Rouen

Who holds it

Name

Walter of Coutances

Title

Archbishop of Rouen

Since

1184 (translated 17 November 1184, enthroned 3 March 1185)

Confidence

high

Born in Cornwall to Reinfrid and Gonilla, a family of knightly rank, probably of Norman origin; his brother Roger fitzReinfrid was a royal justice. A clerk of Henry II's chamber, canon of Rouen by 1169, archdeacon of Oxford, vice-chancellor, envoy to Flanders and France, bishop of Lincoln in 1183. He girded John as duke on 25 April 1199. John confirmed the Dieppe grant but contested some of the archbishop's jurisdiction and forest rights, and Walter had to pay to keep most of them.

He plays no active part in defending Normandy in 1202-1204, makes his peace with Philip only in March 1207 and dies on 16 November 1207.

What it holds

• Dieppe with the Pollet of Bouteilles: the town and port with all their appurtenances, liberties and customs
• Louviers: the manor with its appurtenances and its local office (ministerium); the duke keeps his hunting and the right to clear the forest
• The whole forest of Alihermont (Aliermont), with its game
• All the duke's mills at Rouen, with their suit and multure (the duty to grind there and the fee for it)
• Kept from the old Andely lordship: its churches, prebends and knights' fees, and the manor of Fresne (Fresne-l'Archevêque)
• The archbishop's palace and lands in and around Rouen (not detailed here)

How it was acquired

Exchange charter of Richard I, Rouen, 16 October 1197: the archbishop gave up the manor of Andely with the new castle of the Rock (Château Gaillard) and its forest, and received the lands above in perpetuity, warranted by the king and his heirs against all men.

How things stand that morning

Held. Dieppe and Louviers are the archbishop's towns under ducal sovereignty, in a duchy at war; Louviers lies close to the French front, since Philip has held Évreux since April 1199.

Wealth

Dieppe's harbour and its Channel and herring trade, Louviers's market, the timber and game of Alihermont, and the milling monopoly of Rouen, the duchy's capital.

Threats

• The Franco-Angevin war, whose front runs a few leagues from Louviers
• John's officers pressing on his rights
• A peace that redraws the frontier around his lands

Advocates and rivals

The duke: John has confirmed Dieppe but presses on the archbishop's jurisdiction and forest rights. The townsmen of Rouen and Dieppe. Powerful neighbours on the Channel coast, such as the counts of Eu and the abbey of Fécamp.

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. 22 May 1200Peace of Le Goulet: John cedes the Évrecin and the Norman Vexin except Les Andelys. The archbishop's own exchange lands are not among the ceded lands, but Louviers becomes a frontier manor.Depends on: John and Philip both willing to settle. Stopped by: A breakdown of the talks or renewed war; the frontier then stays where the fighting leaves it.

Places of note

• Château Gaillard (Les Andelys): Richard's castle on the archbishop's former manor of Andely, given up in the 1197 exchange; the archbishop kept Andely's churches, prebends and knights' fees
• Cathedral of Rouen: Seat of the archbishop; the duke's mills of the city are his since 1197

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The 1197 exchange survives as a charter (SCRIPTA, Caen) and is quoted here; Walter's career is well documented.

On the map: The Aliermont communes stand in for the medieval forest. The archbishop's mills in Rouen, his palace and his other Norman manors are not drawn.

Primary sources for Angevin lands

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 Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. 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
• Chronicles of the Churches of Anjou (Saint-Aubin, Saint-Serge, Saint-Florent and others), Various (monks of Angers and the Loire) (11th to 13th centuries; the Saint-Aubin annals run to the 1220s). The Angevin houses' own annals of the succession crisis in their city: Arthur received at Angers in 1199 with Constance and the Breton and Angevin barons, John's counter-moves, the defection of William des Roches and the Angevin lords to John, and the peace of 1200 that left Arthur John's vassal. 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
• Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
• Chronicle; Deeds of the Kings, Gervase of Canterbury (Chronica about 1188 to 1199; Gesta Regum about 1199 to 1210). The Chronica stops in 1199, so for 1200 the witness is the briefer Gesta Regum, which notes John's peace with Philip, the coronation of Isabella at Westminster on 8 October 1200, and matters touching Canterbury: the archbishop Hubert Walter as chancellor, the cathedral priory's quarrel with him, and the Lambeth college dispute lately settled by the pope. Read online
• English Chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall, Ralph of Coggeshall (about 1200 to 1224, in stages). Short but independent entries for 1200 from a Cistercian house in Essex: John's levy on the Cistercians and the carucage, the peace with Philip, the king's new marriage and the queen's coronation, and the death of Hugh of Lincoln. Read online

14 more in the sources library for France and Iberia.