Amiens on the Somme is a woad and cloth city with a sworn commune since 1113, born when Louis VI helped the bishop and the townsmen against the count, Enguerrand de Boves.
The bishop keeps temporal rights in the city beside the commune and the king, who took the county of Amiens into his own hands in 1185. Philip married Ingeborg here in 1193.
Who holds it
- Name
- Theobald of Heilly (Thibaud d'Heilly)
- Title
- Bishop of Amiens
- Since
- 1169
- Confidence
- high
Bishop from 1169 to 1204 (English Wikipedia).
What it holds
- Amiens: the bishop's temporal rights in the city (justice over his own men and the cathedral quarter; their extent in 1200 is not pinned)
How it was acquired
Old episcopal rights; the commune dates from 1113.
How things stand that morning
Held in part.
Wealth
Woad, the dye of 'Amiens blue', and cloth, which will pay for the new cathedral after 1220.
Threats
- The Ingeborg interdict, in the city where the marriage was made
- The commune and the royal officers
Advocates and rivals
The commune; the king as count of Amiens since 1185; the vidame of Amiens, the bishop's lay officer (not pinned for 1200).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The commune and the royal county are well attested; the bishop's temporal rights are attested only in general terms.
On the map: A small disc for rights whose extent is not known.
Primary sources for France (royal)
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
- Chronicle of Hainaut, Gislebert of Mons (about 1195 to 1196). Ends in 1195, so it has no 1200 entries, but it is the indispensable background for Flanders and Hainaut: the career of Count Baldwin V of Hainaut (VIII of Flanders), his union of the two counties, the settlement with Philip over Artois, the rights, castles, fiefs and vassals of Hainaut listed by a man who ran its chancery, and the youth of Baldwin IX, who held both counties in 1200. Read online
- Chronicle of Robert of Auxerre, Robert of Auxerre (Robert of Saint-Marien) (about 1190 to 1211; continued at Saint-Marien to 1227). A universal chronicle whose last twenty years are contemporary and well informed from Burgundy and the Auxerrois. Read online
- Chronicles of the Churches of Anjou (Saint-Aubin, Saint-Serge, Saint-Florent and others), Various (monks of Angers and the Loire) (11th to 13th centuries; the Saint-Aubin annals run to the 1220s). The Angevin houses' own annals of the succession crisis in their city: Arthur received at Angers in 1199 with Constance and the Breton and Angevin barons, John's counter-moves, the defection of William des Roches and the Angevin lords to John, and the peace of 1200 that left Arthur John's vassal. Read online
- The Great Chronicle of Tours, Anonymous (a canon of Saint-Martin of Tours) (about 1227). The Loire valley's view of the Angevin succession. Read online
- Universal Chronicle of the Anonymous of Laon, Anonymous (an English-born canon of Laon) (about 1219). A Picard chronicle whose author had lived in England and keeps an eye on both kingdoms. Read online
- Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
- Flowers of History, Roger of Wendover (about 1220 to 1235 at St Albans). For 1200 Wendover is mostly Howden rewritten, so he is a second witness only where he adds St Albans material: a long account of Hugh of Lincoln's last months, death and funeral, and anecdotes about John's conduct toward the Cistercians and his new queen. Read online
15 more in the sources library for France and Iberia.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.