La Marche

Who he is

Name

Hugh IX le Brun of Lusignan

Title

Count of La Marche

Since

seized in 1199; conceded by Eleanor as the price of her release, most likely in December 1199; homage to John at Caen on 28 January 1200 still to come

Born

in the 1160s

Family

See Lusignan.

Confidence

medium

fr.wikipedia (Hugues IX): recognized as count in 1199; a chronicle says Eleanor 'quittavit ei comitatum de Marchia'; homage at Caen dated 28 January 1200. Seward (1978): Eleanor left for Castile in December 1199.

Overlord

Eleanor as duchess (she bought the overlordship's rights through Henry II's purchase of 1177), with John as her heir

What it holds

• Basse-Marche: Le Dorat (collegiate church of Saint-Pierre), Bellac, Rancon, Magnac
• Haute-Marche: Gueret, Ahun, Jarnages, Chenerailles and the castle of Crozant over the Creuse
• Overlordship of the viscounts of Aubusson (Aubusson, Felletin)
• Priories and abbey towns under comital protection: La Souterraine (Saint-Martial of Limoges), Benevent

How it was acquired

By seizure in 1199 and by the duchess's forced grant; contested in law until John takes Hugh's homage (28 January 1200).

Allies and rivals

Rivals: Count Aymer of Angouleme, a rival claimant, whose daughter's betrothal to Hugh was meant to end the dispute; the viscount of Limoges to the south.

How things stand that morning

Held by Hugh IX on 1 January 1200 by force and by Eleanor's extorted grant (most likely made in December 1199). The comital castles and the viscounty of Aubusson answer to him; whether every castellan has yet submitted is not known.

Wealth

Poor upland: cattle, rye and wool in the Haute-Marche; tolls on the roads from Poitiers and Limoges to Berry and Auvergne; no figures.

Military

Crozant, the comital castle on the Creuse; the vassal castles of Aubusson and the Basse-Marche.

Threats

• John refusing to accept the grant
• The Angouleme claim
• Being the first ground John strikes if the Lusignans break with him (1201)

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.

In 1200

1. 28 January 1200John accepts Hugh's homage for La Marche at Caen.Depends on: John wanting the Lusignans on his side while the peace with Philip is negotiated. Stopped by: John repudiating the grant.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1201After John's marriage to Isabella, the Lusignans rebel and John orders La Marche seized.Depends on: The quarrel over Isabella. Stopped by: Hugh marrying Isabella or being compensated.

Places of note

• Crozant: Comital castle on the Creuse
• Le Dorat: Collegiate church and chief town of the Basse-Marche
• Aubusson: Seat of the viscounts of Aubusson, vassals of La Marche

Where the sources disagree

• GM brief places the grant of La Marche in January 1200; on the evidence above it most likely falls in December 1199 (see Duchy of Aquitaine).

Evidence: The Caen homage is dated; the moment of the grant is inferred from it and from Seward's dating of the journey.

On the map: The county's medieval limits are reconstructed roughly from the Basse-Marche and Haute-Marche of later centuries; the border with Poitou around Montmorillon and with the Limousin around Bellac and Bourganeuf is uncertain.

Primary sources for Angevin lands

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
• 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
• Chronicles of the Churches of Anjou (Saint-Aubin, Saint-Serge, Saint-Florent and others), Various (monks of Angers and the Loire) (11th to 13th centuries; the Saint-Aubin annals run to the 1220s). The Angevin houses' own annals of the succession crisis in their city: Arthur received at Angers in 1199 with Constance and the Breton and Angevin barons, John's counter-moves, the defection of William des Roches and the Angevin lords to John, and the peace of 1200 that left Arthur John's vassal. 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
• Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
• Chronicle; Deeds of the Kings, Gervase of Canterbury (Chronica about 1188 to 1199; Gesta Regum about 1199 to 1210). The Chronica stops in 1199, so for 1200 the witness is the briefer Gesta Regum, which notes John's peace with Philip, the coronation of Isabella at Westminster on 8 October 1200, and matters touching Canterbury: the archbishop Hubert Walter as chancellor, the cathedral priory's quarrel with him, and the Lambeth college dispute lately settled by the pope. Read online
• English Chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall, Ralph of Coggeshall (about 1200 to 1224, in stages). Short but independent entries for 1200 from a Cistercian house in Essex: John's levy on the Cistercians and the carucage, the peace with Philip, the king's new marriage and the queen's coronation, and the death of Hugh of Lincoln. Read online

14 more in the sources library for France and Iberia.