of Crusaders in a spontaneous attack on the city. The vanguard was caught in a trap set by the defending Mamluks and all attackers were killed. However, the chronicler Jean de Joinville maintains Peter of Courtenay died on an earlier date. After the conquest of the Egytion port city of Damietta in June 1249, a large part of the crusader army camped outside the city wall, until they were ready to march to Al Mansurah in the autumn. The Sultan of Egypt offered a reward of one gold solidus for the head of each crusader. During the night, Saracens would sneak into the Crusader camp, kill sleeping Crusaders in their tents, and steal their severed heads. According to Joinville, Peter of Courtenay was the victim of one such attack.[3] However, Joinville may be mistaken. One should consider that he wrote his chronicle decades after the fact, and that Peter de Courtenay is mentioned twice later in the chronicle, in connection with the Battle of Al Mansurah.[4][5]
Marriage and issue
Peter was married to Pétronille (d.1289),[6] a daughter of Gaucher of Joigny and Amicie de Montfort. They had:
Amicie (d. 1275 in Rome; buried in St. Peter's Basilica), Lady suo jure of Conches[1] and Mehun, married in 1262 to Count Robert II of Artois (d. 1302).[6]
Notes and references
^ abConches is much more likely to be Conches-sur-Gondoire in Seine-et-Marne rather than Conches-en-Ouche in Normandy (no family links and too far away from the other fiefs).
^Jean de Joinville: Chronicle, , part II, §9-10, ed. by Ethel Wedgwood, 1906
^It is possible that Joinville confused Peter with his cousin Guillaume de Courtenay, Lord of Yerre, who also participated in the Seventh Crusade, and survived (see Histoire généalogique de la maison de France, p. 517)
