Le Puy

Who holds it

Name

Odilon de Mercœur, by most lists (the campaign notes name Bertrand de Chalencon, who follows him in 1202)

Title

Bishop of Le Puy (exempt see, subject directly to Rome)

Since

1197

Confidence

medium

English Wikipedia, GCatholic, Cathopedia and French Wikipedia's article on the Velay all give Odilon de Mercœur as bishop from 1197 to 1202 and Bertrand de Chalencon from 1202 until his death on 21 December 1213; only French Wikipedia's list of bishops starts Bertrand in 1198. Odilon belongs to the house of Mercœur, great lords of the Auvergne whose barony reaches into the northern Gévaudan (Saugues, Le Malzieu). Bertrand de Chalencon comes from another Velay baronial house.

What it holds

• Le Puy: lordship of the town since 924, with market, tolls, mint and justice
• The coinage of Le Puy, struck by the bishop and current across the south
• The Velay: the bishop's regalian rights and overlordship over the barons of the county; the viscounty of Polignac and the barony of Saint-Vidal appear in the sources as held in homage of the bishop (date of the first such homage not pinned)
• A share of the tolls on goods entering the town, which a royal settlement of the 1190s divided between the bishop, the chapter and the viscount of Polignac

How it was acquired

King Raoul's grant of 924 to Bishop Adalard, confirmed by King Lothar. Exemption from any archbishop confirmed by Pope Paschal II's bull 'Inter ceteras Francorum' (1105). Earlier bishops forced the viscount of Polignac to renounce claims (1087).

How things stand that morning

Held. The town is the bishop's and he looks to the king, on whom alone he depends for his temporal power. The Velay outside the town is a land of barons who owe him homage but keep their castles, Polignac above all.

Wealth

The offerings of pilgrims at Notre-Dame, the episcopal mint, tolls on the roads through the town, and the market.

Threats

• The viscounts of Polignac
• The townsmen's quarrels with the bishop
• Baronial violence on the roads, which hurts the pilgrimage

Advocates and rivals

The viscounts of Polignac, who extort tolls from pilgrims and merchants and share the town's tolls. The townsmen, who quarrel with their bishop: in 1194 a dispute between the bishop of Le Puy and the people of the Velay was arbitrated by Bishop Guillaume de Peyre of Mende. The chapter of Notre-Dame. Baronial houses such as Chalencon, Solignac and Mercœur.

Places of note

• Cathedral of Notre-Dame du Puy: Seat of the bishop and the great Marian pilgrimage; start of a road to Santiago
• Rock of Polignac: Fortress of the viscounts of Polignac, the bishop's rivals

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign notes name Bertrand de Chalencon as bishop of Le Puy [thin]. English Wikipedia (Diocese of Le Puy-en-Velay), GCatholic, Cathopedia and French Wikipedia's 'Velay' all give Odilon de Mercœur (1197-1202), with Bertrand de Chalencon only from 1202; only French Wikipedia's list of bishops starts Bertrand in 1198. The weight of the lists favours Odilon on 1 January 1200.

Evidence: The 924 grant, the exemption and the Polignac rivalry are well attested; the holder on 1 January 1200 is disputed between lists; the extent of the bishop's direct lordship outside the town is not established here.

On the map: The Velay polygon follows modern arrondissement lines as a stand-in for the historic county; inside it the bishop's power was overlordship over baronies, not direct rule. Craponne and Pradelles are on the edges, and the exact twelfth-century limits are not established.

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.