The bishop of Grenoble is co-lord of his city with the counts of Albon, the future Dauphins.
The bishops had been lords of the city and its valley since the Saracens were driven out in the late tenth century; under Saint Hugh (1080-1132) they defended those rights against Count Guigues III, and since then town and rights have been shared between bishop and count. Jean de Sassenage, an old Carthusian bishop of 36 years' standing, is also the diocesan of the Grande Chartreuse.
Who holds it
- Name
- Jean de Sassenage (Jean I)
- Title
- Bishop of Grenoble
- Since
- late 1163 or early 1164
- Confidence
- high
Son of Guigues II, lord of Sassenage, a castle family just west of Grenoble. Prior of Saint-Robert-de-Cornillon, then a Carthusian monk. Pope Alexander III put him in during the schism, against the imperial bishop Geoffroy. Over 80 in 1219, so about 60 or more in 1200. A seasoned arbiter: he settled a dispute between Countess Beatrice of Albon's second husband, Hugh III of Burgundy, and others in 1183-1184, and judged between the church and the count of Geneva in 1184 and 1188.
He dies in December 1219 or 1220, after writing on the great flood that wrecked Grenoble on 14 September 1219.
What it holds
- Grenoble: half-share of the lordship of the city with the count of Albon: courts, market, tolls and the Isere crossing (the exact division in 1200 is not pinned)
- Episcopal rights in the town such as the public ovens (in 1213 the Dauphin offered to pay for new ovens in return for half the profits)
- Lands of the see in the Graisivaudan and around the city (not pinned for 1200)
How it was acquired
According to the diocesan history, the bishops became lords of the city and the valley after the expulsion of the Saracens (about 965), in the absence of a local nobility. Bishop Hugh (1080-1132) fought Count Guigues III over these rights, and the later co-lordship grew from that contest; the date of the dividing agreement is not pinned in the sources checked.
How things stand that morning
Shared and quiet: bishop and count each hold their share of the city. No open quarrel is known for 1199-1200.
Wealth
Market, ovens and tolls of the city; the crossing of the Isere on the road from the Rhone to the Alpine passes; the estates of the see.
Threats
- The rising power of the counts of Albon, who will absorb Gap and Embrun in the next decade
- The bishop's age
Advocates and rivals
The counts of Albon: Countess Beatrice and her son Andre (later the Dauphin Guigues VI). The bishop's own kin, the lords of Sassenage, sit at the city's gate.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The bishop is well attested; the terms of the co-lordship in 1200 rest on general accounts and a 1213 episode, not on a charter of the time.
On the map: Drawn as the city only, in shared lordship with the count of Albon. Rural lordships of the see in 1200 are not pinned.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.