Alençon

Who he is

Name

Robert I of Alencon (Robert of Sees)

Title

Count of Alencon

Since

1191, after his father John I (died 24 February 1191) and his brother John II (died 6 May 1191)

Born

Not pinned

Family

Son of John I, count of Alencon, and Beatrice of Maine; a cadet of the Talvas-Ponthieu house (cousin of Count William of Ponthieu). Wife: Jeanne of Preuilly, widow of Hugh V, viscount of Chateaudun. Children: John (died 8 January 1212) and Matilda. Brother: William, lord of La Roche-Mabile (died 1203). Sisters: Alice, lady of Montgommery and the Sonois, wife of Hugh II, viscount of Chatellerault; Ela, wife of Robert FitzErneis; Philippa, married three times (William de Roumare, William Malet, William de Preaux).

Confidence

high

Medieval Lands (Alencon chapter). He goes over to Philip in January 1203, which opens southern Normandy.

Overlord

John, duke of Normandy

What it holds

• Castle and town of Alencon with its tolls, mills and fairs
• Castle of Essay
• The forests near Alencon
• The count's borough at Sees beside the bishop's
• Patronage of Perseigne Abbey
• His brother William holds La Roche-Mabile

How it was acquired

Inherited 1191. Henry II restored Alencon and La Roche-Mabile to his father in 1166.

Allies and rivals

Kin of the counts of Ponthieu and of the Chatellerault viscounts; neighbours of the counts of Perche and the lords of Maine (Mayenne, Beaumont-sur-Sarthe).

How things stand that morning

Holds his county for John on 1 January 1200.

Wealth

Alencon's market and cloth, the forests, tolls on the Sarthe road from Le Mans to Normandy.

Military

Castles of Alencon and Essay; La Roche-Mabile (brother).

Threats

• The war in Maine; Arthur's party at Le Mans in 1199
• His own wavering (he defects in 1203)

Places of note

• Castle of Essay: Comital castle
• La Roche-Mabile: Castle of his brother William

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Genealogy and lands from Medieval Lands; nothing dated pins his movements in 1199-1200.

On the map: The county's full extent (it reached into the Saosnois of Maine) is 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.