The Dauphin is the head of the elder line of the counts of Auvergne, pushed aside in the 1150s and left with the western and southern Limagne: Vodable, Champeix and their mountains, and Montferrand facing Clermont.
He is a celebrated troubadour and patron, and traded verses with Richard the Lionheart. In 1196 he and his cousin Count Guy asked Richard's help against Philip and were let down.
Who he is
- Name
- Robert Dauphin (the troubadour Dalfi d'Alvernhe)
- Title
- Dauphin of Auvergne, count of Clermont (and of Montferrand through his wife)
- Since
- after his father's death (1169); not pinned more closely
- Born
- about 1150
- Family
- Son of William VII the Young, count of Clermont, the line displaced from the comital title in the 1150s. Wife Guillemette of Comborn, styled countess of Montferrand, daughter of Archambaud, viscount of Comborn. Children include William (his heir), Aelis, Blanche and Alix. His sister is probably the Marqueze of Auvergne married to Heracle III of Polignac; he gave his nephew Pons of Polignac the lordship of Salzuit.
- Confidence
- medium
en.wikipedia Dalfi d'Alvernhe and Guy II of Auvergne; fr.wikipedia Maison de Polignac
Overlord
Philip II, king of France (Auvergne's suzerainty passed to him in 1196); the Dauphin also holds fiefs of the bishop of Clermont (not pinned)
What it holds
- Vodable, his chief castle, and the castles of the southern Limagne (Champeix, Saint-Floret, Solignat)
- Montferrand, the comital new town facing Clermont (through his wife)
- Montrognon and other castles west of Clermont (not pinned)
How it was acquired
Inherited; Montferrand through Guillemette of Comborn.
Allies and rivals
Cousin and occasional ally of Guy II; uncle of Pons of Polignac. A troubadour's court that drew poets from across the south.
How things stand that morning
Holds his castles and Montferrand; at peace as far as the sources show.
Wealth
Montferrand's market on the Clermont road; the Couze valleys; the Monts Dore pastures.
Military
Castles of Vodable and Champeix.
Threats
- royal power advancing into Auvergne
Places of note
- Vodable: the Dauphin's chief castle
- Montferrand: comital new town held through his wife
Where the sources disagree
- en.wikipedia warns the Dauphin's name Robert is weakly attested; he is often called simply 'Dauphin' (Dalfi).
Evidence: The Dauphin's castles in 1200 are drawn from the later Dauphine d'Auvergne; individual holdings are not pinned.
On the map: Only the core around Vodable and Champeix is drawn; the Dauphin's mountain lands west of Clermont are not.
Primary sources for Held of the king
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 Andres, William of Andres (about 1220 to 1234). The chronicle and cartulary of a small abbey between Guines and Ardres, near the border of Flanders and Boulogne. 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- History of the Counts of Guines, Lambert of Ardres (about 1196 to 1203, unfinished). A house history of the counts of Guines and lords of Ardres, written while Count Baldwin II and his son Arnold were alive and finishing in 1203. Read online
4 more in the sources library for France and Iberia.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.