Bar-sur-Seine

Who he is

Name

Milo IV of Le Puiset (Milon du Puiset)

Title

Count of Bar-sur-Seine

Since

1174 in his own name; his father Hugh of Le Puiset governed for about twenty-one years from 1168

Born

Not pinned

Family

Son of Hugh of Le Puiset and Petronilla, heiress of Bar-sur-Seine. Wife: Helisent of Joigny. Dies at Damietta in 1219.

Confidence

high

English Wikipedia (County of Bar-sur-Seine): the county was a fief of the bishop of Langres until its counts transferred their fealty to the count of Champagne in the 1170s, under Hugh of Le Puiset; by 1201 it is a great fief of Champagne under Milo.

Overlord

Theobald III, count of Champagne (since the 1170s; before that the bishop of Langres)

What it holds

• Bar-sur-Seine: castle on the slope over the Seine and the town
• Villages of the Seine and Ource valleys (Polisy, Gye, Celles, Ville-sur-Arce, Merrey)
• Vineyards of the Cote des Bar

How it was acquired

Through Milo's mother Petronilla, heiress of Count Guy (died 1151).

Allies and rivals

The counts of Joigny (his wife's family); the bishop of Langres, his old overlord; the duke of Burgundy across the border.

How things stand that morning

Held.

Wealth

Wine, the Seine route to Troyes, tolls.

Military

Castle of Bar-sur-Seine.

Threats

• Border with the duke of Burgundy and the bishop of Langres

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Holder and overlord well attested; the county's extent reconstructed.

On the map: Reconstructed from the castle and valley villages.

Primary sources for Champagne

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
• Chronicle of Robert of Auxerre, Robert of Auxerre (Robert of Saint-Marien) (about 1190 to 1211; continued at Saint-Marien to 1227). A universal chronicle whose last twenty years are contemporary and well informed from Burgundy and the Auxerrois. 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
• 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
• The Conquest of Constantinople (Villehardouin), Geoffrey of Villehardouin (about 1207 to 1213). Opens with the preaching of Fulk of Neuilly and the tournament at Ecry (28 November 1199) where Theobald III of Champagne and Louis of Blois took the cross, then the taking of the cross by Baldwin of Flanders, Hugh of Saint-Pol, Geoffrey of Perche and others through early 1200, the assemblies at Soissons and Compiegne in 1200, and the six envoys sent to Venice in the winter of 1200 to 1201. Read online
• The Conquest of Constantinople, Robert de Clari, knight of Picardy (about 1205 to 1216). A rank-and-file crusader's account that begins with the preaching of the crusade and the taking of the cross in 1199 to 1200 by the counts of Flanders, Blois and Champagne and by the Picard lords, among them Peter of Amiens, Robert's own lord, then the negotiations with Venice. Read online

3 more in the sources library for France and Iberia.