Angoulême

Who he is

Name

Aymer (Ademar) Taillefer (Aymar Taillefer)

Title

Count of Angouleme

Since

1186, succeeding his brother

Born

about 1160, so about 40

Family

Younger son of Count William VI; his brothers Vulgrin III and William VII ruled before him. Married by 1188 Alice of Courtenay, daughter of Peter I of Courtenay and so first cousin of Philip II. Only child Isabella, born about 1188, betrothed to Hugh IX of Lusignan. His niece Mathilde, Vulgrin III's daughter (born before 1181), has a rival claim to the county. Dies at Limoges on 16 June 1202.

Confidence

high

en.wikipedia (Aymer; Isabella of Angouleme); fr.wikipedia (Ademar V of Limoges) for the war of 1199.

Overlord

Eleanor as duchess of Aquitaine; in 1199 he looked to Philip II against Richard

What it holds

• The city of Angouleme with the counts' castle (the bishop holds the cathedral quarter)
• Comital castles of Bouteville and Chateauneuf on the Charente (later claimed as Mathilde's dowry) and Montignac-Charente
• Overlordship of the lords of the Angoumois: La Rochefoucauld, Montbron, Marthon, Villebois, Aubeterre, Jarnac and others
• Patron of the abbey of La Couronne
• A claim to La Marche, rival to the Lusignans'

How it was acquired

By inheritance from his brother in 1186, against the claim of his niece Mathilde.

Allies and rivals

Allies: the viscount of Limoges, his partner in the 1199 revolt; his wife's Capetian kin. Rivals: the Lusignans (La Marche), until the betrothal; Mathilde's claim; the duchess's officers.

How things stand that morning

Holds his county in full. Unreconciled with the Angevins since the war of spring 1199 and counted among Philip's friends; his peace with John comes only with John's southern tour in summer 1200.

Wealth

Tolls on the Charente, navigable from Angouleme to the sea; wine and grain of the Angoumois; the city's markets; no figures.

Military

The castles of Angouleme, Bouteville and Chateauneuf; the knights of his vassals. Held out with the viscount of Limoges against Richard in 1199.

Threats

• John's revenge for 1199
• The Lusignans, if the betrothal fails
• Mathilde's claim

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. summer 1200With peace made at Le Goulet (22 May), John comes south and makes peace with Count Aymer (see the note on the treaty).Depends on: Peace in the north freeing John; Aymer wanting a royal match. Stopped by: War resuming in the north.
2. 24 August 1200Gives Isabella in marriage to John at Angouleme, breaking her betrothal to Hugh IX and binding himself to John.Depends on: John's choice of bride and Aymer's preference for a king over the Lusignans. Stopped by: The Lusignan marriage being completed first.

Places of note

• Bouteville: Comital castle
• Chateauneuf-sur-Charente: Comital castle on the Charente
• Montignac-Charente: Comital castle
• Abbey of La Couronne: Abbey under the counts' patronage

Where the sources disagree

• Whether the treaty of Le Goulet (22 May 1200) dealt with the count of Angouleme and the viscount of Limoges is not settled here: some summaries have John bound to receive their homage and do them right, protecting Philip's allies of 1199, while Dan Jones says Aquitaine, still Eleanor's, was left out of the treaty. Not checked against the text.

Evidence: Dates of the count and his family are secure; his formal position toward Philip in late 1199 is inferred from the war of 1199 and Le Goulet.

On the map: The Angoumois is drawn roughly from the later province; the border with Saintonge (Cognac, Jarnac, Barbezieux) and with Perigord (Aubeterre) is uncertain.

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.