William of Champlitte

William I
Prince of Achaea
Coat of Arms of William of Champlitte
Reign	1205-1209
Successor	Geoffrey I
Born	1160s
Died	1209
Spouse	Alais of Meursault Elisabeth of Mount-Saint-Jean
House	House of Blois House of Champlitte
Father	Odo I of Champlitte
Mother	Sybille

William I of Champlitte (French: Guillaume de Champlitte) (1160s-1209) was a French knight who joined the Fourth Crusade and became the first prince of Achaea (1205–1209).^[1][2][3]

William was the second son of Odo or Eudes I of Champlitte, viscount of Dijon.^[3] He later married Elisabeth of Mount-Saint-Jean, but they divorced in 1199.

William was one of the crusader leaders who signed the letter written in April 1203 by Counts Baldwin IX of Flanders, Louis I of Blois and Chartres and Hugh IV of Saint Pol to Pope Innocent III after the occupation of Zara (now Zadar, Croatia).^[4]

The imperial throne was given to Baldwin IX of Flanders on May 16, 1204.^[5]

Early in 1205 Geoffrey of Villehardouin, one of William of Champlitte's allies went to the camp of Boniface I of Thessalonica at Nauplia (now Nafplion, Greece).^[6][7] He had earlier occupied some parts of Messenia.^[6]

William in short time occupied Coron (now Koroni, Greece), Kalamata and Kyparissia.^[8]

William became the Prince of Achaea during 1205.^[9]

While traveling to France, his death occurred during 1208 in Apulia.^[10][11]

• Fourth Crusade
• Principality of Achaea
• Battle of the Olive Grove of Koundouros

• Andrea, Alfred J. (2000). Contemporary Sources for the Fourth Crusade. Brill. ISBN 90-04-11740-7.
• Evergates, Theodore (2007). The Aristocracy in the County of Champagne, 1100-1300. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-4019-1.
• Fine, John V. A. Jr. (1994) [1987]. The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08260-4.
• Longnon, Jean (1969) [1962]. "The Frankish States in Greece, 1204–1311". In Setton, Kenneth M.; Wolff, Robert Lee; Hazard, Harry W. (eds.). A History of the Crusades, Volume II: The Later Crusades, 1189–1311 (Second ed.). Madison, Milwaukee, and London: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 234–275. ISBN 0-299-04844-6.
• Runciman, Steven (1954). A History of the Crusades, Volume III: The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Setton, Kenneth M. (1976). The Papacy and the Levant (1204–1571), Volume I: The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society. ISBN 0-87169-114-0.

• Bon, Antoine (1969). La Morée franque. Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d'Achaïe [The Frankish Morea. Historical, Topographic and Archaeological Studies on the Principality of Achaea] (in French). Paris: De Boccard. OCLC 869621129.
• Finley Jr, John H. "Corinth in the Middle Ages." Speculum, Vol. 7, No. 4. (Oct., 1932), pp. 477–499.
• Joinville, Jean de; Villehardouin, Geoffroi de; Shaw, Margaret R. B. (1963). Chronicles of the Crusades. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-044124-7.
• Tozer, H. F. "The Franks in the Peloponnese." The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 4. (1883), pp. 165–236.