Berthout

Who he is

Name

Walter Berthout (Wouter Berthout): Walter II, husband of Goda of Loon, or his eldest son; the generations around 1200 are not pinned

Title

Lord of Grimbergen, advocate of Mechelen

Since

Not pinned

Born

Not pinned

Family

Berthout, the great free-lord house of Brabant, with lands at Mechelen and in the margraviate of Antwerp. Walter II married Goda of Loon, daughter of Count Louis I of Loon; their son Gillis (born about 1175-1180) goes to Flanders and England from 1206.

Confidence

low

en.wikipedia on Gillis Berthout, citing Croenen, Familie en macht (2003).

Overlord

The duke of Brabant for Grimbergen; the bishop of Liege for the advocacy of Mechelen

What it holds

• Grimbergen (allod and Brabant fief)
• The advocacy of Mechelen, the bishop of Liege's lordship on the Dijle
• Lands in the margraviate of Antwerp (later accounts add Duffel, Berlaar and Geel: not pinned for 1200)

How it was acquired

Hereditary.

Allies and rivals

Kin of Loon through Goda; the duke of Brabant as overlord; the chapter of St Rumbold at Mechelen.

How things stand that morning

The family holds Grimbergen and the Mechelen advocacy. Its side in the throne war is not pinned; its overlords are divided (Brabant for Otto, Liege not pinned).

Wealth

Mechelen's market and the Dijle traffic; rents in the Brabant heartland and the Antwerp march.

Military

The family's knights; the Grimbergen castle was razed in 1159.

Threats

• The duke's ambition to hold Mechelen himself
• A new bishop at Liege

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. From 1206 (later course)Gillis Berthout marries a Flemish widow and takes the hereditary chamberlaincy of Flanders; from 1207 he serves King John.Depends on: The match being made. Stopped by: Other marriages.

Places of note

• Mechelen: Advocacy under the bishop of Liege

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Only the Gillis Berthout article was checked; the head of the family that winter is not pinned.

On the map: Only the two core holdings are drawn.

Primary sources for Brabant

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.

• Annals of Reiner of Saint James, Liège, Reiner of Liège (1197 to 1230, kept year by year). Contemporary annals kept inside Liège. Read online
• Royal Chronicle of Cologne (in stages from about 1175 to about 1250; the section on 1198 to 1220 written soon after the events). The fullest German narrative of the throne war from the Welf and Cologne side. Read online
• 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 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
• Dialogue on Miracles, Caesarius of Heisterbach (about 1219 to 1223). Not a chronicle but a Cistercian's book of exempla, full of stories about Cologne, the Rhineland and the Low Countries around 1200: the throne war, usurers, heretics, crusade preachers, knights and townsmen, monks and recruits at Heisterbach, founded in 1189. Read online