Duke of Brabant

Who he is

Name

Henry I

Title

Duke of Lotharingia and Brabant

Since

1190 (duke of Brabant from 1183)

Born

About 1165

Family

House of Leuven; see Brabant

Confidence

high

en.wikipedia, de.wikipedia, ADB

Overlord

The king (Otto IV recognised)

What it holds

• Leuven: castle and the duke's chief residence
• Brussels: the Coudenberg castle
• Vilvoorde (charter of 1192)
• Tervuren hunting seat
• Tienen, Zoutleeuw and Landen on the Gete
• Wavre, Genappe, Jodoigne in the Roman pays
• Advocacy of Nivelles abbey (the abbess is lady of the town)
• Advocacy of Gembloux abbey
• Herentals, Turnhout, Hoogstraten and the Kempen heaths
• 's-Hertogenbosch (about 1185), Oisterwijk and the Meierij
• Herstal (separate record)

How it was acquired

Inherited counties of Leuven and Brussels; 's-Hertogenbosch founded by Henry about 1185.

Allies and rivals

See Brabant.

How things stand that morning

Held in peace by Henry I, who backs Otto IV.

Wealth

The Bruges-Cologne road through Brussels, Leuven, Tienen and Zoutleeuw; cloth; tolls; the Kempen sheep and heath; the abbeys' advocacy dues.

Military

Castles at Leuven, Brussels, Genappe, Vilvoorde; the walled new town of 's-Hertogenbosch; frontier towns on the Gete.

Threats

• Holland and Guelders against 's-Hertogenbosch
• Loon and Liege on the Gete

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. 1202 (later course)'s-Hertogenbosch is sacked by the counts of Holland and Guelders, who are then defeated and taken prisoner (general accounts; the ADB gives the capture).Depends on: The northern war breaking out as it did. Stopped by: A truce with Holland and Guelders.

Places of note

• Leuven castle: Ducal residence
• Coudenberg, Brussels: Ducal castle
• Tervuren: Hunting seat
• 's-Hertogenbosch: New town about 1185

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The extent of the ducal demesne in 1200 is drawn from its later bounds; the northern reach in the Meierij and the line with Namur are approximate.

On the map: Rough outlines of the later ducal quarters of Leuven, Brussels, Antwerp and 's-Hertogenbosch, without the vassal lordships' independence shown; vassal records are drawn on top.

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