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John of Brienne (c. 1170 – 19–23 March 1237) was the king of Jerusalem from 1210 to 1225 and Latin emperor of Constantinople from 1229 to 1237. He was the youngest son of Erard II of Brienne, a wealthy nobleman in Champagne. John, originally destined for an ecclesiastical career, became a knight and owned small estates in Champagne around 1200. After the death of his brother Walter III, he ruled the County of Brienne on behalf of his minor nephew Walter IV, who lived in Italy.

The barons of the Kingdom of Jerusalem proposed that John marry their queen, Maria. With the consent of Philip II of France and Pope Innocent III, he left France for the Holy Land and married Queen Maria; the couple were crowned in 1210. After Maria's death in 1212 John administered the kingdom as regent for their infant daughter Isabella II; an influential lord, John of Ibelin, attempted to depose him. John of Brienne was a leader of the Fifth Crusade. Although his claim of supreme command of the crusader army was never unanimously acknowledged, his right to rule Damietta (in Egypt) was confirmed shortly after the city fell to the crusaders in 1219. He claimed the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia on behalf of his second wife, Stephanie, in 1220. After Stephanie and their infant son died that year, John returned to Egypt. The Fifth Crusade ended in failure (including the recovery of Damietta by the Egyptians) in 1221.

John was the first king of Jerusalem to visit Europe (Italy, France, England, León, Castile and Germany) to seek assistance for the Holy Land. He gave his daughter in marriage to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in 1225, and Frederick ended John's rule of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Although the popes tried to persuade Frederick to restore the kingdom to John, the Jerusalemite barons regarded Frederick as their lawful ruler. John administered papal domains in Tuscany, became the podestà of Perugia and was a commander of Pope Gregory IX's army during Gregory's war against Frederick in 1228 and 1229.

John was elected emperor of the Latin Empire in 1229 as the senior co-ruler of Baldwin II, and he was crowned in Constantinople in 1231. John III of Nicaea and Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria occupied the last Latin territories in Thrace and Asia Minor, besieging Constantinople in early 1235. John directed the defence of his capital during the months-long siege, with the besiegers withdrawing only after Geoffrey II of Achaea and united fleets from Italian towns defeated their fleet in 1236. The following year, John died as a Franciscan friar.

Maria of Montferrat (French: Marie; 1192–1212), known as la Marquise, was the queen of Jerusalem who reigned from 1205 until 1212. She was the eldest daughter of Queen Isabella I and was born posthumously to Isabella's second husband, Marquis Conrad of Montferrat. She succeeded her mother as a minor under the regency of her half-uncle John of Ibelin. A search for a husband who would rule in her name began immediately, but an initial attempt to arrange a marriage with King Peter II of Aragon failed. In 1210 Maria married John of Brienne, who had been selected for her, and was crowned alongside him. John of Brienne took over the government from John of Ibelin and Maria consented to his acts as king. She died shortly after giving birth to her only child, Isabella II, who succeeded her as queen under King John's guardianship.

Stephanie of Armenia (after 1195 – June 1220), also known as Rita, was a member of the Rubenid dynasty and claimant to the throne of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.

Stephanie was the only child of Leo I of Armenia by his first wife, Isabelle. Stephanie's maternal family is disputed. It is believed that her mother was a niece of Sybille, wife of Bohemond III of Antioch. Stephanie was brought up by her paternal grandmother, Rita of Barbaron. She was around ten years old when her mother died, having not had any more children with Leo. Around 1210 Stephanie's father remarried to Sibylla, daughter of Isabella I of Jerusalem. From this marriage she gained a half-sister, Isabella.

In April 1214, Stephanie married John, King of Jerusalem. John had only recently lost his first wife, Queen Maria, who was a sister of Stephanie's stepmother Sibylla. Stephanie was a bad stepmother to John's daughter, Isabella II, on whose behalf John ruled Jerusalem as regent. Stephanie herself gave birth in 1216 to a son named John.

In May, 1219 Stephanie's father died. He had made the barons swear an oath of allegiance to his great-nephew Raymond-Roupen, who became his heir. However, on his death bed King Leo changed the succession. He made his daughter Isabella his heir and released the barons from their oath of allegiance. Stephanie was still alive at the time and would have had more right because she was the older daughter. Also, Stephanie had a son. Stephanie's husband, John, pressed the claim on behalf of his wife. Raymond-Roupen also pressed his claim on the throne.

John left the Fifth Crusade in February 1220 intending to visit Cilicia to press his family's claim. In June, however, Stephanie died; it was gossiped that John had beaten her to death after she tried to poison her stepdaughter, Isabella. Stephanie's young son died shortly afterwards. John of Brienne had no longer a claim on the throne of Cilicia.

Berengaria of León (1204 – 12 April 1237) was the third wife but only empress consort of John of Brienne, Latin Emperor of Constantinople. She was a daughter of Alfonso IX of León and Berengaria of Castile. She was a younger sister of Ferdinand III of Castile and Alfonso of Molina.