Lodève

Who holds it

Name

Raymond Guilhem de Madières (not firmly pinned)

Title

Bishop of Lodève

Since

not pinned (lists end his rule in 1201)

Confidence

low

English Wikipedia's list is muddled for these years: it gives Raymond Guilhem de Madières to 1201 and Pierre Frotier from 1200 to 1207, followed by Pierre (IV) from 1208. On 1 January 1200 Raymond Guilhem is the likelier holder.

What it holds

• Lodève: lordship of the town
• Castle of Montbrun near the town, which later gives the bishops their comital style
• Fealty of the nobles of the diocese (as later confirmations put it)

How it was acquired

Not pinned here; Philip Augustus confirms the church's possessions and rights in 1210.

How things stand that morning

Held, on thin evidence.

Wealth

Dues and justice of the town and its valley.

Threats

• Heresy and lay violence in Languedoc

Advocates and rivals

Lay lords of the Lodévois; the counts of Toulouse and the Trencavels as regional powers.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The bishops' temporal power is attested mostly from later confirmations; the bishop in 1200 is uncertain.

On the map: Only the town is drawn; the diocese's fiefs are not.

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.