The bishop of Châlons is count of his city, a cloth town on the Marne in the heart of Champagne.
He judges through his provost and bailiff, keeps his gallows outside the walls and his prison, controls the city's police and much of its finance, and has never granted the townsmen a charter: there is no commune. At the coronation he hands the king the ring. The count of Champagne himself is his vassal for some fiefs.
Who holds it
- Name
- Rotrou of Perche
- Title
- Bishop and count of Châlons
- Since
- 1190
- Confidence
- high
Formerly treasurer of Saint-Martin of Tours and archdeacon of Reims (English Wikipedia); a brother of Count Geoffrey of Perche. Through his mother, a daughter of the house of Champagne, he is a nephew of William of Reims and a cousin of Philip Augustus and of Count Theobald III (this genealogy is not checked against a source here). He dies on 10 December 1201.
What it holds
- Châlons: comital lordship of the city, with justice through the bishop's provost and bailiff, police and finance; no charter of franchise has been granted
- Fiefs held of the bishop by the counts of Champagne (which fiefs is not pinned here)
- Episcopal lands around the city (not detailed here)
How it was acquired
Comital power grew through the eleventh and twelfth centuries; Bishop Guy III de Joinville (1163-1191) is the first to refer to it.
How things stand that morning
Held. The bishop is unchallenged master of his city.
Wealth
The cloth of Châlons, sold across the Mediterranean through Genoese merchants; tolls on the Marne traffic; the bishop's justice and dues.
Threats
- The Ingeborg interdict
- The crusade fortieth
Advocates and rivals
The counts of Champagne, whose fairs and lands surround Châlons; the cloth merchants and craft guilds, who will only win a town council in 1418; the cathedral chapter.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The bishop's comital power and the absence of a commune are well attested; the episcopal lands outside the city are not established here. The campaign notes mark Rotrou thin; the English Wikipedia list confirms him from 1190 to his death in December 1201.
On the map: Only the city is drawn; the bishop's villages and fiefs outside it 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.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.