Dauphin

Who he is

Name

Beatrice of Albon, with Andrew (Andre Dauphin, later reckoned Guigues VI)

Title

Countess of Albon, with her son the Dauphin

Since

Beatrice since 1162 (death of her father Guigues V); Andrew styled Dauphin from 1193

Born

Beatrice 1161; Andrew about 1184

Family

Beatrice, only child of Guigues V, married (1) Alberic Taillefer of Toulouse (d. 1183), (2) Hugh III, duke of Burgundy (d. at Acre 1192), (3) Hugh I of Coligny (1170-1205), before 1202. Andrew is Hugh III's son, half-brother of Odo III of Burgundy; his full sisters are Mathilde (b. 1190) and Anne or Marguerite. He is unmarried on 1 January 1200.

Confidence

high

fr.wikipedia: in 1193 Andrew takes the title of dauphin and his mother those of countess of Albon and duchess of Burgundy; Andrew is named count of Albon in 1203. The date of the Coligny marriage is only 'before 1202' (Regeste dauphinois no. 5772).

Overlord

The emperor, as king of Arles; for some lands the archbishop of Vienne

What it holds

• Albon and the Valloire, the family's original seat
• Grenoble, with the bishop, and the Gresivaudan valley
• Vizille, the Matheysine and the Oisans
• The Brianconnais and the upper valleys across the Montgenevre (Oulx, Cesana, Bardonecchia)
• Overlordship of barons of the Viennois (the Clerieu at La Roche-de-Glun among them)

How it was acquired

Inherited from the counts of Albon, who built their lordship in the eleventh and twelfth centuries between the archbishops of Vienne, the bishops of Grenoble and the counts of Savoy.

Allies and rivals

Kin: Odo III of Burgundy (Andrew's half-brother); Aymar II of Poitiers is Beatrice's first cousin. Rival: Savoy along the Isere and in the Viennois. Future ally (1202): William IV of Forcalquier.

How things stand that morning

Beatrice rules with her son; no war is recorded that winter. The Gapencais and Embrunais are still Forcalquier's.

Wealth

Tolls on the roads to Italy over the Montgenevre and through the Gresivaudan, silver and iron of the Alps (Brandes in the Oisans), salt and wine of the Rhone side.

Military

Castles of Vizille, Briancon and Albon; the service of the Viennois barons.

Threats

• Savoy
• An heir not yet married
• Dependence on Burgundy

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. 1202Andrew marries Beatrice of Sabran, William IV's granddaughter, and receives the Gapencais and Embrunais with the land down to Sisteron's bridge; he is named count of Albon in 1203.Depends on: William IV's quarrel with Alfonso of Provence Stopped by: A settlement between William IV and Alfonso, or another match

Places of note

• Castle of Vizille: Delphinal castle; Beatrice dies there in 1228
• Albon: Ancestral castle
• Briancon: Castle and toll on the Montgenevre road

Where the sources disagree

• fr.wikipedia gives Beatrice's birth as 1161 in the text and 1162 in the heading.

Evidence: The family is well attested; the castle-by-castle extent of the demesne in 1200 is not.

On the map: Rough blocks around the best-attested holdings; the Viennois north of the Isere was a patchwork of delphinal, Savoyard, archiepiscopal and baronial lordships.