Beauvais

Who holds it

Name

Philip of Dreux

Title

Bishop and count of Beauvais

Since

1175

Confidence

high

Born 1158, about 41, son of Count Robert I of Dreux (a son of Louis VI) and Agnes of Baudement, and so Philip Augustus's first cousin. Consecrated in 1180 by William of Reims; on the Third Crusade in 1190. Taken in arms in 1197 by Mercadier and John in a Norman campaign; held at Rouen, then at Chinon after he tried to escape. Richard refused to release him even when the legate Peter Capuano pressed him. English Wikipedia says he was freed only after Richard's death and that John agreed in 1200 to exchange him for a captured bishop-elect of Cambrai.

Later he fights the Cathars (1210) and swings a mace at Bouvines (1214); he dies in 1217.

What it holds

• Beauvais: the county and the city with high justice; the commune (charter under Louis VI, confirmed by Louis VII in 1144 and by Philip Augustus in 1182) exercises only delegated justice, works and militia, and its officers need the bishop's ratification
• Bresles: episcopal castellany east of Beauvais with the bishop's house (the fortress there is built only in 1210-1212)
• Fiefs and villages of the Beauvaisis held of the county (not detailed here)

How it was acquired

The county passed to the bishops in 1015, and every bishop since has been count of Beauvais.

How things stand that morning

Held by the church but headless: the count-bishop is in Angevin captivity, his county run by his officers. Rome has not pressed hard for him, since he was taken in armour.

Wealth

One of the leading cloth towns of the north, working English wool and selling far afield; its tolls, market and the bishop's justice; mills and the dues of the Beauvaisis.

Threats

• The bishop's captivity in John's hands
• The commune's ambitions
• The interdict on Philip's lands
• The Norman war, whose frontier runs a short ride west of Beauvais

Advocates and rivals

The commune, rich from cloth and ready to ally with the crown against the bishop. The counts of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis, neighbours whose complaints will later bring down his Bresles fortress. Renaud of Dammartin, count of Boulogne. In Philip's absence, the cathedral chapter, which runs the see.

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. 1200, month not pinned (most likely around the peace of Le Goulet, 22 May)John releases Philip of Dreux in exchange for a bishop-elect of Cambrai held by the French side (English Wikipedia).Depends on: A peace or truce between John and Philip Augustus. Stopped by: Renewed war or John's refusal; the bishop then stays in Chinon.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign notes have Philip of Dreux as John's prisoner on 1 January 1200. English Wikipedia says he 'gained freedom only after Richard's death in 1199' and in the next breath that John agreed to exchange him in 1200. The exchange in 1200 supports the notes, but the date of release is not pinned, and the identity of the 'bishop-elect of Cambrai' in that exchange sits oddly with the notes' Peter of Corbeil as bishop of Cambrai since 1199.

Evidence: The county and the commune are well attested; the bishop's captivity is attested but its end is not dated precisely.

On the map: Only the city and Bresles are drawn; the county of Beauvais extended further over the Beauvaisis, and its limits in 1200 are not established here.

Primary sources for Held of the king

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 Andres, William of Andres (about 1220 to 1234). The chronicle and cartulary of a small abbey between Guines and Ardres, near the border of Flanders and Boulogne. 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
• Chronicles of Saint-Martial of Limoges, Bernard Itier and other monks of Saint-Martial; Geoffrey of Vigeois for the earlier chronicle (Geoffrey's chronicle to 1184; Bernard Itier's notes about 1195 to 1225). Bernard Itier, librarian of Saint-Martial, kept dated notes through 1200 of what reached Limoges: Richard's death at Chalus in 1199, the viscounts of Limoges and the lords of the Limousin, John's passage through Aquitaine in 1200 and the affairs of Angouleme and the Lusignans, and the abbey's own elections and prices. 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
• Deeds of Philip Augustus, Rigord (about 1186 to 1206, in stages). The French court's own chronicle for the year, from the monk of Saint-Denis who called himself the king's chronographer. Read online
• Deeds of Philip Augustus; The Philippide, William the Breton (Guillaume le Breton) (Gesta about 1214 to 1220; Philippide 1214 to 1224). William abridged Rigord for the years before 1207 and then continued him, so for 1200 the Gesta is a shortened Rigord with a few added touches: the Le Goulet settlement, Blanche's marriage, and the interdict. Read online
• History of the Counts of Guines, Lambert of Ardres (about 1196 to 1203, unfinished). A house history of the counts of Guines and lords of Ardres, written while Count Baldwin II and his son Arnold were alive and finishing in 1203. Read online

4 more in the sources library for France and Iberia.