Boniface I of Montferrat

Boniface I of Montferrat (c. 1150–1207) became marquis in 1192, after his brother Conrad, king of Jerusalem, was killed. He fought the neighbouring communes, helped lead Emperor Henry VI's 1194 expedition to Sicily, and kept a court known for its patronage of troubadours.

In 1201 he took over leadership of the Fourth Crusade. Diverted to Constantinople, the army sacked the city in 1204; the Venetians blocked his election as Latin emperor, so he founded the Kingdom of Thessalonica and was crowned king in 1205.

On 4 September 1207 he died in a Vlach ambush. His severed head was sent as a trophy to Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria.