Geoffroi de Villehardouin (1160 - c. 1212) was a knight and historian who chronicled the Fourth Crusade. He was considered to be one of the most important historians of his time. His is the earliest prose writing to have survived in France. Villehardouin was the ambassador to Venice assigned to procuring ships for the voyage to the crusades. In 1207 he began to write his chronicle of the Crusade, On the Conquest of Constantinople. This work was memorable in part because it was written originally in French as opposed to in Latin.