A crusade writer and theorist. Pierre Dubois was probably born between 1250 and 1260. He served as a royal official in Normandy under King Philip IV of France (d. 1314) and in Artois at the end of his life. Pierre had no influence on politics, but wrote in a private capacity about war, lawsuits, tournaments, the relations of the king of France with the church, and the crusade, mostly in a utopian vein.
His treatise concerning the recovery of the Holy Land, De recuperatione Terre Sancte (c. 1306), was dedicated to King Edward I of England (whom he also served for a time). In it he argued that the first condition for a successful crusade was a reform of the church, stripping it of its temporal powers, and the establishment of peace within Christendom by means of a kind of international court. The crusade was to be financed from the wealth of the Templars and Hospitallers. Pierre also advocated the teaching of Eastern languages, intermarriage with the Saracens, and the creation of schools for girls and women. The Latin Empire of Constantinople was to be reestablished for Charles of Valois, brother of the king of France and titular emperor. Pierre presented a new edition of this treatise to Philip the Fair in 1308. In the same year he wrote a memorandum in which he urged the king of France to found a kingdom in the East (Jerusalem, Cyprus, Egypt) for his son Philip. Pierre probably died after 1321.