Auxerre

Who holds it

Name

Hugh of Noyers (Hugues de Noyers)

Title

Bishop of Auxerre

Since

1183

Confidence

high

Son of Miles IV of Noyers and Odeline of Chappes; nephew of Guy of Noyers, archbishop of Sens (1176-1193); treasurer of the Auxerre chapter before his election in January 1183 (consecrated 13 March). Handsome, clever, a writer of hymns, vindictive to beaten enemies and fond of great retinues. Called the 'hammer of heretics' for his hunts at La Charité-sur-Loire. French Wikipedia says his loyalty to Philip in the king's marriage affair cost him the archbishopric of Sens in 1199, which must mean the vacancy after Michel de Corbeil's death on 28 November 1199.

In 1202 he reorganizes the dues of his peasants. He dies in Rome on 6 December 1206 and is buried in the Lateran.

What it holds

• Varzy: episcopal town, rewalled by Hugh with towers, a castle by Sainte-Eugénie and mills
• Régennes (at Appoigny): episcopal manor on the Yonne, raised and fortified by Hugh
• Beauretour (at Charbuy): a princely country house with ponds, gardens and a warren
• Cosne on the Loire: episcopal property improved by Hugh
• Toucy: episcopal property where Hugh founded a chapter (the lords of Toucy keep their castle)
• In Auxerre: the cathedral close, the bishop's palace and his justice over his own men; the city itself is the count's

How it was acquired

Old possessions of the see; their dates of acquisition are not pinned here.

How things stand that morning

Held. Bishop and count are at law and at odds.

Wealth

Grain, wine and dues of the episcopal villages, mills at Varzy, Loire traffic at Cosne.

Threats

• The count of Nevers and Auxerre
• The Ingeborg interdict, in which Hugh has sided with the king
• Papal coolness toward him after the Sens affair

Advocates and rivals

Peter of Courtenay, count of Nevers and Auxerre by his marriage to Agnes of Nevers, his enemy of fifteen years; Count Theobald III of Champagne, who stopped his plan to turn Régennes into an island; the abbeys of Saint-Germain and Saint-Julien of Auxerre, with whom he quarrels.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. Sens vacancy, from 28 November 1199 into 1200 (day not pinned)Hugh's chance of translation to Sens is lost because of his support for Philip in the marriage affair (French Wikipedia dates the loss to 1199).Depends on: The Sens chapter wanting him and the pope's veto. Stopped by: Innocent accepting him, which the sources say he did not.

Places of note

• Abbey of Pontigny: Second daughter of Cîteaux, in the diocese of Auxerre; exempt and holding its own granges, not the bishop's; Becket's refuge in the 1160s; its former abbot Gérard is now a cardinal
• Cathedral of Saint-Étienne and the bishop's palace: The bishop's seat in a city ruled by the count

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: French Wikipedia's article on Hugh, drawn from the Gesta of the bishops of Auxerre, is detailed on his buildings and quarrels.

On the map: Whole communes are drawn for manors and towns whose episcopal rights did not always cover the whole territory. The city of Auxerre is not drawn because it belonged to the count.

Primary sources for Nevers

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 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
• The Acts of Philip Augustus, with Delisle's Calendar, Various (the French royal chancery) (1179 to 1223). The king's own charters and treaties for the year: the peace of Peronne with Baldwin IX in January 1200, the treaty of Le Goulet with John on 22 May 1200, the marriage settlement for Louis and Blanche, the privilege for the scholars of Paris, grants to towns, abbeys and Norman lords, and the first acts of the king's new acquisitions in the Vexin, Evreux and Berry. Read online